In the past, the Italian pavilion was one of the main attractions at New York’s annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Italy occupied a spacious southeast corner filled with the kind of sleek, minimal forms and glossy surfaces that spelled out Milan chic. This year however, things looked very different.

Not only have the Italians created a fair of their own in New York, but the look of their furniture has changed. The iSaloni WorldWide pavilion, held over the weekend 15 blocks north of the ICFF at Piers 90 and 92, featured 60 of Italy’s most prominent manufacturers, many of whom displayed a more playful and earthy side that we normally wouldn’t expect from the land of Gucci. Organic shapes, natural materials, bold colors, and soft, tactile surfaces stood out among the more traditional fare of beige sectional sofas and mahogany framed beds.

One company at the forefront of this aesthetic is Edra. The company, which is best known for its innovative seating and shelving systems, expanded its collection this year by launching two sets of chairs with matching tables. The long-term plan is to continue to develop the product line into a more complete selection. “We have built a very strong reputation for our armchairs and sofas,” said Edra’s director of public relations, Celeste Morozzi. “Now we want to create an identity for the whole home.”

Edra’s new products – a ribbon-wrapped chair called Mummy by emerging Dutch designer Peter Traag, a series of shiny metal tables called Croma by Italian Massimo Morozzi, and the Brazilian Campana brothers’ wood-and-bristle chair called Jenette – seem very much in sync with current design trends. The conceptual chairs, which take their aesthetic cues from first-aid bandages and kitchen brooms, look slightly startling at first glance but also have a familiar and comforting quality that increases once you’ve tried them (they are very comfortable). Together with the minimal- and hi-tech-looking tables, they create an interesting and somehow harmonious unit that works very well with the mix-and-match trend that currently dominates interior decorating (www.edra.com).

Another brand closely connected with the needs and desires of the modern consumer is Futura. The company, which specializes in multifunctional sofas in jewel-toned velvet, employs the design philosophy that space is the ultimate modern luxury. Hence, Futura furniture is designed to multitask in an efficient and creative manner that suits small urban apartments. The sumptuous and sinuous products fold, expand, and transform to perform a variety of functions. An armchair becomes a bed or a chaise longue; a sectional sofa converts into a king-size bed. This year’s launches include the two-seater sofa Scenik by G. Colautti, which features backrests with multiple reclining positions and swiveling armrests that double as foot-rests, and the sofa Volage by Cini Boeri, which can also be positioned as two armchairs facing each other with a lacquered table in the middle.

After a few years of slick, laminated surfaces, raw wood has made a welcome comeback. Horm’s beautifully multilayered and slightly wavy bench Ripples, by Toyo Ito, looks as if it has been sliced straight out of a tree. The company also showed the meticulously crafted yet strikingly simple cabinet, Leon, by Luciano Marson, which is made of thin stripes of different types of wood, creating a look that is reminiscent of a natural bamboo forest (www.horm.it).

Other designs on display similarly seemed to draw from the world of nature. Dutch star designer Marcel Wander’s cloud-like chandelier Zeppelin, for Flos, looked like it had been cocooned in many layers of spiderweb (www.flos.it). Moroso’s delicately cut scrim by Tord Boontje had a floral pattern (www.moroso.it). But the most obviously organic statement was made by veteran designer Gaetano Pesce, commissioned by iSaloni to create the fair’s signature art installation – an entirely edible landscape made of fruits, cheese, and vegetables.

Several Italian fashion houses – such as Gucci, Fendi, and Versace – have launched home collections in recent years. While some of those collections express unabashed luxury and status, others are geared toward a less glossy lifestyle. The line that seems to best capture the down-to-earth mood of the moment is Missoni. The family-run company creates products that seem made for living, not showing off. Among these are a delightful collection of vibrant carpets and a range of sheets and towels in Missoni’s joyous and instantly recognizable patterns and colors. A lovely floral upholstered Panton chair from Missoni gave a glimpse of future upholstery fabric and furniture developments (www.missonihome.com).

The products that seemed the most personal, however, were Missoni’s line of bathrobes and beach ponchos, which brought to mind idyllic summer afternoons and family vacations. Indeed, this relaxed aesthetic expressed the fair’s dominant sentiment. The ideal dolce domicile is no longer a showcase for precious objects – for the Italians, home is where the heart is.