The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) hit New York last week. The big surprise? Some of the most beautiful chairs, tables and lamps on display were made of animal skins, hides, and fur.

Using fur as a sumptuous upholstery texture is not anything new. In fact, we wrote about fur covered banquettes in the lobby of Montreal's Hotel St. Paul last winter. But it is becoming a big trend in furniture design. Recently one of the furs.com editors spotted a fantastic woven cowhide chair at an upscale design shop Elle et Lui Maison in Rio de Janeiro. In the heart of Ipanema, near the beaches and boisterous night life, this stylish shop sells furniture and accessories from all over the world. The chair we have such a big crush on is called the Immigrant Chair, without Armrests. The Seat is made of brown and white natural skin leather that is woven across Amazonian Natural Wood. It's surprising affordable - $330.00 and they deliver within 20 days (call LOLA MACHADO Elle et Lui Maison - Rio de Janeiro Brazil - 5521-2239 6749)

The designs at the ICFF last week though, were equally eye popping! One fabulous cherry red ottoman called appropriately - Lulu- was- designed by Stanley Jay Friedman and is a MUST for every woman's boudoir! (540-381-7745)

I loved the modular leather sofas - made by COMFORT - built on the idea to make space better to live in without forsaking comfort. The Link sofa program is smart- the backrest goes up to increase the depth of seat and the head support adjusts to where you need it. You can also rotate the seat so that the sofa turns into a chaise-longue. (COMFORT. +39 0362341074 or 39 036270855 - +39 036275114)

Another cute item was a very streamlined table and chair set - all made of the same caramel colored leather from Michieli of Italy. It's part of their STARCO Living collection so it is functional but with a highly customized design. www.michieli.com

For the bedroom, I discovered a beautiful leather dresser that can be made to order (depending on how many drawers you need). It's part of the VCA collection and they use upholstery leather that is dyed so the pigment of the hide shows through and gives each piece its own distinct character. You can order the dressers in brown, black, ochre, red and sage (starting at $5000, 413-527 2127, www.vca-inc.com)

We found so many pieces of great fur and leather furniture from the ICFF that we'll have to continue our shopping spree in the next column! Expect more finds from the ICFF furniture fair in the June 15th column.