Shagreen, the slightly roughened pale green skin that came originally from horses but is these days more usually made from the skins of sharks and rays, is making a comeback in swanky homes. It’s not hard to see why. The finish, with its tiny raised discs and soft green colour, is wonderfully tactile and lovely to look at.

Shagreen was first made popular by Jean-Claude Galluchat, a master leather worker at the court of Louis XV of France, but it fell out of fashion until the Twenties and Thirties, when eminent designers such as Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Jean-Michel Frank used it in their Art Deco creations. It was most often found on small objects – binoculars, book-bindings, jewellery cases and sword handles – but also on furniture panels.

Now, modern manufacturers are adding shagreen to give an air of instant luxe and sophistication to inherently humble objects. Smallbone has introduced a range of bathrooms and bedrooms called Shagreen, and it is not hard to see why. The company is up-front about the fact that it isn’t using the real thing – faux shagreen is how it’s described – but the addition of a fabric with distinctive raised circles and the gorgeous green colour adds, it says, Hollywood glamour to its cabinets, armoires, vanity units and chests of drawers.

Wedgwood (www.wedgwood.co.uk) also has a collection called Shagreen, with the distinctive small circles adorning the edges of the cups and saucers, plates, bowls and serving dishes.

Simon Orrell (07830 080681; www.simonorrelldesigns.com), who makes be-spoke pieces for interior designers at his workshop in South London, says the demand for shagreen is growing. He believes that this is in keeping with the current desire for luxury and glamour, and he uses shagreen (“I went to the Philippines to learn how to work with it”) on everything from the insides of drawers to console, coffee and hall tables.

Other designers who are fond of shagreen include Julian Chichester (www.julianchichester.com), who uses it on some of his chairs, Richard Bethell (www.rbld.co.uk), who has some astonishingly vivid shagreen on his round side tables, and David Linley (www.davidlinley.com), who uses it to cover his elegant jewellery boxes.

It is worth noting that the Lapada London Fair, which takes place next week, will have some desirable antique shagreen pieces for sale. Some of these would make enchanting – and very different – wedding or anniversary presents. There will be, for instance, a charming Thirties English Art Deco shagreen box for £500 at the FCR Gallery and a complete George III writing set from Sheldon Shapiro. For £85 you could pick up a smaller box (circa 1920) in salmon-pink shagreen from Jeroen Markies.

Jaeger-LeCoultre pocket watches were sometimes housed in shagreen covers, and Kleanthous Antiques quite often has them. Stephen Kalms Antiques has a rare Robert Frederick Fox perfume casket (£9,500, London 1919) which holds four perfume bottles and is covered in an unusual dark caramel shagreen.

If it’s clocks you are after, Woodward Antique Clocks (www.woodwardclocks.co.uk) is the company to ask. Shagreen, it says, was a very popular covering for late 19th and early 20th-century carriage and travelling clock cases, with some examples selling for as much as £50,000.

Lapada London Fair runs from May 8 to 11 at 6 Burlington Gardens, Mayfair, London W1 (www.lapadalondon.com)

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