While not all kitsch is becoming cool - a doily in your bathroom will never be a good look - you'd be surprised at how much modern kitsch is being created by the world's great designers and finding its way into the most salubrious homes.

Even over-hyped designer Philippe Starck is no stranger to kitsch. There's no other way to describe his Gnome side tables (Napoleon, Attila and Tree Trunk) for Kartell, which have recently been released in all black and all gold.

In 2005 Starck introduced his popular Bedside Table Gun table lamp, manufactured by Flos. The base of the lamp takes the form of an 18-carat gold-plated AK-47 beneath a matt black shade. It's surely one of the rare examples of a kitsch attempt at an anti-war statement - and an expensive one.

And of course, there's his now ubiquitous Louis Ghost Chair, a transparent plastic version of a traditional Louis XVI armchair.

'I would agree that the Louis Ghost chair is kitsch,' says Canada-based designer Koen De Winter. 'The reason is that it so clearly pretends to be something other than what it is, a plastic chair. It's too clumsy to be considered a parody, too serious to be humour ... Where Koziol and Alessi manage to introduce some form of humour into their kitsch design, the Starck design fails to do that.'

De Winter says a key feature of kitsch is that it lacks irony or any other form of humour - it's just seriously ugly.

'I guess what makes kitsch now more acceptable is, first of all, the postmodern experience and, secondly, a certain level of humour. So, to me, cool kitsch would have one or more extra dimensions beyond being tasteless or ugly.'

Is that extra dimension the irony evident in the deer head by Augustin Scott de Martinville? The Belgian designer has usurped the idea of a trophy head, such as might be found over the mantlepiece in a country club, and rendered it in plywood.

Marcel Wanders has created an incredibly kitsch Crochet Table for Netherlands studio Moooi. The side table is made from cotton, epoxy and resin and looks like something your granny might have slaved over. Also for Moooi, Front Design created a horse lamp - a polyester horse with a shade on its head.

British design studio Suck UK has also plumbed the depths of kitsch, with the Three Guns ceramic vase, as have London-based design duo Black + Blum, with their kitschy James-the-Doorman door wedge shaped like a butler. James also comes as a bookend.

Dedece Furniture's Tim Engelen says there was a lot of high-end kitsch at the Milan Furniture Fair in April. 'Much of it took the form of giant things,' he says. 'Items such as spoons and platters stretched to the size of people. Marcel Wanders created a lounge room lamp that's so enormous you can stand beneath it. They call it surrealism. I call it kitsch and whether it will survive the test of time remains to be seen.'

Although Engelen finds kitsch interesting, he wouldn't advise it en masse. 'Do that and you'll end up with a house like Luna Park,' he warns, referring to the Sydney amusement park, whose entrance is something of a local icon.

Interior designer Ruth Levine, of design firm RLD, sees the re-emergence of kitsch as a reaction to the rise of terrorism. 'After 9/11 we became so insular, and we wanted to nest,' she says. 'I think kitsch is a part of that nesting instinct. It takes your mind off what's happening and brings a smile to your face. How long before we see George Bush garden gnomes?'

Australian designers are also discovering the popularity of modern kitsch. Melbourne-based design team Gin and Tonic (Georgie and Tom Campbell) released a cuckoo clock named Kevin last year as part of their Miami Nights range. The Kevin looks like a traditional Black Forest cuckoo clock, except it's painted electric pink and its pine cone pendulum is made of plastic.

'The Miami nights range was inspired by the 1980s and Don Johnson and Miami sunsets,' says Georgie Campbell. 'We enjoy kitsch because we see it as a lot of fun and people are so serious these days. We want our products to bring a smile to their faces.'

Sydney-based Emma Elizabeth Coffey, of Emma Elizabeth designs, has a range of wallpapers she describes as kitsch. One features the Australian coat of arms, although the most popular is a silhouette of Queen Elizabeth II's head. The designs are available in black and white and super-kitsch metallic.

'I'm comfortable with the term kitsch,' Coffey says. 'There's a big difference between modern kitsch and vintage kitsch. Modern kitsch can be very sleek and minimal and I like that, while with vintage kitsch ... well, some people think its uber-cool, but it's actually not.'

Another Sydney designer, Jacqueline Marony, of Millicent and Frank, says of her creations: 'I think they're a lot of fun and beautiful. If you want to describe that as kitsch that's fine by me.'