Held from 28th September - 2nd October in Bologna, this year’s Cersaie drew in record numbers of visitors, with increased international visitor participation.
This year’s Cersaie was an international success, drawing in over 101,000 visitors and 872 exhibitors from 39 countries across the globe.
The International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings was once again the place to go for identifying new trends and previewing the latest innovations from the top companies in the industry.
Representativeness and international scope are always the key characteristics of Cersaie, which this year saw an even stronger presence of exhibitors from other sectors – especially wood.
Proving its right to its global credentials, the event attracted a total of 101,809 visitors (+0.8%), including 48,235 international visitors – 1,632 more than last year and 47.4% of the total visitors. The numbers of Italian visitors remained stable at 53,578.
Over 694 journalists participated in the event, including 257 from outside Italy. There was a particularly sharp rise in numbers of Italian journalists (+27.4%), largely due to the fact that the International Press Conference was held from the first time in the Ducal Palace in Sassuolo.
Highlights of the show included the installation Day Off by Diego Grandi in Hall 29 and the exhibition Cer Stile curated by Angelo Dall’Aglio and Daniele Vercelli in Hall 30 – both of which had a great amount of crowd appeal.
Diego Grandi’s Day Off investigated the lifestyle relationship between people and nature – a move towards organic living that was observed across many exhibits at the show.
Cersaie has also reported that conferences in the ‘building, dwelling, thinking’ cultural programme were strongly attended, as were the initiatives qualifying for training credits, organised in co-operation with professional associations.
Also popular were the various works in progress and meetings held at Tiling Town – the location for training young tile setters and presenting installation techniques. ‘Cersaie designs your home’ attracted strong participation by homeowners and on Thursday received a celebrity visit from Italian TV host Paola Marella, who was also the face of the event #selfeet.
As usual, the commercial side of the show was complemented by events catering for the world of architecture, interior design, installation and end consumers. Within this, Bologna Design Week made a very positive debut, attracting a steady flow of visitors to the cultural events held in the evenings in prestigious locations in the city.
Product highlights at the show this year included the latest collection from Flaviker – Place_2B. The collection offers wood-effect ceramic planks inspired by various different places and styles – including Dublin and Aspen. The company also previewed its 2016 trend – NO_W, which is an acronym for Northern Wind.
The trend offers an original interpretation of the aesthetics of northern European stone, combining graphic minimalism with unusual tonal variations.
Exclusively presented at Cersaie 2015, Iris Ceramica also launched its new collection – Sync. The collection of indoor and outdoor wall and floor tiles by Iris Ceramica offers several composition options, with a variety of sizes, colours and patterns.
The wall tile line of the Sync collection has been inspired by fine velvet, which the company identifies as a key feature of contemporary fashion.
