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This week the Fiera di Bologna exhibition center is hosting Cersaie 2021, an international exhibition dedicated to ceramic ware and bathroom furniture. Being staged for the 38th time, the event will close its doors on Friday, October 1. The exhibition will occupy all fifteen halls of the exhibition complex, hosting 623 exhibitors, 38% of whom are from 28 countries besides Italy. The inauguration took place on Monday, September 27, in the Palazzo dei Congressi’s Europauditorium and saw the participation of Italy’s minister for economic development, Giancarlo Giorgetti; the president of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Stefano Bonaccini; the president of Unicredit, Pier Carlo Padoan; and the president of Confindustria Ceramica, Giovanni Savorani.
With last year’s exhibition cancelled due to the pandemic, Cersaie is back in 2021 for five days of face-to-face meetings between business people, architects, designers, contractors, and retailers. Attendees will find themselves in a business hub with previews of thousands of new products that anticipate trends in surfaces, bathroom furniture, design, and planning. A new feature this year is Contract Hall, an initiative that devotes all 108 thousand square feet (10,000 m2) of Hall 18 to designer finishes for indoors and outdoors, kitchens, lighting, home automation, and wellness technologies. This innovative event will also host Archincont(r)act, a space to encourage networking between manufacturers, designers, and clients in the property development and contract sectors.
Cersaie 2021 includes a busy program of special events presented with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and by the Agenzia ICE (Agency for the foreign promotion and internationalization of Italian companies). Aimed at professionals, students, and lovers of architecture, Building, Dwelling, Thinking is a series of educational conferences that will see the participation of important international speakers from the design sector. The highlight is the keynote address by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, winner of the Pritzker Prize, which will take place on Friday, October 1, at 11 a.m. at Palazzo dei Congressi. The session will be introduced by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co. Internationally renowned architects Odile Decq and Benedetta Tagliabue will then present the conference Sensitive Architecture, dedicated to the tactile and sensorial aspects of architecture. Scheduled for Thursday, September 30, at 11 a.m. at Palazzo dei Congressi, the session will be moderated by architectural historian Fulvio Irace.
Other events being staged as part of the exhibition include the Press Caffès. Dedicated to leading Italian home and lifestyle publications, these meeting places will be the setting for informal conversations between journalists, architects, and designers on topical issues. A series of webinars is being held as part of the event. Press Caffès will see the participation of eighteen important publishers, including The Plan, in three time slots: Breakfast Time (10:00–10:45 a.m.), Appetizer Time (12:00–12:45 p.m.), and Coffee Time (3:00–3:45 p.m.). The afternoon sessions will be held at the Agorà dei Media in the Services Center and Sala Talks in Contract Hall. Tiling Town, in Hall 32 near the entrance to Piazza Costituzione, is the most technical event at Cersaie, hosting seminars and practical demonstrations of the latest techniques for laying ceramic tiles and the applicable regulations. By appointment only, Cersaie Designs Your Home is aimed at the public. Held on Thursday and Friday in the Agorà dei Media, this free event will see architects and exhibitors offering home renovation tips and tricks.
Building, Dwelling, Thinking, in Hall 18, will host the first exposé of the work done by the young architects involved in Renzo Piano’s G124 urban renewal project. The same hall will be hosting exhibitions dedicated to Ceramicware and Design and Ceramics of Italy Tile Competition – both competitions that recognize the best results achieved by architectures working with Italian ceramic tiles, in Italy and North America respectively. On Wednesday, September 29, at 2:30 p.m., Contract Hall will also be the setting for the ADI awards ceremony, including the ADI Ceramics and Bathroom Design Award, for the most innovative Italian ceramic ware and bathroom furniture products, and the ADI Booth Design Award, for the booth that does the best job of promoting both products and brands at the exhibition.
From this year on, participants must register online to attend Cersaie. It will no longer be possible to register onsite. Entry will therefore only be permitted to those who have already registered and hold a (free) entrance ticket and Green Pass (Italy’s Covid certificate). There are several entrances to the center: Ovest Costituzione, Sud Moro, Est Michelino, Nord Ovest Calzoni, Nord, and P4. Rapid testing stations are situated near the Costituzione and Nord entrances, offering rapid antigen swab tests for a fee. Opening hours are 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., except on Friday, when the doors close at 6:00 p.m. The exhibition is open to the public on Thursday and Friday. Entrance tickets are valid for the five days of the event. The details provided during registration will also allow attendees to participate in Cersaie Digital, a new digital platform that will be available online until October 8.
Photos are courtesy of EDI.CER.
