Cersaie 2011: the advent of the sustainable trade fair

The 29th Cersaie will be held from 20 to 24 September in the Bologna exhibition centre. The entire exhibition space (a gross area of 176,000 sq.m) has once again been fully booked by around 955 companies from 31 countries, demonstrating the keen interest in the show on the part of Italian and foreign exhibitors.
Alongside the world’s leading producers of tiles and bathroom furnishings, the glaze and colour producers will as usual be present in hall 22: Bitossi, Coloresmalt, Coloritalia, Colorobbia Group, Def, Endeka Ceramics, Esmalglass, Esmaltes, Ferro, Fritta, Inco, Intercolor, Lamberti, Metco, Quimicer, Sicer, Smalticeram, Smaltochimica, Torrecid, Vernis, Vetriceramici and Vidres.

Cersaie 2011 ushers in the age of the “sustainable trade fair”, a three-year project that will involve concrete actions ranging from waste reduction to optimisation of energy, water and paper usage, the use of environmentally-friendly paper for all printed materials, and the promotion of sustainable transport (through agreements with TreniItalia for reduced fares on the high-speed rail line to and from Bologna).
As usual, the exhibition will begin with the opening economic conference entitled “Keeping pace with the market”, held on Tuesday 20 September in the Palazzo dei Congressi in Bologna. Talks will be given by Emma Marcegaglia, Confindustria chairman, Franco Manfredini, Confindustria Ceramica chairman, Jacques Attali, an eclectic personality and a prominent figure in the world of economics, culture and finance, and Antonio Tajani, vice president of the European Commission responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship.

As part of the series of conferences entitled Building, Dwelling, Thinking, Cersaie 2011 will give plenty of coverage to Japanese architecture with talks by two highly renowned figures in the sector, Kengo Kuma and Kazuyo Sejima (click here to read more).

In addition there will be numerous other appointments with key players from the world of architecture and design. Alongside Kuma and Sejima there will also be talks by Patricia Urquiola on the theme of “Interconnections between product design and architecture” and by designer Alessandro Mendini, whose works are displayed in museums and private collections all over the world.

Last but not least, Lia Piano, director of Fondazione Renzo Piano, and architect Giorgio Bianchi will present the project for the New York Times Building, “a skyscraper with a human face”, and the Morgan Library. Through a series of images, Giorgio Bianchi will reconstruct the story of the two buildings since 2001, when he walked with Renzo Piano amongst the ruins of the Twin Towers.

Tile Edizioni is present at Cersaie with two stands. The main stand is located in the Press Agora (stand no. 11), the space devoted to publishers in the Services Centre, while the second stand is located as in the past on the ground floor of hall 19 - stand B18.