Winners of Tecnargilla Design Award and IED Lab announced

In the first three days of Tecnargilla, due to end tomorrow in Rimini, the show fulfilled its expectations in terms of innovation, know-how and attendance. It attracted large numbers of foreign visitors, including more than 150 international buyers from North Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, Russia, Iran, Turkey, India, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, who took part in more than 1,000 B2B meetings with exhibitor companies.

“For more than 40 years our companies have been pioneering product and process innovation and they continue to demonstrate this same vitality today,” said Paolo Gambuli, managing director of Acimac, during the International Press Conference. “We remain the world leaders and intend to continue our growth, exploiting the opportunities offered by Tecnargilla as a platform for the future of ceramics.”.

One of the highlights of the first three days of the show was the announcement on Tuesday 27 September of the winners of the fourth edition of the Tecnargilla Design Award, the competition launched by Acimac and Rimini Fiera to honour the latest technological innovations in the ceramic industry.

Focused on the theme of “Light and Shadow”, the competition saw the participation of twelve machinery manufacturers and glaze and colour producers: Colorobbia Italia, Digital Design, Emar Impianti, Esmalglass Itaca, Esmaltes, LB Officine Meccaniche, Metco, Sacmi, Sertile, Surfaces Technological Abrasives, System Group and Torrecid Group. The projects were assessed by a panel of creative and technical directors from ceramic companies and tile retailers.

The winner was the Mutant project from System for its outstanding ability to meet the five criteria established by the jury, namely aesthetics, versatility, marketability, originality and innovative technological content. In second place was the Origami project submitted by Digital Design, and third the project entitled Tripudio di colori tra cielo e mare, tra luci e ombre (“Blaze of colours between sky and sea, between light and shadow”) from LB.

The same day saw the award ceremony for the IED Lab Best Innovation Design Project, organised in collaboration by Istituto Europeo di Design of Milan and Acimac. First prize in the competition was won by Guglielmo Urso, a student and tutor on the master’s course in Design Strategy at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. The project, entitled E-YE, was judged to be forward-looking and versatile. It consists of an acoustic screen which uses active noise cancellation technology to create an invisible barrier blocking noise from outside.

The 8th Annual Acimac Meeting on Digital Ceramic Tile Decoration Technologies was held on Tuesday afternoon. Moderated by Prof. Paolo Zannini, the conference featured reports by representatives of nine companies (Sacmi Intesa, System, Projecta Engineering, Colorobbia, Durst, Efi Cretaprint, Tecnoferrari, Xaar and Macs Tech), who presented their technological innovations to an audience of more than 450 industry professionals.