Cevisama’s Buyer Recruitment Plan is proving successful

The plan has a million Euro budget, and more than 700 Spanish and international buyers have already booked their visit.

Cevisama, the international trade fair for ceramic tiles, bathroom equipment, natural stone, ceramic machinery, glazes and colours, is going full speed ahead in the final stretch of preparations for the upcoming edition of the fair, which takes place from 24^th to 28^th February at Feria Valencia.

One of the most successful initiatives is the Buyer Recruitment Plan, designed to attract both Spanish and international buyers to visit the fair. Set in motion last summer, by the end of December 2024 the plan had already notched up confirmations of attendance from more than 700 businesses and professionals with significant purchasing power. In details, 639 foreign and 105 Spanish professionals have accepted the VIP invitation sent out by Cevisama’s organisers and exhibitors. These numbers are sure to rise as more confirmations are received.

It is worth remembering that between them the Spanish and International Cevisama 2025 Buyers Plans have a budget of more than a million euros, granted by the Generalitat Valenciana, through IVACE + i Internacionales, and by Feria Valencia itself. Cevisama exhibitors have also been involved in the Plan this year, inviting their main customers directly as guests, their expenses paid by the Plan. The move has created two forms of promotion surrounding the event, with companies boosting their commercial image on the one hand and the fair establishing a ‘pool’ of top-level buyers on the other, making Cevisama even more attractive.

The United States account for almost 20% of all acceptances, in line with that market’s positive position at the head of the league table of export markets for Spain’s ceramic tiles during January to October 2024. Sales to the US were valued at 388 million euros during that period, equating to growth of 1.2%, according to official statistics published by ICEX.

Next in line are European Union markets such as France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Portugal, whose professionals and buying groups have responded positively to the invitation sent out by Cevisama’s organisers and exhibitors. These markets are viewed as local and are certainly the main export destinations for the bathroom sector.

Areas such as the Middle East, particularly the United Arab Emirates, and countries like Morocco, Mexico and Colombia, are notable amongst the main markets providing guest buyers.

Major European distributors and renowned architecture firms

The campaign also targeted business communities such as European retailers and wholesalers, with guidance from UFEMAT, and British professionals thanks to assistance from Tile Association UK. The initiative, coordinated once again with the ICEX office in Germany, also played an important part in recruiting the German market’s purchasing power.

The various initiatives have already delivered especially significant results for Cevisama 2025, such as British architects Grimshaw’s acceptance to visit the fair.  Based in London, Grimshaw is one of the pioneers of high-tech architecture and was recently awarded the prestigious Sterling Prize by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the Elizabeth line, the newest addition to London’s underground network.

The Spanish Buyer Plan focuses on specifiers

As part of the dedicated Spanish Buyer Recruitment Plan, Cevisama sent invitations to relevant trade groups such as specifiers, particularly to Spanish firms of architects, property developers and businesses specialising in fitting out communal facilities based all over Spain, but with a certain focus on areas such as Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarra and the Costa del Sol.

The campaign targeting Spain’s major retailers and large multiple retailers of construction materials has also been given a boost, supported by organisations including ANDIMAC, ANERR, the Colegio Superior de Decoradores y Diseñadores de Interior, the Colegio de Arquitectos and DPA Forum. 

Stellar speakers at the Interior Design, Architecture and Contract Forum

Cevisama is also finalising the last details of the Interior Design, Architecture and Contract Forum programme, the series of lectures, talks and round tables staged every year as part of Cevisama_Lab, which will be bringing these sectors’ current leading names together this year.

The 2025 Forum is poised to introduce significant new items, one of them being the space where all the lectures will be delivered: the Hotel Cevisama Auditorium.  Located on Level 2 in Hall 3, the Auditorium is where the Forum content meets the spectacular space designed by architect Héctor Ruiz-Velázquez. This is in fact no coincidence as the Forum will be specifically addressing the issue of the interaction between ceramic and bathroom equipment and the new trends in both residential and hotel, hospitality and corporate interior architecture.

Some award-winning interior designers have already confirmed they will be speaking at the Interior Design, Architecture and Contract Forum. Among them is the celebrated Mexican interior designer Amparo Taylor, who is behind some of the North American country’s most prestigious residential and hotel complexes.

Other notable speakers include Stone Designs (Madrid), headed by Cutu Mazuelos and Eva Rego, which has won accolades such as the Red Dot Design Award and is known particularly for its work on Coca Cola’s Head Office in Spain, the Mokhovaya Business complex in Moscow and commissions for Finsa. Equally noteworthy is interior designer Javier Jiménez, the force behind Estudio Animal, which will be celebrating having recently won the FRAME 2024 prize for the apartment of the year and has been catalogued as one of the ‘coolest’ practices of the moment.

Other outstanding contributions about interior design will come from the team at Barcelona-based Estudio Creativo, who have won top awards such as Best of Year 2024 for their work on Selva Restaurant and the Hospitality Design Award in Las Vegas for the Palau Fugit Hotel; and multidisciplinary practice Mil Studio. Headed by Naroa Quirós and Juan Luis Medina, its best-known projects include the restaurant at the NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding.

In terms of content relating to architecture, construction, hotels and contracts, Cevisama 2025 has lined up some of the sector’s leading lights. One of these is Ruiz-Larrea Arquitectura, a multidisciplinary, global team that has innovation in its DNA. Under the leadership of the practice’s founder César Ruiz-Larrea, they recently completed the restauration of Madrid’s Hotel Palace, as well as projects such as the Movistar + and Vueling head offices.

Other outstanding members of the Cevisama_LAB Forum panel of experts are the team from Alfaro-Manrique, one of the most creative names in hospitality today, who are behind projects such as the Barceló in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Karak Restaurant in Valencia. Ángel Zaragoza and Borja Acosta, of Wearetodo architects, will also be on the panel. At the firm’s hub in Denia, they design both residential and commercial, hotel and office spaces.

The Forum’s round tables will address issues relating to the property and hotel businesses, with prominent companies including leading modular architecture firm Casas Inhaus, property management group TM Grupo and hotel management specialists GAT Gestión and Rusticae set to take part.