Events

Cersaie continues to engage with its visitors | by Maria Teresa Rubbiani

The fact that Cersaie, the International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings, could not be held in 2020 was a truly exceptional occurrence that affected both visitors and the hundreds of thousands of people who work at the show every year. The regular annual event suffered the same fate as all the other major international exhibitions attended by professionals from all over the world. But now that Cersaie 2020 has been cancelled, all eyes are on next year’s show to be held in Bologna from 27 September to 1 October 2021, a time of year when participants will have a chance to enjoy Italy’s pleasant late summer weather.

In the meantime, Cersaie has continued to engage with its target audience and as early as the spring lockdown period began organising a series of online initiatives (these can still be accessed on the revamped Cersaie TV YouTube channel). Italian and international architects and designers who have taken part in the exhibition over the years accepted the invitation to connect from home and recount their experiences during this unprecedented period. This gave rise to a series of initiatives: Small Talks (ten conversations with Italian architects), Qui e ora. Here and now (with some of the top names in international architecture), Women at work: Architects (with three internationally renowned female Italian architects), The World’s Best (video messages from some of the most famous visitors to the show) and finally the re-airing of 10 past conferences from the “building, dwelling, thinking” archives.

The programme of online initiatives to be held in the lead-up to Cersaie 2021 was resumed in the autumn with the “Press Cafés” organised by Cersaie in collaboration with major specialist magazines, an 18-part programme that will end in February 2021 and is also accessible on Cersaie TV.
This year’s meetings are maintaining the same format and content that has been tried and tested at previous editions of Cersaie and are being held as Zoom webinars. They will feature a series of conversations between the magazine editors and guest experts on topical issues in the field of ceramics, bathroom furnishings and contract design.
The 18 magazines are: Abitare, AD – Architectural Digest, Chiesa Oggi, L’Arca International, DDN – Design Diffusion News, Domus, Elle Decor, Guest, IFDM, Il Bagno Oggi e Domani, Interni, La Repubblica, Marie Claire Maison, NiiProgetti, Platform, QN, Suite and The Plan.

 

November 2020