Forty years and a splendid story to tell

To mark the 40th edition of the trade fair due to be held at the end of September, Cersaie is organising a social media campaign celebrating its many areas of excellence. In particular, the campaign will focus on four key aspects of Cersaie: it is the event where the latest ceramic tiles and bathroom furnishing products are unveiled; many of these products have been used in iconic architectural projects; the show gives maximum international visibility to the participating sectors; it serves as a cultural, educational, information and relational platform for the entire supply chain.

Cersaie, making a date with innovation

Throughout its four decades of activity, Cersaie has served as the most important global springboard for new trends in the ceramic tile and bathroom furnishing sectors and has showcased the latest developments in technology, products, aesthetics and applications. The perception of architectural space, the central theme of this 40th edition of the show, has also evolved over time. Originally limited to the few square metres occupied by the bathroom and kitchen, the focus of attention has expanded to include buildings in their entirety and their interconnections on an urban scale. This aesthetic journey began during the glitzy years of “Milano da bere” and continued through the period of minimalism. Today it is able to offer multiple representations of reality, thanks in no small part to the extraordinary versatility of ceramic surfaces.

The content of the social media campaign

The story of this almost half century of lifestyle and traditions will be told in two different ways. The first will take the form of a campaign on Cersaie’s LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook channels devoted to ground-breaking products, to the most innovative projects and to the most representative institutional and corporate events held at Cersaie. Rather than a mere trip down memory lane, the aim of the campaign is to explore various moments in history that have marked a real break from the past, milestones in the sector’s development whose legacy – even many years later – is a wealth of materials and buildings that stand as landmarks in the world of design and architecture. One of the many examples is Stefano Boeri’s Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) dating from 2009. Representing a new approach to urban sustainability, it features black porcelain stoneware slabs which convey the architectural character of the building while also performing an important function in terms of façade insulation and cladding.

 

A global outreach

The social media campaign was launched in April and will run until the end of September in ten countries with the aim of reaching the world’s largest ceramic tile and bathroom furnishing markets. Alongside the most populous European countries such as Italy, France and Germany, it also covers Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium as well as the English-speaking world represented by the UK, the US and Canada.

This communication activity is aimed at the various categories of professionals working in the ceramic tile and bathroom furniture supply chain, namely distributors, interior designers, architects, installers and real estate developers. The sheer size of this target group reflects the enormous and constantly expanding range of applications of ceramic tiles, which are now used on all horizontal and vertical surfaces, in interiors and exteriors, in private and public buildings. These products are also becoming established in new areas of use such as interior finishings and non-real estate applications – motorway tunnels and the shipbuilding sector being among the most obvious examples.

 

An appointment with Cersaie

This journey of discovery through products, projects and trends will also continue during Cersaie itself (Bologna, 25-29 September), where five multimedia installations will explore the aesthetic trends and key historical events that defined the various decades. The first installation will provide a historical overview while the other four will be devoted to the individual decades. This chronological reconstruction will help visitors appreciate the vital role that ceramic tiles and bathroom furnishings have played in the evolution of architectural and built spaces. It is an invitation to discover not only the excellences of the past but above all those of the present, which in turn will inspire future trends and developments.

 

May 2023