Situated in Bologna, the culinary capital of Italy, the 24th Cersaie, International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings offers an overview to what is happening in the world of surface design.

Among the world’s leading trade shows, including Salone in Milan, Maison et Objet in Paris, IMM in Cologne, FIM in Valencia, 100% Design in London and Tokyo, in terms of the tile industry in particular, Cersaie stands out as the best show, not just for entrepreneurs but also architects and designers.

Hani Rashid and Lise- Anne Couture’s proposal for the Guggenheim Museum in Mexico is proposed to be clad in ceramic tiles using laser-cutting technology, which Rashid discovered when he visited Cersaie a few years ago.

 
For people in the tile industry Bologna is part of the world championship stage, much the same as Milan is for furniture. Part of the reason is because the city is close to “Sassuolo”, the ceramic industrial city. It is also close to the city that manufactures Ferrari, and both these factors conjure up an image of Bologna as being something between “craftsmanship” and “speedy”.

Especially for tiles, along with the craftsmanship there are more aspects including machines, studios, raw materials and special technicians that play a role. Together, they make Sassuolo Italy’s land of tiles. Whoever enters the ceramic tile industry has to be involved with two destinations that are two-hour drive from each other: Bologna for the trade fair, and Sassuolo for manufacturing sources.

 
The 2006 Cersaie features all the international standards including exhibition space, trading space and related conferences. This year, celebrated California architect Thom Mayne, along with Massimiliano Fuksas are the keynote speakers at the conference entitled “Bologna and Cersaie - visions for a new architecture”. Antonio Citterio has designed the event’s key visual. We can also see that more and more leading icons such as Marcel Wanders, Tord Boontje or Andr?e Putman are playing a significant role in the ceramic tile design industry. Next year Cersaie will have Toyo Ito take part in the exhibition design as well.

Overall, the products at Cersaie 2006 can be put into two groups: natural imitation ceramic to resemble stone, wood or metal, and graphic pattern ceramic, mosaic and glass tile. In terms of style most of the products have a classic base, with same dark and mystic colour tones in response to the latest trend seen at Mason et Objet. Floral graphic patterns can also be found in almost every booth.

 
Wood like ceramic, both for indoor and outdoor, never goes out of trend. Also known as Plank, most wood-likeceramic tiles are Spanish brands. We are told that Thai Plank is as good as other top quality brands, and its price is cheaper. Another interesting movement is a metal-look-tile, which seems to be very progressive - from something that looks like metal to a metal glossed tile that is magnetic and can get real rusty too!

“Leather” always seems to be around in the form of ostrich, snake or tiger skin patterns that are screened on ceramic tiles. We have seen a horse skin tile produced by the Thai ceramic industry, but we don’t know how it has fared in the market.

 
The only Thai brand at Cersaie 2006 is Cotto Tiles whose booth is in Hall 36, which is somewhat tough because there are a number of big brands in this hall. However, being selected to participate in this exhibition is the best guarantee for the quality of this Thai product. There are many manufacturers, especially from China, who are not able to show their products at the fair and they are to be found handing out leaflets in front of the exhibition center.

They do manage to pick up a few buyers from the venue but outside the fair, and this guerrilla action is giving the Italian professionals, who organized the fair, a real headache. []