Cersaie 2010
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If you couldn’t ID Karim Rashid’s shower basins for Ceramica Cielo from the characteristically bold, bright, and abstract patterns, the gals handing out information at the booth were all outfitted in hoop dresses bearing the designer’s familiar likeness. -
A view from above. Imagine aisles upon aisles, halls after halls after halls, filled to the brim with tiles and tiles and tiles and tiles. It was a porcelain-lover’s dream, a ceramic-aficionado’s fantasy, and far more than three days worth of stuff to see. -
Mutina had my favorite booth of the fair, for sure. Design superstars Patricia Urquiola and Tokujin Yoshioka contributed to the new collection and both made appearances at the event. Yoshioka’s Phenomenon line—Rain (left) and Honeycomb (right) was inspired by “the creation of nature.” -
The “Bitten Mosaico” tiles from Patricia Urquiola looked like a minimalist computer chip. Scale varied from small rectangles to oversized panels, but each had the same sized pattern lining the edges. -
Wow. It’s tough to articulate how lovely Dechirer, from Patricia Urquiola, was in person (she worked for two years on the project to get it just right). The texture on the relief elements made it look soft, but it was absolutely solid to the touch, and the geometric web-like pattern was stunning on the large-scale wall installation. -
Another winner from Urquiola for Mutina: Cloud relief. -
Laminam is a pioneer in producing large, thin, porcelain, photovoltaic tiles. Silicone solar cells are applied over the ceramic panels, and the resulting slabs are only 8mm thick. -
Cersaie’s keynote speaker was SOM architect David Childs, whose firm was chosen to head-up the plans for reconstruction of the World Trade Center. In this sketch, he showed how the design for the new Freedom Tower and 9/11 memorial would bring the downtown grid back to the lot previously occupied by the World Trade Center, allowing Grenwich Street to run through the space again while incorporating accessible and engaging public areas. -
Venerable Italian designer Enzo Mari addressed a group of students on stage and a packed house in the auditorium. He encouraged all to stay inquisitive, advocating that no one should be afraid to ask simple questions and learning is a never ending cycle between hatching your theories, testing those theories, refining them, then practicing them again. “School will actually finish the day you die,” he said. -
I’m not generally drawn to Piero Fornasetti’s designs but I did love these graphic suns from Ceramica Bardelli. The larger, Fornasettiana, is 8" x 8", and the smaller, from the Lunario Del Sole line, is 4” x 4”. -
The medieval Palazzo di Re Enzo was a beautiful venue for the evenings’ events, which included a press conference and cocktail hour(s) within the structure’s 13th century walls.
More
From Italy: Urquiola for Mutina
On day two at Cersaie—a very warm, sunny day in Bologna—the booth of tile manufacturer Mutina hummed with excitement over a visit from design celeb Patricia Urquiola (whose work is…
Déchirer Tile
A muted color scheme lets the vaguely pixelated pattern of Patricia Urquiola’s large-form ceramic slabs shine—–figuratively. The bas-relief appears to be pliable, but in reality the rock-hard surface is built tough enough for high-traffic floors or accent walls.
Reports from Italy: Trends in Tile
I spent last week at Cersaie, the annual trade show held each year in Bologna, Italy, featuring the latest in ceramic tiles and bath fixtures.
From Italy: Recycled Tile Wallpaper
Our first stop on day one of our week of tile-mania at Cersaie was at the booth of tile manufacturer Trend, an Italian company that makes enamel, quartz, granite and glass tile.
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