Cersaie 2010 - new trends
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Established position of the fair
The number of visitors to the fair remains constant. This year, there were over 83,000 visitors, including 25,000 from abroad (an increase of 7.9%). 1,012 exhibitors from 33 countries (263 non-Italian exhibitors) exhibited on 176,000 square meters of space. The fair was visited by more foreigners than in the previous year and a smaller number of Italians (58,326 – a decrease of 4.25%). As usual, there was no shortage of media. 738 journalists appeared at the fair. The stigma of the crisis was clearly felt at last year's fair and this year there was no significant qualitative change. Nevertheless, there were some encouraging novelties that stood out against the background of other fair proposals.
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Urban style in tiles and interesting textures
Particular attention was drawn to the adaptations of urban graffiti for the purposes of interior design.
- The first proposals of this type were presented by Reffin, whose tiles are decorated with graffiti in shades of grey. The Spanish Peronda went a step further, whose tiles are covered with colorful graffiti, in addition, these are paintings by Banksy. This is a completely fresh trend that is different from anything that has been presented so far. Peronda's proposals from the Chic series are tiles with a delicate satin surface, in gray colors, which can be presented seriously or covered with graffiti, which perfectly match bold interiors - says Kazimierz Kaźnica from Max-Fliz.
Graffiti tiles made of porcelain stoneware are universal - they can be used both on the wall and on the floor.
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- Another interesting trend is spatial tiles with an interesting texture from such factories as Porcelanosa, Venis and Venus. There are waves, cubic cubes and waffled surface of the tiles. Last year we had to deal with the beginnings of this trend and now it is clear and is presented in new colors - black, gray and delicate ecru colors have been added to white - says a representative of Max-Fliz.
It was also impossible not to notice the Porcelanatto brand at the fair, which established cooperation with the outstanding designer Karim Rashid, who designed the no-stalgia collection, distinguished by its avant-garde design.
Stones and wood imitations
The general trend that has been noticed by almost every manufacturer is tiles stylized as natural stones and tiles imitating a wooden floor. All factories refer to eco-friendliness and, like last year, boast the percentage of recycled material used in production.
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- There were a lot of tiles imitating natural stone, but not marble or travertine, but slates, granites and sandstones. Factories diversifying their offer offer various ways of cutting the stone, along the veins or horizontally, thanks to which it is possible to achieve various stylistic effects - says Diana Włodarczyk from Max-Fliz.
The Italian Taggina, a company that can be considered one of the most important, focused on textures and very strict colors, surprisingly not Italian style. The manufacturer presented a series for spa equipment - tiles, along with special parts to make a paddling pool and which can be laid around the pool - a very modernist proposal that seems to be too far into the future.
Towards larger formats
In the case of ceramic tiles, the sizes in which they are produced are also important, because it translates into the possibilities of their stylistic use.
- Formats are getting bigger. For a while, the 20x50 cm trend dominated, which resulted from the poor situation of the factories. This format reduced production costs and guaranteed greater profitability. Now even larger formats of 25x70 cm and 60x120 cm dominate in the products of such factories as Ragno Ceramiche or Sant'Agostino - says Diana Włodarczyk from Max-Fliz.
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New technologies
The Fiandre company shined with a technological curiosity, whose tiles are covered with a special antibacterial coating.
- Active series tiles are anti-pollution, anti-bacterial and self-cleaning. This is made possible by a special photocatalytic surface, which decomposes harmful substances settling on it, similarly with bacteria - explains Max-Fliz specialist.
Is the crisis still visible?
According to Max-Fliz experts, when it comes to ceramic tiles, no progress can be seen compared to last year. There were more Spanish factories than in previous years.
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- This may be due to the extremely difficult situation on the Spanish market. Spanish producers choose to exhibit at the Italian fair and will probably be absent from the local fair in Valencia. They want to show themselves at the biggest industry event, because this is where the most buyers are , says Kazimierz Kaźnica .
Summing up this year's Cersaie, it is also worth adding that there were many more new products in terms of ceramics than last year.
- Matt, satin ceramics with a pearl glow began to appear. There were a lot of economic series for less affluent customers looking for interesting products - says Diana Włodarczyk .
The fair in Bologna is the largest industry event of this type. You can still see that the industry has not yet dealt with the crisis, but it was noticeable that, unlike last year, stylistic novelties began to appear. Soon they will also hit our market through Max-Fliz stores.
