Cersaie 2025 highlights: between innovation, architecture and technique
The 42nd edition of the International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings held in Bologna from 22 to 26 September sees many changes and new features, beginning with the expanded 155,000 square metre exhibition space (10,000 sqm more than in 2024) and the consequent need for a complete reorganisation of the exhibition layout.
The bathroom furnishings sector occupies four halls this year, while eight halls will be devoted to ceramic tiles and slabs. New product sectors are shown in Halls 31 and 32, including high-quality non-ceramic surfaces such as wood and marble as well as interior and exterior finishes.
Technology start-ups serving the construction sector are hosted in a dedicated area in Mall 37. Meanwhile, the entire installation materials and equipment sector moved into the fully refurbished Hall 19.
Overall, the exhibition sectors at Cersaie 2025 feature 620 exhibitors from 29 different Countries (377 the Italian companies and 243 the foreign ones).
More than 200 professionals will be taking part in Cersaie Business 2025, the international hospitality programme for specifiers and industry professionals from across Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, the Gulf region, Asia and Australia. Now in its fourteenth edition, the initiative is organised by Confindustria Ceramica in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), underscoring the role of the International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings as a key networking platform for international stakeholders and Italian ceramic tile and bathroom furnishing companies.
The hospitality programme also focuses on trade and installation and will host around 60 delegates from leading international associations such as TTA (The Tile Association, representing UK-based installers, distributors and retailers), BDB (Bundesverband Deutscher Baustoff-Fachhandel e.v., Germany’s national association of building materials distributors) and EUF (European Union of National Tile Associations).
Moreover, as part of the trade fair experience, Cersaie's gastronomic offering, with 33 dining options, is enriched this year by the presence of two Michelin-starred chefs to open their own restaurants on site: Alberto Bettini, owner of the historic one-Michelin-starred trattoria "Amerigo", and Massimiliano Poggi, a masterful interpreter of Emilian cuisine.
SPACE FOR ARCHITECTURE
The fair's focus on architecture grows year after year, inviting leading figures in the design sector to participate in the now well-established and unmissable cultural program of talks entitled "Building, Dwelling, Thinking". Indeed, several international names are present in this all-female edition too, starting with Madrid-born architect Ángela García de Paredes, co-founder of the architectural practice Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos together with Ignacio Pedrosa. Their approach reflects a deep commitment to ongoing architectural research, reflected in a shared design vision that informs both their teaching and practice.
Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos has completed more than 30 projects, many of which have won awards at Spanish and Latin American architecture biennials. Notable examples include the Archaeological Museum in Almería, the Valle-Inclán Theatre in Madrid, the Peñíscola Conference Centre, the Lugo Auditorium, the public libraries of Ceuta and Córdoba, and the Roman Villa La Olmeda (Palencia).
Other guest speakers will be Catarina and Rita Almada Negreiros from the architecture firm CAN RAN. In their talk, the two Portuguese architects – renowned internationally for their innovative use of ceramic tiles as a key element of spatial transformation – will share their distinctive design vision and reflect on an architecture that unites aesthetic sensibility, functionality and a strong sense of place. One of their most acclaimed works is Sea Level at the Terreiro do Paço river station in Lisbon (2011), where a mosaic ceiling in shades of blue created using 10×10 cm ceramic tiles creates a metaphorical optical dialogue with the Tagus River.
The program continues with architect Lina Malfona, currently associate professor of Architectural Design at the University of Pisa and known for an architecture that engages in dialogue with the landscape – through suspended arcades and large structures that capture and enhance their surroundings – creating a composition that is both scenic and calibrated for the human eye. In 2007, together with Fabio Petrini, she co-founded the Malfona Petrini firm, later joined by Simone Petrini and Giuseppe Malfona. The firm’s research-driven design approach has explored themes of suburban architecture, including the development of a residential “archipelago” in Formello, on the outskirts of Rome.
Also featured in the "Building, Dwelling, Thinking" schedule is the Brazilian-Paraguayan architect Gloria Cabral, whose vision is expressed through a contemplative and deeply sensitive approach to space, promoting a resource economy that minimizes waste and drawing on Paraguayan craftsmanship to construct buildings with bricks and tiles. A partner for 17 years at the architectural practice Gabinete de Arquitectura (2003–2020), in 2014 Cabral was selected by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor as his protégé, following a search for talented young professionals from around the world as part of the Rolex Arts Initiative 2014–2015. Today, the Paraguayan architect runs her own studio in Laguna, in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil.
The talk program culminates then with the Lectio Magistralis by American architect Elizabeth Diller, who in 1981 co-founded, together with Ricardo Scofidio, the New York–based design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). The practice embraces an interdisciplinary approach, ranging from architectural works to urban planning projects, as well as installation art and multimedia performances. Visionary and pioneering, Diller was named in 2018 among Time magazine’s list of the “100 Most Influential People.” Two of the most significant contemporary architectural projects in New York City bear the studio’s signature: the High Line, a 2.3-kilometer urban park built on a former elevated rail line, and the renovation of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the cultural complex that houses the Juilliard School, Alice Tully Hall, and the School of American Ballet.
THE INSTALLATION SECTOR
The more than 5,400 square metre space in the new hall 19 will be the best occasion for professionals to discover sector’s novelties presented by companies and to attend special demonstrations, with 830 square metres occupied by Tiling Town by Assoposa - the Italian Association of Ceramic Tile Installers and Retailers which works closely with industry professionals and promotes Tile Layer Certification in accordance with Italian standard UNI 11493-2 - and the “work in progress” area organised in collaboration with international tile layers.
A large area is devoted to the association’s training hub, the Assoposa Academy, featuring daily showcases of innovative installation techniques by master tile layers as well as an exhibition of tiled spaces. The conference area will host technical seminars on large ceramic slab installation, where attending architects, engineers and surveyors will be able to earn professional training credits.
One initiative attracting a great deal of interest is the Cersaie World Tiling Lab, a more than 200 square metre area where four teams of young tile layers from Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and Brazil will showcase their skills in creating four ceramic-tiled settings: a bathroom with a shower niche, an outdoor area, a living space with a staircase and an exterior façade complete with French windows. This initiative follows the two highly successful previous events – Young Installers at Cersaie in 2023 and Bathroom Tiling at Cersaie in 2024 – and is jointly organised by Cersaie, Confindustria Ceramica, EUF (European Union of National Tile Associations) and the individual tile fixing associations of participating countries.
Last but not least, leading tile installer associations from Europe, the United States, Canada, Morocco, Brazil and the UK will meet to discuss the most urgent issues concerning tile installation and installer training.
ADI CERAMIC&BATHROOM DESIGN AWARD AND ADI BOOTH DESIGN AWARD
The collaboration between ADI (Industrial Design Association) and Cersaie is renewed again this year with the consolidation of the ADI Ceramic&Bathroom Design Award and the ADI Booth Design Award. Organised by ADI Emilia-Romagna, the ADI awards select the best products and exhibition booths presented at the fair each year. The ADI Ceramic&Bathroom Design Award will be judged by a panel of industry experts, including designers Diego Grandi, Paolo D'Arrigo, Valentina Downey, Wladimiro Bendandi and architect and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Cecilia Bione. The ADI Booth Design Award will be judged by a jury comprising architects Pierluigi Molteni, Elizabeth Francis, Elena Santi and Paolo Cesaretti. Entries will be evaluated based on criteria such as innovation, design quality, sustainability, technological research and communicative value. The aim is twofold: to showcase the work of exhibiting companies and to guide selected products toward inclusion in the ADI Design Index, the official shortlist for the Compasso d'Oro Award, Italy’s most prestigious design accolade.
