Cevisama, the International Fair for Ceramic Tiles and Bathroom Equipment, will be adding to its substantial product offering – more than 700 companies exhibiting across 110,000 square metres – with a full schedule of parallel events staged within the framework of “CEVISAMA Lab” , the fair’s ideas powerhouse. Ceramic and its use in architecture, trends in interior design, new technologies and design will be at the core of the programme, which is designed to add value to a fair that is already firmly established as an unmissable event on the international trade fair circuit. The upcoming edition, the 35^th, takes place at Feria Valencia from 20^th to 24^th February.
The Architecture and Design Forum at CEVISAMA Lab will feature some eminent names in architecture and interior design. The programme includes a lecture titled “Latest work and projects” by Italian architect Benedetta Tagliabue, CEO of Miralles Tagliabue EMBT, who will explain the creative process and the process for gaining inspiration that she applies when developing projects such as the office towers she has designed in Taiwan and Taichung and the metro stations in Naples and Paris that she is currently working on.
Dutch practice MVRDV will also be taking part in the Forum to talk about some of their most emblematic work where ceramic has been a key design element. The speaker will be José Ignacio Velasco, head of projects at the firm, who in his talk titled “MVRDV Ceramics” will reveal key aspects of projects that he himself has led such as the spectacular China Comic Museum in Hangzhou.
Interior designer Pepe Leal will be the speaker for the interior design session, with a presentation titled “Tradition and the Cutting Edge”. Leal is critically acclaimed and has a special place in the world of décor. He divides his time between diverse projects such as the style book for Paris Hilton’s new shops, yearly exhibitions in partnership with fashion designer Lorenzo Caprile, a number of resorts and houses and his teaching work at the Polytechnic University of Madrid’s Architecture Faculty.
Another of the speakers at Cevisama’s Forum will be Rafa Zaragoza, creative director at Thinkers Co. In his presentation, titled “Design Thinking, innovating through your client”, he will talk about “Design thinking” as a process for developing a business idea, from identifying opportunities and setting out the initial concept, through to generating solutions. He will illustrate his propositions with examples from the ceramic tile industry.
Another of the focal points of CEVISAMALab at Cevisama 2017, aside from the Architecture and DESIGN Forum, will be “Trans-hitos”, the Architectural Ceramic exhibit. Curated in collaboration with the Institute for Ceramic Tile Technology (ITC) and Ascer (the Spanish tile industry’s trade association), the 600 square metre exhibition is being staged in venue’s main lobby area. Titled “Inter-actions”, Trans-hitos will be an innovative, ground-breaking display of the most advanced uses of ceramic tiles, beyond their standard use as a covering. The display will include innovations such as  MaP+S Project 3D Printed Ceramics by the GSD (Graduate School of Design) at Harvard University, a construction that uses 3D printing onto ceramic and is the result of research by Harvard into how ceramic can best be deployed to improve thermal behaviour.
Trans-hitos will also feature “Esencia”, a display space totally covered in ceramic tiles that visitors will be able to walk through. The project is a tribute to the essence of Mediterranean earth and water and has been created by young architects Sergio Alfonso and Vicente Picó, winners of the Trans-hitos 2017 competition. The exhibition will also include an area displaying work by students at the various Ceramic Studies Departments sponsored by ASCER at schools of architecture at Harvard, Liverpool, Graz, Barcelona, Alicante, Valencia and Madrid, along with the winning entries from the 15th Ascer Ceramic in Architecture and Interior Design Awards.
CEVISAMALab will again be hosting the ceremony for the bestowing of the prestigious Alfa de Oro Awards, which the Spanish Ceramic and Glass Association has been giving for the last 40 year to the most innovative ceramic products on show at Cevisama. Completing the CevisamaLab programme are the Ceramic Tile Design and Bathroom Design competitions, a new prize for the Stand with the Best Interior Design and a series of lectures, talks and exhibits, not just at the fair but in the city of Valencia too. The city is giving the fair its full support this year and has arranged a number of events designed to introduce Cevisama visitors to the “Fallas”, a festivity that Unesco has just declared a World Heritage event.