Cersaie, Bologna
Tuesday 20 September

We’re back at Cersaie in 2011, the foremost fair for tiles and bathroom products. This year we’ll be roaming the 36 halls (well, we’ll do our best anyway) in this, the 29th edition, looking for our top picks. These could be products, stands, people or trends, so stay tuned as we bring you the latest…

Bisazza Bagno
They’ve been wowing us with their glass mosaics for many years and the new division of Bisazza promises to keep us just as intrigued. No humble segue into the bathroom arena, Bisazza Bagno has launched with collections by 2 of the biggest names in the business (and 2 who they have previously collaborated with) – Jaime Hayon and Marcel Wanders. Watch this space…

Gessi 2011
Only 20 years young, Gessi continue to make a huge impact and bring new ideas to bathroom design. Last year it was all about getting skinny (shower head profiles just millimetres thick), but in the new collection shape is all the rage, with chunky square, oval, rectangle and circle forms in the ’Segni’ range (translating literally to ’signs’).

Mutina
Hands down the most interesting tiles we saw today. Mutina have collaborated with designers who are well known, yet who are not tile designers by trade. The results are pretty incredible. Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, hot young Israel duo Raw Edges and Rodolfo Dordoni are just a few of the names that have brought their respective aesthetics to the Mutina collection. Highly impressive, and highly specifiable in our opinion.

Marcel Wanders
We met the whimsical Mr. Wanders today, and his mood was as playful as his new collection for Bisazza. The collection is based around 3 elements – a bar of soap (which becomes the bath and basin), an architectural square inspired by the Bisazza mosaics themselves (which become wall hooks and taps) and new antiques (decorative forms in vanities, mirrors and shower heads).

Old and Recycled Trend
Some of Trend’s custom designs are made by the oldest Venetian companies who specialise in traditional glassblowing – it’s great to see that artisans and craftsmanship still stack up against the new technologies. Trend’s appreciation of ’old’ processes and materials also extends to their other ranges, in which they offer up to 78% recycled glass content.

Read on for Part 2 of our Cersaie report.