Coverings, the most comprehensive tile and stone marketplace in the Americas, announced that the number of registered attendees at the 2005 show was 32,228. This figure reflects a 10 percent increase in registered attendees from Coverings 2004, making this the second consecutive year of double-digit growth and the highest attendance on record.
Promoted by Assopiastrelle, Ascer and TCA (the Italian, Spanish and US tile manufacturers’ associations) and by the CTDA and NTCA (the US tile distributors’ and contractors’ associations), the show was hold in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando (FL) in a net floor space of about 45,000 square metres.
Again this year the Italian pavilion was one of the largest of the areas devoted to foreign countries. The CTI mark represented the entire Italian exhibitor area, in particular the Ceramic Tiles of Italy institutional stand designed by the Bernard Tschumi firm of architects of New York. The CTI stand design comprises large open spaces, interrupted visually only by 12 translucent cylinders and 56 tile “curtains” in a spectacular installation coloured with shades of red and orange. The idea behind the design of the stand is that the tiles can be used innovatively as a light and flexible material. The visitors, drawn by the bright colours pulsating at the centre of the pavilion, will be invited to reconsider the possible applications of ceramic tiles.
Last year Tschumi won the “Institutional” category of the CTI Design Award for the Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture of Miami.
Besides the stand, Assopiastrelle and Tschumi have concentrated on other elements that characterise the Pavilion: the carpets along the aisles reflect the basic colours and shapes of the stand, the banners with the “Ceramic Tiles of Italy” brand name are reminiscent of the translucent pipes designed by Tschumi and even the visitor badges will echo the soft lines and bright colours of the exhibit structure.
The stand offered the now customary refreshments while informative literature and promotional publications produced specially for the occasion were available at the information desks. Architects from Tschumi described the project in detail during the CTI international press conference, the first day of the show. The other speakers at the conference – Sergio Sassi, Enzo Mularoni and Franco Vantaggi (respectively, chairman, vice chairman and managing director of Assopiastrelle) together with Roberto Luongo, director of the Italian Trade Commission of New York – outlined the situation in the US market and the various activities implemented by Assopiastrelle in cooperation with ICE for the benefit of the sector.
At the end of the conference, awards were presented to the US architects who have won the Ceramic Tiles of Italy Design Competition 2005.
On the afternoon there was a cocktail party for Italian exhibitors and their customers, organised this year in cooperation with CTDA. The Assopiastrelle American Distributor Award 2005 was presented during this event.
This year, the show’s management company (National Trade Productions) has considerably expanded the calendar of events, conferences and seminars. Specific training sessions have been organised for each of the main categories of visitors (architects, designers, distributors, installers) and for the exhibitors. These include a series of free workshops for tile installers which were held on each of the four days of the show and a conference on 4 May, “Exterior Cladding with Porcelain Ceramic Tiles - Green Materials for Green Architecture”, where Arturo Mastelli (AM & A Marketing and TBD) discussed the technical aspects of ceramic tiles in their various applications, in particular in exterior cladding, with a focus on energy saving and environmental sustainability.
On 5 May, Donato Grosser (D.Grosser and Associates, Ltd.) was given a conference entitled “The US Economy, the Dollar, and the Ever-Changing Channels of Distribution”, which analysed tile distribution flows from the producer to the consumer.
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The Stand CTI designed by Tschumi Architects Studio of New York
Bernard Tschumi
Arturo Mastelli
Donato Grosser
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