Coverings: Design Competition Awards 2008 presented during the press conference
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The Italian Ceramic International Press Conference, held on Wednesday 30 April in the presence of more than 50 journalists from the United States and other American countries, addressed issues ranging from the presence of Italian companies in the United States to the promotional strategies that the industry is adopting. The event saw the participation of the chairman of Confindustria Ceramica Alfonso Panzani, the chairman of Promotional and Trade Fair Activities Vittorio Borelli, the Association’s director general Franco Vantaggi and the director of the Italian Trade Commission’s New York office Aniello Musella. The second part of the conference hosted the award ceremony for the Design Competition 2008 for the best architecture projects carried out with Italian ceramic tiles.
According to US Department of Commerce figures, ceramic tile consumption in the United States totalled 248.1 million square meters in 2007, 19.5% down on 2006. “The downturn is not uniform in all market segments,” explained Alfonso Panzani. “The residential sector has been badly affected by the subprime mortgage crisis whereas the smaller non-residential building sector continues to grow. This situation has shifted the balance between the various supplier countries. While Italy’s sales have fallen in line with the market, allowing it to maintain a constant share, Brazil and Spain have suffered a fall of more than 30% and China and Mexico have increased their shares. Significantly, these figures reveal that Italy’s share in terms of value has further increased to 42% and that half of US output is produced by companies controlled by Italian ceramic groups. The United States remains a strategic market for Italian tiles in spite of the excesses of a financial system that until recently allowed the US property market to expand enormously over an extraordinarily long period of time, resulting in more than 1,000 billion dollars worth of subprime mortgage foreclosures. China is in a rather different situation with a market share that has increased by approximately 10 percentage points in the last four years, concluded Alfonso Panzani. “This phenomenon is explained not only by the aggressive actions of Chinese companies but also by artificially fixed exchange rates, export subsidies that are unacceptable for what is the fourth largest world power, totally inadequate environmental policies and strong asymmetries in levels of import duties.”
Next to speak was Vittorio Borelli, chairman of the Confindustria Ceramica Promotional Activities and Trade Fairs Commission. “In spite of the market difficulties, the Italian ceramic tile industry has confirmed its outstanding presence at Coverings with 70 companies in the Italian Hall and numerous high-quality events,” he said. “This includes the Italian Industry Gala Evening, which after an absence of several years was back at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando hosted by Luisa Corna.” Communication is one of the mainstays of the Italian association’s strategy. “The English-language Spring/Summer 2008 edition of Cer Magazine International was officially presented here at Coverings, while another major new feature is the ‘New product gallery’ which can be consulted from the home page of website www.italiatiles.com. This site offers some 150 photos of products and installations of ceramic tiles and sanitaryware that reflect the most innovative trends and solutions proposed by the Italian industry.” The calendar of participation in trade fairs and architectural events has been further expanded. “Our focus on the American market will continue at shows devoted to the world of architecture, such as AIA in Boston and Neocon in Chicago,” concluded Vittorio Borelli. “And for the first time this year Ceramic Tiles of Italy will also be taking part in ICFF in New York.”
In his address, Aniello Musella noted that Italian ceramic tile exports to the United States increased in terms of value in 2007, demonstrating the Italian companies’ ability to raise their prices and to offset the fall in the dollar with excellent products. “To offer support to Italian companies, the ICE office in New York runs a Tile Center directed by Valentina Petriccuolo,” Mr Musella explained. “The initiatives include a desk providing information on US distribution for Italian professionals and a website (www.italiantiles.com) which together with those of Confindustria Ceramica (www.italiatiles.com) and the Design Competition (www.tilecompetition.com) make up the most important Italian ceramic portal. The Italian Trade Commission will continue to work with Confindustria Ceramica and the individual companies on the various initiatives, largely through its six branch offices located throughout the United States,” concluded the Director of the ICE’s North American network.
The press conference also hosted the presentation of the Ceramic Tiles of Italy Design Award 2008, the award assigned by the Italian tile industry to three North American architects and interior designers for the best commercial, residential and institutional projects using Italian ceramic tiles anywhere in the world. For the commercial category the award went to BKA Architects for the Samsonite Corporate Headquarters project in Mansfield (MA), while the institutional category award was presented to the Cleveland Job Corps Center project in Cleveland, Ohio by Richard Fleischman + Partners Architects. The residential category was won jointly by Division1 Architects and Koji Tsutsui Architect & Associates, the former for the Roberts Residence project in Maryland and the latter for Industrial Designer House in Tokyo. The Jury gave an honourable mention to the firm Gieseke Rosenthal Architecture + Design for the Northstar Café project in Colombus (OH), while a Legend Award for his career was presented to architect Michael P. Johnson, winner of two past editions of Design Competition Award, for two prestigious homes in Arizona.
After a six-year absence, Coverings once again organised an Italian Evening in the Hard Rock Live in Orlando, giving Italian companies and their overseas customers the opportunity to meet. During the evening, hosted by the popular Italian singer and showgirl Luisa Corna and attended by more than 500 people, the 17th Confindustria Ceramica North America Distributor Award was presented to Jim Voegl from Conestoga Ceramic Tile Distributors in recognition of the firm’s highly successful activity in distributing Italian ceramic tiles in the US.
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