Bologna Water Design 2013

Cersaie Bologna and Water Design

The fairs are an opportunity to present new products, to attract investors, cultural and economic interests move, and when, in addition to the fair, all the city that hosts it becomes a place of meetings and installations, we are faced with a mixture of successful marketing and design.

This is the case of the Bologna Water Design that for the third consecutive year, animates the city in the week devoted to ceramics and bathroom furnishings, put on display at Cersaie in the exhibition halls.
In this way, while the fair becomes the fulcrum of meetings to industry insiders, some spaces come to life thanks to installations, exhibitions and conferences open to everybody.

Bologna Water Design 2013

The theme of Water is clearly the theme of the event that from Via D'Azeglio has extricated itself up on the outskirts of the city, presenting projects and interesting products.

Even the stature of the actors invited has been well studied: from superstars to smaller but valid studies, from large corporations to craftsmen, proponents of projects packaged in striking installations.

Former Hospital Bastardini, opened to the public after twenty years, has been the place to house meetings and exhibitions on the water theme, pushing visitors to meditate on the use, sometimes excessive, of the same and to re-think the bathroom.

On this issue, the art critic Philippe Daverio, in collaboration with James Muzio, and with the participation of technical Fantini taps and Platek Light , has been invited to design il bagno immaginato, a new space, almost surreal in which the Water is the absolute protagonist: in a deconsacrated chapel of the eighteenth century, fountains and marble baths of Henraux lay beside friezes and sculptures in an almost timeless dimension, trying to give a new meaning to the bathroom.

Thanks to the art installations all objects have earned a value, even more if they are made with care and attention to materials and details: this is the philosophy of Pozzi Ginori that, in Jewel Light, cages within a grid of lights wcs placed on totems and put on display as jewelry.

The visitor, turning around the led structure could examine, in a very unusual way, the products on display.

Water and light are two of the naturally occurring elements that affect and shape our life in a slow but inexorable way.

Put together these two elements, even if the light is artificial, means giving life to a space in which the vision of the objects changes, it multiplies: and the result is Reflection Design, installation curated by Ludovico Lombardo in which, walking on boardwalks suspended over the water, you reached the products by Falper and KWC .

As mentioned above, the products on display from the major Italian companies in the sector, were flanked by the creations of artisans who still work the materials wisely: this is the case of the installation of Simona Marta Favrin and Nicola Moretti, master glassmaker.
Mostro della Laguna is in the name of the project in which the art of knowing how to work the glass together with the technology create a large reptile that emerges imposing from the waters.

Bologna Design Water and the theme of water use

Speaking of water is impossible not to mention the right use that we should make of it and the theme of recycling.
The water, as a limited good, should be used in parsimoniously: this was the message of many installations of the event.

Le Fontane Inconsapevoli by Studio Benaglia + Jeweller, in collaboration with Geberit, a company that for years has initiated a policy based on water saving, inviting the viewer to reflect on the theme of waste: from hundreds of bottles hanging upside down were slowly sliding down drops of water, whose amplified sound, was marking their uniqueness and was emphasizing the need for a policy of the individual on saving and reuse.

The installation No Water at the space of the former Maternity is carried out by Open Project in collaboration with Petracer's and Resiplast , and MartiniLight .

Even their basic assumption from a democratic and proper use of water, the management of which, however, is often dictated by geopolitical reasons and due to wars between nations.

Hence the name No WAteR, through word games and focus on conflicts related to the exploitation of resources, tries to provide useful advices and tips for a more economical use of water by the industrialized countries.

Bologna Water Design and ceramics

Finally a look at the creation of Daniel Libeskind: Cersaie is synonymous of ceramics, one of the stars of Made in Italy, especially in the Emilia region.

Inside the courtyard of the Prior of the former Maternity, Pinnacle becomes the exaltation of ceramic CASALGRANDE Valley and the medieval architecture of the city: an eight-meter high sculpture, consisting of two facades that are joining at the top, and covered with metallic porcelain panels, which, thanks to the lighting of iGuzzini , reflect and show off the space that hosts it.

These that we have described are just some of the creations visited in the edition of 2013 of Bologna Water Design: we look forward for the next edition because, as it has been conceived, it seems a good opportunity to provide visibility to the talents, to give impetus to the city and to Italy, as the homeland of design and high quality products.