Route 40 at Cersaie 2023

‘Route 40’ of Cersaie is the name chosen for forty years of architectural landscapes shaped by ceramics and bathroom furnishings.

Cersaie owes its great success to its being the place where creativity takes shape, where innovation and anticipation turn into events and products; a multidisciplinary and multicultural place where surfaces and products for tomorrow’s ideal habitat are imagined, designed and presented.

On their stands, companies display their products in such a way to create a vision of a holistic design solution, combining outdoor and indoor spaces to create an environment that respects the needs of people and nature, in which specialists illustrate the stylistic features of the different collections and share their know-how on new materials.

In this setting, prominent architectural firms interact with the public by presenting their vision and explaining the origin of their designs. In the conference area, they analyse how architecture can improve social surroundings.

Cersaie is also the place where over the past forty years countless facets of design have been shown in an unusual and entertaining way: just think of the fashion show of clothes made from tiles in the early 1980s, the playful seating of ‘Sit down, please’, the use of ceramics in the ‘Cer Sea’ bathing establishment idea or the visionary train of ‘Cer-Stile’, to name just a few examples. 

To mark the 40th edition of Cersaie, the exhibition space will feature a fascinating route reliving 40 years of its evolution, focusing on design, technology, products and companies that have made history. Route 40 takes the visitor through the defining moments of these four decades, illustrating the major changes that have taken place in culture, society, design and production.

Curated by Davide Vercelli and designed by Dario Curatolo, Route 40 will wind its way through the halls of Cersaie, starting from the Quadriportico – the starting point and conceptual link in this fascinating tale – and will continue in Gallery 21-22, 25-26 and in the Mall of Hall 37 with displays narrating each decade. This itinerary is not intended as a nostalgic experience, but a demonstration of Cersaie’s key role in proposing avant-garde products and steering the market and ceramic design, becoming over the decades a cultural platform for informing and influencing all trade professionals.