Guess What? … We’re taking you to Cersaie in Bologna, ITALY!!

For those of you just joining us; we won an International Interior Design Competition for BEST use of Italian Ceramics in a Residential project a few months ago. One of the prizes is an all inclusive trip to the Cersaie in Bologna, Italy.  You know what that means…. we’re going to Italy and I’m going to take you with me!!

Now this is a pretty big deal so we have a lot of preparing to do. There’s packing, planning and making sure we’re ready for anything.

Here’s our itinerary, we land in Bologna, Italy on next Sunday, September 27th and spend the next 3 days trying to absorb every ounce of inspiration and insight possible into the Italian ceramics industry.This means eating, breathing and dreaming Italy. Now if you’ve been following our blog … at all… you know that we LOVE ITALY!

Our invitation comes from the Italian Trade Commission and Confindustria Ceramica . We’ll be part of a delegation of architects, designers, and journalists visiting Cersaie so we don’t have to worry too much about planning what to do at the show because they have a program all laid out for us and it includes lots of delicious FOOD! By the way, I’ve heard that Bologna has some of the best food in the country.

I can’t wait to see what Cersaie has to offer as a show. After visiting Isaloni with the Italian chamber of commerce last year its hard to imagine anything comparing. This show however is specialized in Italian ceramics and bathroom furniture so I’m hoping to dig deeper into upcoming trends and innovation. I’ve attended Coverings a few times in Orlando and Atlanta, Georgia and noticed over the past couple of years that we’re seeing a lot of similar trends reinvent themselves; cement looks, better and better wood imitations and now the perfection of the simulation of marble in tile and slab form. Lets hope to be surprised with something really great that we can bring back home to apply to our residential interior design projects.

So far, I think I’ve got everything under control. Unlike me, I’ve been planning for a few weeks now and have had a suitcase on my bedroom floor as a visual reminder of the short outstanding list that I have to gather before our flight on Saturday afternoon.

Whenever I travel I like to keep to a certain color theme to help mix and match clothing throughout the trip. Its hard to predict if we’ll have one or several fancy evening events or just a lot of casual events so its important to be able to dress up or down any given option. This trip my colors are deep plum, dark blues and black.  I’ve even checked the weather and it was looking gorgeous until I just checked it again a few minutes ago… Its fine, LETS PLAN! – Showers?

Top things on my mind are that I need to have comfortable clothing and shoes that can be transitioned from day work to afternoon cocktails and press events. I received the program today and just briefly glanced at it but noticed that we have back to back daily events that transition into a few evening ones. One of the highlights of the show is a conference with Lectio Magistralis – Gleen Marcutt, Australia’s top architect. Now don’t jump to conclusions, we’re not looking to get into architecture but as we work more and more on new construction in Miami, we have the opportunity to work on interior features that can be carried outside or vice versa and its nice to gain more insight into the architecture perspective.

So lets recap, we leave next Saturday night and arrive on Sunday. We’ll be at Cersaie from Monday to Wednesday. We’re almost packed….  WAIT!!, did I mention that I’m meeting Ugo there??! ! I almost left out the best part!! Ugo was DKOR’s spring/summer intern that is back at school studying spacial design in Bordeaux, France. Well a few days ago he’s confirmed that he’ll be meeting us in Bologna for the event.

Okay, Okay, its Saturday and we have only one more week to get ready and there’s still so much to do. I’ll try to check back in with you later in the week. In the meantime, start brushing up on your Italian and please feel free to post any useful pointers in the comments below!

Know of any good restaurants I’ve got to check out while in Bologna? 

Ciao!

-Ivonne.