Cersaie 2017

In the year which marks the eightieth anniversary of the company’s foundation, Mapei could certainly not miss Cersaie, the International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings, promoted by Confindustria Ceramica and organised by Edi.Cer. in collaboration with BolognaFiere, which was held in Bologna from the 25^th to the 29^th of September.

Thanks to a growth in the number of both Italian and overseas participants, Cersaie 2017 attracted 111,604 visitors, an increase of 4.7% compared with the 2016 edition. Confirmation that this is the reference trade event for the world market operating in this particular sector, which was completed and enhanced with initiatives to help attract the world of architecture, interior design, installation, the media and consumers.

All these characteristics of the exhibition, along with an overall improvement in various markets, helped register a positive trend in the number of both Italian visitors (+5.0% for a total of 58,422) and overseas visitors (+4.3% for a total of 53,182) from almost every country in the world.

Representation and internationality were the key features of Cersaie, where every sector on show recorded positive trends over an exhibition of area of 156,000 m2: 869 exhibitors (+17 compared with 2016) from 41 different countries, representing a total of 323 overseas companies, almost one third of the overall total. The ceramic tiles sector had the highest number of representatives with 457 companies, followed by the bathroom furnishings sector with 197 companies, confirmation of its importance for this exhibition.

80 YEARS OF INNOVATION AND CONSTANT QUALITY

For Mapei, Cersaie 2017 was once again the ideal opportunity to present its new products and its most innovative, cutting-edge systems for the world of ceramics for the building industry.

The Bologna exhibition was also the perfect occasion to take stock of Mapei Group’s activities and celebrate the results achieved in Italy and around the world. On the occasion of this milestone, Mapei published a celebratory monograph to present the history, values and commitment of the company over the last 80 years. The monograph, along with a collection of short stories, illustrates the most significant references that have marked the eight decades of the Company and the Group. The stories were available to visitors of the Mapei stand. The company website has also been completely revisited to help users look for and use all the information available (see the dedicated articles in this edition).

At Cersaie 2017, Mapei reiterated its commitment to environmental sustainability. Mapei products are formulated with innovative, recycled and ultra-lightweight raw materials and are developed to reduce energy consumption and to have very low emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC).

A good example of Mapei commitment are its EPD’s (Environmental Product Declarations), a kind of certified “identity card” which documents the impact a certain product has on the environment during its entire life cycle. Mapei currently has 172 EPD’s available, which include product EPD’s and system EPD’s for installing ceramics and other materials.

DESIGN AND COLOUR ACCORDING TO MAPEI

This year Mapei wanted to emphasise the importance of design and colour. Thanks to a series of photo-shoots with the Italian monthly interior design magazine Marie Claire Maison Italia, and in collaboration with the Cristina Nava Studio, Mapei recreated two settings for the exhibition so that visitors could see for themselves the kind of results you can achieve with the company’s solutions. Mapei products a “pieces of furniture”: coloured finishes to protect and decorate walls, cementitious products for seamless floor and wall coverings with a materic effect, coloured grouts for ceramic tiles and mosaics, mortars for exposed finish masonry and special coloured, protective oils and lacquers for wooden floors become characterising features that enhance the surroundings where they are employed, without affecting their functional and performance characteristics.

The new MASTER COLLECTION BY COLORMAP® colour chart, with more than 1,000 different original Mapei shades for both internal and external surroundings, were also available for viewing on the stand.

Amongst the internal finishes on show were DURSILITE MATT, water-based wall paint with excellent white balance and a highly matt finish, and DURSILITE GLOSS, water-based, stain-resistant, washable finish for a highly attractive effect available in various bright colours. The collection also includes shades used for the range of external finishes, such as QUARZOLITE TONACHINO, shades for the MAPETHERM external heat insulation system, particularly recommended for their reflectance index of less than 20%, and those for the SILANCOLOR and SILEXCOLOR mineral-based systems.

SET THE MOOD COLLECTION is the solution for your coloured grouts and sealants: 50 different colours, as well as a transparent version, divided into 5 different collections to help designers and buyers recreate just the right atmosphere: Serene, Traditional, Natural, Glamour and Romance.

TILING LARGE FORMATS

In the area dedicated to the display of materials the featured products were KERAFLEX cementitious adhesives and 
ULTRALITE lightweight adhesives.

KERAFLEX adhesives family is a favourite of tilers from all around the world for its performance properties when bonding all types of ceramic tiles, stone materials and mosaics on innumerable and different types of substrate, both internally and externally. Apart from the classic version, the family also includes KERAFLEX EASY S1 deformable adhesive for installing large formats over large surface areas, which is also suitable for floors in commercial and industrial environments, KERAFLEX MAXI S1 with very low VOC and KERAFLEX MAXI S1 ZERØ, the first ever adhesive with zero climate-change effect: any residual greenhouse gas emissions are offset through the acquisition of certified environmental credits.

ULTRALITE is a family of innovative, lightweight adhesives. Unique in their kind, they have high performance properties and up to 80% more yield compared with other adhesives in the same class. These products contain lightweight natural aggregates or glass micro-beads that make them easier to spread and handle (they are supplied in bags weighing just 15 kg).

INNOVATION AND COMPLETENESS

Various new waterproofing products were on display on the stand, one of which was MAPEGUARD WP200: an alkali-resistant, waterproofing and anti-fracture membrane composed of a special sheet sandwiched between two layers of non-woven fabric which forms a perfect bond for adhesive between the membrane and the substrate and between the membrane and the tiles, allowing ceramic tiles and stone material to be installed securely.

MAPEBAND EASY is the solution for rapid waterproofing interventions on terraces and balconies: rubber-backed tape used to waterproof edges and corners and suitable for use with a wide range of Mapei waterproofing systems.

For the urban décor, Mapei showcased the new solutions added to the MAPESTONE line for installing and reintegrating decorative stone road surfaces: MAPESTONE JOINT poly-
urethane binder for sealing grout lines between blocks, paving bricks and cobblestones and MAPESTONE JOINT CLEANER odourless cleaner, specific for removing residues of MAPESTONE JOINT.

MAPEI COLOR PAVING® is the dedicated system developed to create decorative concrete road surfaces with an exposed aggregate finish: a complete product system, from ready-mixed screed mortars to water and oil-repellent finishing treatments.

And still: solutions for seamless wall and floor coverings, such as the highly attractive ULTRATOP LOFT, much appreciated by interior decorators and designers for their versatility and colour effects.

Also highlighted at Cersaie were adhesives and coloured finishes for wooden flooring, such as ULTRABOND ECO S968 1K one-component, high performance adhesive compliant with EN 14293 – Hard class, made from modified silylated polymers, a multi-purpose product offering high quality and reliability for the installation of all types and formats of wooden flooring, and ULTRACOAT OIL COLOR to colour wooden floors.

In line with the latest trends and the proposals available through retailers, Mapei solutions for the world of Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT): a complete range of products that guarantee reliable, durable installation of LVT in compliance with the principles of certified eco-sustainability and in full respect of international programmes to safeguard the environment and the health of mankind. Mapei offers solutions for installing bonded LVT, self-laying LVT, self-laying LVT with tack-dry technology and self-laying engineered LVT.

Numerous winning solutions that confirmed Mapei’s central role in the international ceramics sector at a highly successful Cersaie exhibition which, in 2018, will be held in Bologna from the 24th to the 28th of September.