“I simply imagined a tile and combine it with a stalk. I tried to envisage a Ceramic Eden in all its beauty and simplicity.” This was how Alessandra Parodi, a student of product and event design at the Architecture Faculty of the University of Genoa, described her project during the award ceremony for the competition “Fare grafica. Beautiful ideas”.  

“The competition launched last year invited students attending Italian architecture faculties and design institutes to create the poster for Cersaie,” explained Confindustria Ceramica board director Andrea Ligabue. “It is an initiative that we will certainly be repeating next year.”  

This year’s theme is that of Ceramic Eden. As stated in the competition regulations, it is “a theme that explores the changes currently underway in society as it tackles new global scenarios and challenges ceramic materials, design and sustainable development to establish a new way of living on our planet. In this new approach, design serves to foster intangible assets such as aesthetics, interpersonal relationships and the ability to enjoy a good standard of living and put one’s time to good use.”  

“It was very difficult to convey so succinctly the complexity of this concept,” said Aldo Colonetti, the scientific curator of the initiative, congratulating the winner. “It is the same complexity as that of the ceramic world that meets here at Cersaie. The show ends tomorrow and our duties today including handing over the baton to those who will come after us. The protagonists of today’s events, from Alessandra Parodi to Lorenzo Piazza, the young architect who presented Central St. Giles this morning, demonstrate that Italy is not a country of old people. We created Beautiful Ideas not just to give Cersaie a new image. We launched this and other competitions together with their associated exhibitions to give young people an opportunity to attain visibility and fulfil their professional potential.”  

Franco Origoni, architect and jury member together with Lia Piano, Michele De Lucchi and Beppe Finessi, believes that such competitions are essential for enabling the best ideas to emerge. The projects, of which a total of 123 were submitted, were featured in a dedicated exhibition area.  

“The average quality of the projects is very high,” noted Franco Origoni. “Some were more focused on the theme, others less, but in any case they all displayed a high graphic quality with very little superfluity or affectation. I would advise everyone to come and see them, to get an idea of the latest trends. It is a starting point for creating something new.”                          

“Great designers, some of whom have spoken here at Cersaie, have in some ways an easier task because their work enables them to express their poetic vision,” commented designer Dante Donegani during the award ceremony. “Their works almost always reflect their personality. Young professionals, who in most cases have not yet found their own paths, their own visions, offer a more general interpretation of the places of the ceramic world.”  

This more general interpretation was particularly suited to the theme of the competition because ceramic products are associated with wellness and this year’s competition aimed to extend the idea of “individual wellness to wellness of the planet”. Although it was a hard task, an even more powerful theme was found for next year’s competition and was announced during today’s ceremony as part of the official launch of the 2011 edition of Fare grafica – Beautiful Ideas.  

Called Ceramic Evolution, in the words of Franco Origoni it avoids any temptation to explore major issues or make big statements.

“We must no longer ask ourselves where the ceramic industry is going, but where we want to take it,” he said. It is also an opportunity to return to the true nature of this product, “which has gradually evolved through small alterations, additions and improvements in a process that has given rise to some extraordinary products.”