July 11, 2019

Cevisama, BBConstrumat, Piscina&Wellness Barcelona, Paysalia 2019 – towards a new concept of fair!

Today, with the Internet in our pockets, we are able to find any product with a simple click. We can check its characteristics and qualities and even simulate its use with easy applications. So, one question arises spontaneously: how do fairs adapt in this virtual madness? Fairs are part of a typology of marketing that still needs the face to face engagement, so how are organizations dealing with the virtual needs of consumers? On the latest fairs we have seen that fair organizations are changing their strategies and going towards new concepts.

Among the latest, there are four fairs that stand-out for their character. The Piscina&Wellness Barcelona is distinguished for its experiential activities program, while the French fair of landscape Paysalia for its initiatives which bring visitors in the city. The Cevisama of Valencia and the BBConstrumat focus more on architecture and interior design, becoming innovation hubs where to discuss the last trends with different professionals’ categories.

In 2019, many organizations are adopting new conceptual approaches, in order to find their own way to stand out! SAS is closely following these new trends, participating in the most interesting fairs among Europe, such as Piscina&Wellness in Barcelona, the Paysalia in Lyon and Cevisama in Valencia.

Trends in fairs

After the great success of 2017, Barcelona Fair is preparing a new -and even more appealing- edition of the Piscina&Wellness – Global Aquatic Experience. At its 14th edition, this biannual event is a fixed appointment for the sector professionals. Beside a more traditional expo area, the fair set an “Experience Area”, with the opportunity of testing the products first hand, and the “Innovation Zone”, where to discover the newest trends while assisting to conferences and networking events. In the last edition, SAS presented swimming pools copings, where quality was accompanied by a modern range of colors.

On their last edition, 750sqm of showroom of the Piscina&Wellness were dedicated to “Direct Experience”, which is a core element of this event since 2015. The fair recreated a real wellness center where visitors are able to assist demonstrations. In the next edition, which will take place from 15th to 18th of October of 2019, visitors will be able to interact and to also receive aesthetics treatments.

This year edition followed the line of BBConstrumat, focusing its attention on Interdisciplinary Debates. The 2019 edition of Piscina&Wellness was preceded by an official meeting in Madrid, organized in collaboration with ASOFAP – the Spanish Association of Pools Professionals. During this event, professionals of engineering, medicine and environment discussed new solutions, focusing on sustainability, water use and how digital transformation affect the sector.

For those who focus on the outdoors market, the fair of Paysalia is a must. Paysalia – The exhibition Landscape, Garden and Sport is the first fair completely dedicated to garden products, and takes place in EUREXPO of Lyon every two years. The edition 2017 had a quite good success, with almost one thousand exhibitors, which is a record for such a specific event, and it also doubled its visitors from the previous edition.

In this event SAS presented its two most modular products: the TALÚS and the SAS-TRIA. Both solutions allow architects and landscape architects to play with slopes, textures, and details, all while reinforcing the aesthetics of spaces. The flexibility of both products followed the trend of this event, attracting many curious visitors! Paysalia was all about innovative ideas!

The fair promoted this originality through activities like the “Green City Day”, during which visitors are invited to go on site of the most important urban projects of Lyon and to discuss them with international experts and local authorities.

But this is not the only innovative idea of the fair. Since 2011, Paysalia organizes the contest “Carré des Jardiniers“, which is open to all professional landscapers and entrepreneurs. The “Carré des Jardiniers” prize rewards who imagines, designs and realizes an exceptional garden installation. Competitiveness and Innovation are the keywords of this 2019 contest, where the theme is the village square, which is intended as a place of gathering and exchange, embodying the values of freedom, equality and civic participation.

The city of Lyon teamed up with Paysalia to offer a new approach to fairs, making the city a life showroom ready for debate.  

The beginning of 2019 had Cevisama in the center of everyone’s attention. The International Fair for Ceramic Tiles and Bathroom Furnishing is among the most important events for retailers, manufacturers, property developers, architects and interior designers. This year, on their 37th edition in Valencia, more than 90.000 visitors gathered in the nine pavilions, making it the best edition. Cevisama has become the top commercial platform where professionals meet for discussing the latest trends and it is attracting each year more architects and interior designers.

During Cevisama 2019, SAS found its place presenting a great range of colors for pavements and its new line of fence building system, the Toscana Modular Fence. This three-piece module and their complements allow users to be part of the walling design. During Paysalia, Toscana Modular Fence stand out for its multiple combinations, which offer a great game of sun and shade, while adding texture to the fence. Showing the diverse possibilities of concrete was a challenge on such a specialized fair, but the centenary company found its way.

This year the Architecture and Design Forum of the fair was characterized by and intense program of conferences and round tables with important names of architecture international panorama, such as Jacques Herzog, Dominique Perrault, Enrique Sobejano and Carme Pinós. In addition, a thematic series was dedicated to interior design, with the participation of personalities such as Matteo Ferrari and Pepe Cortés.

The 2020 edition promises an even more intense panel of experts where architects such as Benedetta Tagliabue, CEO of Miralles Tagliabue EMBT and José Ignacio Velasco from the Dutch practice MVRDV will be part of the Forum. They will both talk about their creative processes, and they might even reveal key aspects of their latest projects. Cevisama 2020 already has all eyes on their event, and the professionals in the market know it.

On top of their ambitious program, Cevisama organizes the exhibition of Architecture and Interior Design in Ceramics –Trans-hitos 2019. Over the past 15 years, this exhibition has the overall goal to show the potentiality of ceramic as construction material. In this framework, a series of competitions are organized under a number of categories: architecture, interiors and graduation projects. A great example of this ideas competition is the image presented by Nihil Estudio, “House of Cards”, where their big format challenges typical uses.

As we’ve seen 2019 fairs have brought us very innovative proposals, and the 40th edition of Barcelona Building Construmat – “Building what’s next” didn’t felt shy on this trend. BBConstrumat is an international biannual event that has been a must for the professionals of the construction sector. This year it was hosted at the beginning of May, and their distinctive trait was its focus on networking activities. Catalogues and gadgets left space to talks and debates. The fair made its main focus to become a place for exchanging ideas and experiences. In addition, the entire event was (almost) paper free!

Important names of the international panorama, such as Neil Leach, Mario Carpo, David Basulto and Lola Sheppard joined the activities, rising the expectations of assistants who didn’t know what to expect from the redesigned concept of BBConstrumat.

The first visual impact, on this year edition, was the temporary installation designed by the architect Josep Ferrando, which was the undisputed protagonist. The entire pavilion was organized around an ephemeral “basilica”, put together with only two construction materials: large white awnings, which will be reused for future projects, and gigantic steel beams transformed in benches or counters, which come straight from the Sagrada Familia building site. The intangible meaning of the materials behind Ferrando’s concept gave the assistants the feeling of a new type of fair, where the “unexpected” was the keyword!

BBConstrumat not only brought us the intangible feeling of the ephemeral Basilica but gave us the unexpected with the augmented reality software of the project MADCELONA. The project presented by the IED Madrid in the Future Arena, showed the potentialities of augmented reality software in the participation processes. Wearing the special glasses, it was possible to live a virtual reality experience in a district of Madrid, where the experts designed the new square through a participatory process organized with the neighbors. Not “being able to be there”, will never be a limitation again.

Following this trend, other participatory programs where presented on this 2019 edition. An example is the social program called APROP – Allotjaments de Proximitat provisionals  (Temporary Local Lodgings), presented by the Barcelona Municipality. This innovative project aims to strengthen the city social housing policies and to avoid the expulsion of local inhabitants from their neighborhoods.

It is undeniable that fairs have found a way to adapt to the changes of the market by aiming for innovation. The need of face to face engagement hasn’t limited how organizations are dealing with the virtual needs of consumers, but it has only potentialize it. The latest fairs prove that new changes are in the air, and that we are all going towards new concepts.

Are you ready for it?