Las Vegas—Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, Coverings’ first day started strong, with a renewed optimism shared both on the show floor and throughout the day’s numerous activities at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Welcoming a new era for Coverings, the show opened with the introduction of its new creative campaign and logo by Maiarelli Studio during the annual ribbon cutting ceremony.
“We’re especially excited to be in Las Vegas to celebrate the show’s 25th year and what better way to start the show than with a little creative inspiration–something we know our attendees look for each year,” said Karin Fendrich, Coverings show director.
Activities were abundant on day one, particularly in the robust conference program. Keynote speaker Sheldon Yellen, CEO of Belfor, the nation’s leading disaster restoration company, commanded a packed room for his inspirational presentation on why companies that put employees first are most successful. Featured speaker Eric Astrachan dove deep into the ever-evolving changes in tile standards. Underscoring the importance of regulated tile installation practices, Astrachan’s in-depth overview brought clarity and understanding to often difficult-to-navigate standards. Additionally, two of Coverings’ sponsors, Ceramic Tile Distributors Association and Confindustria Ceramica, announced an exciting new program to improve shipping procedures for tile and stone containers being transported to the United States. The program aims to save distributors money and improve the delivery of products to its customers increasing the availability of beautiful tile and stone from around the world in the United States.
The University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Architecture also joined in the first day frenzy. Together with Coverings, the school celebrated the finished works of its collaboration with the show–a 10-week course and design competition that investigated the use of tile as a medium for furniture and produced six fully fabricated benches. Introduced in a special afternoon ceremony were the six winning designs along with the course director, Jonathon Anderson, an assistant professor at the UNLV School of Architecture.
The winning benches will be on display throughout the duration of Coverings as part of a silent auction that will benefit Ceramic Tile Education Foundation and UNLV. The silent auction winners will be announced on Wednesday at 10 p.m. during Coverings’ 25th Anniversary celebration.