NEW YORK, NY--The Italian ceramic tile industry sees every tradeshow as an opportunity to work with great designers to show off the potential of the material. For the North American market, Coverings is the show when the entire tile industry comes together and the Italians host thousands of guests at a bustling 3000-square-foot exhibit in the heart of an Italian pavilion. This fall, Confindustria Ceramica, the Association of Italian Ceramics, has joined forces with Architizer, a dynamic online community, to find the next designer of the Ceramic Tiles of Italy Coverings Exhibit. Interested architects are asked to submit projects online. The winning team will receive a $25,000 prize package.

This new exhibit will join a stellar line-up of innovative tile pavilions. Since 1991, Italian tile has called on architects from prominent studios to create an exhibit that does not only inspire, but serves the very functional purposes of reception, info point, café and trattoria.  Past exhibits have been created by design luminaries such as Stanley Tigermann, Arquitectonica, Aldo Rossi, Gaetano Pesce, James Wines SITE, Bernard Tschumi, Mitchell Mauk and Michael P. Johnson.