This year, CSI Design Expo Americas (CSI America) and Cruise Xperience Innovation Summit (CXI Americas) two-day event held last month, kicked off by inviting cruise line creatives, design studios, procurement teams, and exhibiting suppliers to the Miami art gallery – The Bass- for an invite-only Opening Party, hosted by GMT Global Marine Travel, Bath Fitter, Accomar, and CITA Design.
Guests connected in the central rooms, sipped drinks to the Latin vibes of the live band provided by CSI’s Entertainment Sponsor, Andriali Contract, or wandered along the gallery displays, taking in the art.
By the time the Miami Beach Convention Center opened to visitors on the first day, select suppliers and buyers had already been in conversation during the first round of the curated ‘Speed Networking’ sessions.
On the second day, an intimate ‘Peer to Peer’ networking session took place in the Cruise & Ferry VIP Lounge, featuring furniture courtesy of American lifestyle brand, DANAO. Over coffee, cruise line executives and interior designers shared their industry perspectives and expertise.
The show floor included over 250 exhibiting design studios, outfitters, interior suppliers, and industry innovators each showcasing their creations. From fabrics, furniture, and lighting to immersive on board experiences and service enhancements, specifiers were able to walk the show floor sourcing products for every on board space.
Exhibitors included Janus et Cie, Marine Interiors, Bath Fitter, Laticrete Marine, Aros Marine, Muraspec, SMC Design, Dianthus Miami, Humble Lights, CONDUCTR, and Aquarenato to name but a few.
The contents’ schedule brought together top industry experts, design leaders, and innovators to share fresh ideas and forward-thinking perspectives on the future of cruise ship interiors.
The variety of learning experiences included panel discussions, ‘Meet the Brand’ Q&As, and case studies with a speaker line-up featuring James Mitchell, Head of Newbuild Growth & Innovation – Norwegian Cruise Line; Saleta Valdes Marquez, Concept Innovation Senior Manager – MSC Cruises; Katy Harris, Director, Creative Entertainment & Experiences – Princess Cruises; Nancy Smith, Senior Project Director – The Parker Company, and Tatiana Sheveleva, Owner & Founder – Chapi Design Inc.
The last conference session of the two day event was one of the most popular, when visitors attended ‘Delivering the brand: Aligning refurbishment and newbuild’.
Speakers David McCarthy – SMS Group; Liz Schneider – Liz Schneider Interiors; Gianluca Gugliotta -Norwegian Cruise Line, and Ben Marcionek – Wilson Butler Architects, spoke to a packed audience about how they each approached creating an infrastructure that supported refurbishments, new design features and storytelling that could be repeated and refreshed across their brands.
It isn’t easy to design with now and forever in mind, but the speakers drilled down to the cornerstones of their practices to ensure they delivered designs that feel fresh on arrival and formed a strong base for future brand developments.
Speed networking is always a popular feature of the show
CXI Stage
Over at the CXI Stage, experts explored everything from the latest in competitive socialising on board Norwegian Cruise Line’s ‘Aqua’ to the way that cruise ship dining has been completely transformed.
Conference sessions weren’t the only highlight on the CXI Stage, as day one also saw the ‘Battle of the Brands’, in which exhibitors joined in rapid-fire pitches in a competition for ‘Best in Show.’
The audience cheered on their favourites, adding to the excitement and influencing the VIP judges’ final decision, the organisers said.
The competitors included GEL BLASTER, PLAAT DETAIL, LEDRA, EWP, Polywood, and Enhance A Colour.
Gel Blaster won the battle with the company’s representative, Blake, making a memorable entrance in a gel-blasting suit and backing it up with impressive ROI stats that matched his bold presentation.
Delegates then gathered for ‘Happy Hour’ sponsored by Almaco, Antaeus Travel Group, Crane Worldwide Logistics, and Holovis. CSI Americas and HRDS Future Leaders, nominated by peers and recognised as rising stars shaping the industry, were welcomed to the stage.
For those eager to keep the momentum going, the night continued at ‘After Hours at Baoli’, sponsored by Better Designed Lighting and Capitol Pro.
In addition, the Sustainable Design Summit set out a vision for achieving 100% carpet recyclability by 2030. The session ‘Reducing the mid-life waste crisis’ featured case studies and personal accounts, presented by speakers Benjamin Sasse, AIDA Cruises; Stefan Bez, Oceancircle; Cristina Stefani of Aquafil and Bruce Goff, IHG Hotels & Resorts.
Oceancircle and Aquafil explained how they worked together on the Evolution carpet initiatives.
The projects not only targeted waste coming off a vessel during the ship’s mid-life refurbishment but targeted the materials going back onto the vessel. Econyl, the material in question, is R to R, and can be recycled at the end of its life to return to a carpet.
As with all Sustainable Design Summit sessions, this conference shared insights into the pilot schemes already underway across several hospitality industries and gave experts at every stage in the supply chain the chance to share their insights.
The audience was also joined by four of Miami’s premier design studios for the final conference session of the event, the ‘305 Design Break’, moderated by the American Society of Interior Designers.
The four design studios – HKS, ID & Design International, Urban Robot and Arcadis – each provided a rundown of one of their most recent, and interesting, projects.
From a hotel-based restaurant designed to break the evening meal slump of the three-meal to a cleverly adapted reuse retail project, this session provided an insight into the ways Miami’s top design studios are operating.
There were plenty of experts to listen to and engage with
