SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- June 25, 2026 -- Koelnmesse Italia has entered into a partnership with MADE4DIY to integrate BricoNight, the Italian DIY and home improvement sector's established evening networking event, into the International Hardware Fair Italy platform. The agreement covers BricoNight at the May 2027 edition of the fair in Bergamo as well as the two subsequent editions in 2029 and 2031. Under the arrangement, organizers will implement a structured incoming programme to bring delegations of international buyers to the event. The partnership follows a separate collaboration between Koelnmesse Italia and Collins for Buyer Point, consolidating the fair's position as the primary professional platform for the hardware and technical DIY sector in Italy.
BricoNight Brings Seven Years of Networking History to the Fair Format
BricoNight has been running since 2019, established as a standalone evening event where distribution, manufacturing, and international buyers connect outside the formal structure of a trade fair day. MADE4DIY, the consortium behind it, built the format around a specific premise: that the informal atmosphere of an evening event enables relationships that daytime exhibition halls do not. Contacts made on the show floor tend to stay transactional. Evening settings open space for more direct dialogue among companies, operators, and industry partners.
Marco Orlandelli, President of MADE4DIY, said the agreement with Koelnmesse and International Hardware Fair Italy marks an important step in strengthening BricoNight's role as a truly unique event, and that both organizations share the same goal of creating value for the entire DIY and home improvement sector. He described the collaboration as a concrete opportunity to enhance member company visibility, strengthen distribution relationships, and contribute to the growth of an event he expects to become increasingly central to the sector.
International Buyer Delegations to Be Sourced Through a Structured Incoming Programme
The operational commitment at the center of the partnership is the incoming programme for international buyers. Rather than relying on buyers to register independently, Koelnmesse Italia and MADE4DIY will actively recruit and manage delegations, giving exhibitors guaranteed access to qualified international contacts during the Bergamo event. This is the primary commercial proposition for companies considering participation. A networking event attached to a trade fair delivers different value depending on who is in the room. Securing international buyer delegations changes the calculus for exhibitors weighing the investment.
The three-edition commitment — 2027, 2029, and 2031 — signals that both parties are treating this as a structural integration rather than a one-off trial. Exhibitors and members planning multi-year market strategies have a predictable format to build around.
Koelnmesse Italia Frames Bergamo as Italy's Only Dedicated Hardware Platform
Thomas Rosolia, CEO of Koelnmesse Italia, said the sector needs strong alliances and concrete tools for growth, and that the BricoNight partnership, combined with the earlier Buyer Point collaboration with Collins, creates the only platform in Italy dedicated to hardware and technical DIY — designed for distributors and qualified professionals. That framing positions International Hardware Fair Italy not as one of several Italian options for the sector but as the singular professional venue for the supply chain.
The fair combines exhibition space, sector content, and networking in a single event. BricoNight adds the informal evening layer. Buyer Point — through the Collins collaboration — addresses the buyer recruitment side. Each element targets a different part of the exhibitor's need: product visibility, relationship building, and access to purchasing decision-makers.
Koelnmesse's Global Hardware Portfolio Provides the Credibility Infrastructure
The partnership draws weight from Koelnmesse's broader position in the tools and hardware trade fair sector. The organization operates the EISENWARENMESSE in Cologne — the world's leading hardware fair — alongside the China International Hardware Show in Shanghai, International Hardware Fair India in New Delhi, and regional events in Colombia, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. International Hardware Fair Italy sits within that portfolio as the Italian market expression of a proven global format.
For international buyers being recruited through the incoming programme, that Koelnmesse affiliation provides a reference point. A new or smaller event asking international buyers to travel to Bergamo faces a harder pitch than one operating under the umbrella of a globally recognized trade fair organizer with established events across Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
DIY and Home Improvement Sector Consolidation Drives the Partnership Logic
The announcement describes the agreement as part of a broader moment of strategic alliance-building in the Italian hardware, DIY, and garden sector. The Buyer Point collaboration with Collins was announced in the same period. Both moves point toward deliberate consolidation of the sector's professional touchpoints into a single fair platform. For exhibitors, that consolidation reduces fragmentation — fewer events to staff, a single Bergamo moment that concentrates buyers, distributors, and sector operators in one place.
For MADE4DIY members specifically, participation in the combined platform carries concrete benefits: visibility to international buyer delegations, access to the formal trade fair environment during the day, and the established BricoNight format in the evening. The commercial logic runs in both directions. Koelnmesse Italia gains an event format with a seven-year track record and an established member network. MADE4DIY gains the international buyer infrastructure and organizational scale that Koelnmesse brings.