Art collectors and cultural figures gathered on Wednesday 28th October for the private vernissage of Caroline Bergonzi’s solo exhibition at the AIAP Monaco headquarters. Running through Saturday 31st October, the showcase brings the artist’s striking industrial steel mandalas and contemporary works back to the heart of the Principality.
Operating between her studio in Monaco and an industrial workshop outside Nice, Bergonzi transforms heavy, unyielding steel into fluid, intricate geometries. Suited in heavy protective gear, she works freehand with chalk and a plasma cutting torch, turning cold metal into tactile, three-dimensional sculptures.
From Paris to Manhattan, and back to the Principality
Born and raised in Monaco, Bergonzi left the Principality at 17 to study finance before switching courses to pursue design at the Institut Français de la Mode (IFM). Her subsequent move to Manhattan launched a two-decade stay in the US, where she joined historic institutions like the Sculptors Guild and established a broad international practice.
Her family roots run deep into craftsmanship; her great-grandfather was a violin maker in Cremona who brought music and visual arts together, passing down a lineage that blurred boundaries.
“In New York, I developed my work across sculpture, painting and jewellery,” Bergonzi told Monaco Life. “Returning to Monaco during the pandemic brought me back to my roots, but my outlook remains completely international.”
The three-stage ritual: Chalk, plasma and metal folding
As Caroline explained, creating a steel mandala is a rigorous, three-part meditative process. First, skipping computer blueprints or rigid templates, Bergonzi sketches directly onto flat, heavy sheets of steel using simple white chalk. Next, using a plasma cutting torch, she cuts freehand through the plate, pulverising metal in showers of sparks. “I use a machine with a large claw, and as you cut, it pulverises both the metal and the light,” she describes the process. “It’s very difficult to use, and you make one mistake and the creation is gone because a full piece of metal can fall down, so it’s very delicate.” Finally, once cut, the flat, exploded shapes are hand-folded outward into complex, concentric three-dimensional structures.
The physical act of folding carries a personal metaphor for the artist: “We are all born like a flat sheet with a certain drawing cut into us. How we choose to fold and shape that metal as we grow up in life depends entirely on us.”
Anchors in a fractured world
While Tibetan mandalas are traditionally crafted from sand and swept away to mark impermanence, Bergonzi’s steel structures offer permanent, physical grounding.
“Since the pandemic, with so much conflict and noise in the media, everything has felt utterly shaken,” she said, adding: “Looking into a mandala brings you back into the present moment. It is centring, calming and simple.”
Starting from a single square of steel, the finished sculptures prompt viewers to mentally reverse the process, imagining how the open, flowing geometric petals might fold back into a seamless block.
Monumental metal across international horizons
Beyond her intimate wall pieces, art jewellery, and private villa installations, Bergonzi’s sculptural footprint extends across international borders.
Over a two-decade career in New York City, her practice expanded into monumental metal installations and textured portraiture.
Her public works weave seamlessly into diverse landscapes on both sides of the Atlantic. Locally, her presence includes a notable 3-metre-long stainless steel bird sculpture installed at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Meanwhile, her transatlantic trajectory is highlighted by major past achievements, including the studio model for Metamorphosis, her monumental seven-metre-wide phoenix installed in Manhattan in 2015.
“My original prototypes are like my children, I keep them in my personal collection,” Bergonzi said. “Working on commissions allows me to translate someone else’s vision into the language of art. It’s about communication and connection.”
The vernissage offers visitors a rare up-close look at these meditative forms, bridging ancient spiritual symbolism with modern industrial craft. The exhibition is open daily from 1pm to 4pm and by appointment at 10 Quai Antoine 1er.
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Artist Caroline Bergonzi standing in front of some of her steel creations at AIAP Monaco. Photo credit: Virginia D’Umas