Marilena Bergamini
Traces of a Creative Life
Born in Turin, Marilena Bergamini resides and creates in Silva di San Martino Canavese. A versatile artist, she transitions seamlessly across design, painting, and sculpture. Since the early 1980s, her paintings and graphic works have graced numerous galleries both in Italy and internationally. Her fascination with geometric progressions, the dynamic interplay of pure forms in space, and her exploration of varied materials drew her to sculpture—with ceramics becoming her main expressive medium. This led her to Canavese, where she delved into the composition of clays and their artistic possibilities.
She graduated in ceramics from the Art Institute and attended courses at the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Turin. Alongside her extensive exhibition work, featuring numerous group shows in France, Switzerland, Japan, and Italy, she also teaches ceramics from elementary through high school levels. From 1992 to 2002, she participated in the Castellamonte International Ceramics Exhibition.
Awards and Recognition
Artist and Designer: A Global Journey
In 1995, she won the prestigious INAX DESIGN PRIZE, an international ceramic design competition. As a guest of the Inax Craft Studio in Tokoname, she spent time in Japan, perfecting her design techniques and research in artistic industrial design. She exhibited in Tokyo, Hokkaido, and Tokoname.
Her installations have been featured at the Sculpture Exhibition in Perarolo (VI) and the Cersaie industrial exhibition in Bologna (BO), as well as in Carouge (Geneva) and Sarreguemines, France, and at the Musée Suisse du Jeu in Tour-la-Peliz, Switzerland. She designed a collection of special pieces for flooring and furnishing accessories for SIRE, Italy’s leading klinker manufacturer, featuring innovative modular decorations and production techniques.
Her research is now focused on two main areas. The first is the study and creation of modular elements for industrial and residential buildings, intended for restoration and conservation. The second activity involves the design of ceramic elements in various forms (tiles, bricks, slabs, etc.) to be used as decoration in prestigious architectural contexts.
She is also active in recycling design and upcycling design.
She conducts educational activities for children and adults at her studio workshop, nestled in a beautiful woodland. These workshops cover sculpture, Raku, molding, forming, and the construction and use of kilns. Workshops also involve the use of ceramics, clay, terra sigillata, resins, and wood.
