A paper plane made of sheet metal
Everyone knows the paper plane: one sheet, two hands, a few folds. Jonathan Pielmeier does the same with sheet metal. The game becomes a sculpture – and the light sheet becomes a material that resists every fold.
His “steel plane” is folded from steel sheet just 0.5 mm thin. For it he received a commendation at the Austrian Steel Construction Prize for Students in 2025. The jury writes: “Shaping a paper plane is easy – folding it from steel means engaging with resistance, precision and meaning.”
From carpenter to sculptor
Jonathan Pielmeier was born in Munich in 1992 and lives and works in Vienna. From 2012 to 2014 he trained as a carpenter. He then studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, from 2019 as a master student, and afterwards fine art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
In 2025 he received the Straubing Cultural Promotion Prize. His works have been shown at Kunst.Ort.Rumpenheim in Offenbach, among other places.
Unfolding: form beyond space
About his work, Pielmeier says: “I understand sculpture as an open process. Material, movement and time are sculptural means for me. I am interested in how form can unfold beyond space.”
This is exactly what his diploma work “Entfalten” (Unfolding, 2026) shows. A total of 55 steel planes are made from 173.25 m² of stainless steel. The material comes from a material sponsorship by Peter Zeman (Zeman & Co GmbH), which Pielmeier received in connection with the Steel Construction Prize for Students 2025. When a plane is sold or lent, it leaves the installation and is given a GPS tracker. In this way every journey becomes part of the sculpture: at the starting point the material becomes less, and the space of the work grows larger.
Mirror-polished stainless steel sheet at MVG
At MVG in Frankfurt am Main, Jonathan Pielmeier folded the sheet into one of his planes – from 1 mm thick, mirror-polished stainless steel sheet, right here in our hall. The reflective surface gives the plane a special 3D look: each fold breaks the light differently, and the hall is reflected in the form.
He shows the video of it on his Instagram channel @jonathanpielmeier.
For us it is an unusual view of our own material. We cut and bend sheet metal every day for mechanical engineering, metalwork and workshops. Here the same material becomes a sculpture.
See the plane in our foyer
The plane is currently on display in the MVG foyer at Hanauer Landstraße 421 in Frankfurt am Main. You can see it Monday to Thursday from 8:00 to 15:30 and on Friday from 8:00 to 14:00 – for example when you collect material from us.
Would you like a plane by Jonathan Pielmeier yourself? We will gladly put you in touch – write to us.
Sheet metal for your own projects
If you want to work with sheet metal yourself, we supply cut-to-size parts from one piece – with an instant price in the browser, for collection in Frankfurt or by shipping.