“You can’t work with stone. It must be respected.”
That’s what my trainer told me on the first day. Ten years later, it’s become my mantra. Being a stonemason in 2025 is still a matter of passion. But today, it’s also a matter of caution.
Sommaire
6:30 am – The workshop wakes up
Morning silence, the smell of coffee… and the familiar sound of the compressor. I open the workshop doors. There are limestone blocks on trestles, tools at the ready. What do I love about this job? Transformation. Taking a raw material and turning it into a lintel, a column, a work of art.
But over the past few years, another subject has become part of our daily lives: dust. The kind we don’t always see, but which penetrates everywhere. In the air, in the lungs. And sometimes, in our health.
9:00 – Dust is no longer a fatality
In the old days, we worked in gray clouds. The old-timers used to say, “Cough it up and it’ll pass”. Today, I know it won’t pass. It stays.
In 2025, we can no longer ignore the dangers of silicosis, the lung disease caused by silica inhalation. It has already taken the lives of some of our colleagues. So we’re careful.
In our workshop, we installed a dust collector coupled with an OberA air purifier. The first captures dust directly at source, as close as possible to the workstations. The second continuously filters the ambient air. The result: you breathe better, you work better.
Since we’ve set up this system, it’s obvious. Less dust on the workbenches, less in the air… and less in our lungs.
12:30 – Snack break and conversation
We talk work, we talk family. We also talk about safety. It may sound strange, but for us, it’s become a matter of pride. Working in a clean, well-equipped workshop also means respecting our craft and our bodies.
It also attracts young people. We have two apprentices. They want to work with modern tools, in good conditions. They reject the dusty workshops of another era. And rightly so.
15h00 – Preserving the gesture, without sacrificing health
There are still those who say “before, it was better”. That may be so. But today, it’s safer. And that doesn’t change the beauty of the gesture. We continue to carve with the chisel, by hand, with the same care. Except that we breathe easier.
Because in the end, a good tool doesn’t replace the craftsman… but it can protect him.
6:00 pm – End of the day, pride intact
I put my tools away. I look at the piece I’ve fashioned. An archivolt for a listed church. There’s dust on my smock, but less in my lungs. And that changes everything.
Passion and caution can coexist
To be a stonemason in 2025 is not to renounce tradition. It means enriching it. It means continuing to pass on ancestral know-how while relying on today’s solutions.
With its purifiers and dust collectors, OberA accompanies craftsmen into a healthier, more sustainable future.
Because preserving a profession also means preserving those who practice it.
