Thursday November 09 2000

Leuck want to share their passion wit

The stonemason has been working for 25 years on the route d'Arles and Dominique Leuck intends to seize the opportunity offered by the Month of Stone to meet the public.

If you are used to considering stone as a mere rock, this article will not interest you. Although Dominique Leuck, who has been managing the stonemasonry firm on the route d'Arles for the last 15 years has enough arguments to make you change your opinion. "Stone is a reflexion, a piece of history..." he says, smiling. It will just take a visit to the showroom to convince you of it. All those many people who think that a stonemason's work is limited to making balustrades and fireplaces are going to have to change their opinion. At the Leucks' : (...), the traditional image we all had of stone is being changed. To those who argue that stone is heavy, cold and massive, they say it is solid. Solid, maybe, but with a little imagination it can be used in the most unusual and unexpected of ways.

This trend is now not only that of the Leucks because stonemasons currently work a little under half of the time in building, whilst the rest of their work is devoted to furnishing. That is where fireplaces come in (and lately with a tendancy to prefer closed hearths instead of open fires)… but that is not all.

When Dominique took over his boss's firm 13 years ago, he restricted himself to traditional activities. However he soon felt like doing something else. The idea was to propose things that were totally different whilst being reasonably priced ! " (...).

All the pieces are exhibited in a showroom near the workshop and the result is surprising. " It is made to last, it blends in with the rest of the house and is discreet " they say in a convincing way.

Seven staff work in the workshop and the work they produce is appreciated by local and French customers as well as customers from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, America and Chile.

The Month of Stone which lasts all November will enable craftsmen such as the Leucks to present all the advantages of stone in a region which is rich in it. All this at a time when things are not easy and quarries and masons are very worried at the number of imitations and recomposed products which can be found on the market. The Month of Stone has enabled the trades of stone to become better known by the public.

The objective of this event is to have contact with prescribers and the general public. Architects, for example, do not learn very much about how to use natural stone in their work and consumers think it is beyond their means.

The Leuck firm agrees with this national operation and they use it in their firm. Thus they have created a web-site to enable people to discover their production and get information about training courses in stone trades and about the history of stone. All through the month, whether by appointment or by going to the showroom " The Stone Mason " will show you

Julie Zaoui
(“La Provence” - Jeudi 9 novembre 2000)