Don not be confused by the name of this craft. There is no chaudron (cauldron) in sight in the Beausoleil (Alpes-Maritimes) workshop of 62-year-old chaudronnier Jean-Louis Martini.
Instead his business, called Martini Concept, deals almost exclusively with motorcycle parts.
The trade used to be a by-word for the kind of vocational courses offered to low academic achievers at school, but Mr Martini’s own gateway to it was a passion for all things two-wheeled.
He competed in four Bol d’Or, a 24-hour endurance motorcycle race held annually in France, when he was younger before hanging up his gloves and focusing on fixing bikes instead. On the wall is pinned a framed newspaper article of his Suzuki 500, a prototype that took part in a race.
The busy Martini ConceptThéophile Larcher
Parked in his workshop is a Yamaha TZ, as well as refurbished parts for a rare Honda Daytona 750 to be shipped to the United States.
“My craft combines a bit of coppersmith, brass working and blacksmith. At least, this is how I understand it,” he said.
Here lies a second common misconception – that chaudronnerie is exclusively about brute force.
Yes, there are hammers, mallets and chisels for roughly bending and shaping the metals. And the work can be deafeningly loud when the machines are in use.
But it requires more precision than most people realise, and good mathematical skills to size each part to the vehicle.
Mr Martini’s pocket calculator is never far away, albeit often hidden under the jumble of tools on his desk. Sketches are also important for accuracy.
The really physical work comes last of all – hitting, bending, rolling, cutting and welding metals as diverse as aluminium, copper, brass and steel.
The Suzuki 500 articleThéophile Larcher
Although motorbikes are his passion, Mr Martini works on all sorts of vehicles, including boats and classic cars.
His interest stems from messing about with machines as a child. When he was 12, he took out the motor from a washing machine to use in an angle grinder. Years later, this machine would be responsible for lopping off his right thumb – one of many inherent dangers of his craft.
He learned his trade on the job rather than through the traditional BEP (Brevet d'études professionnelles) or CAP (Certificat d'aptitude professionnelle) route – first as an intern and employee in Nice before going independent and opening Martini Concept in 1995.
Over the years, he built his own English wheel (a metalworking tool to form compound curves from flat sheets of metal) and a metal folding machine.
Chatting to him about these and other tools of his trade, Mr Martini’s disdain for the increasing industrialisation of his craft becomes apparent. He has little time for assembly lines and mass production.
By the door of his workshop stands his proudest creation – a copper amphora he made during a workshop organised 15 years ago by the coppersmith Jean Boiserie in Cublac (Corrèze).
Dinandiers (coppersmiths), Mr Martini insisted, are the essence of metal working because they rely solely on their hands and a hammer. Theirs is a craft combining passion, patience and dedication, he said, a glint in his eyes.
Remembering the workshop all these years later, he recalled: “You should have seen his hands, passing around the copper to test it, the noise from the non-stop hammering.
The chaudronnerie sector in France comprises around 3,600 firms, generating total sales of around €8billion and employing more than 46,000 people, according to Le Parisien.
However, there is a recruitment drive to recruit many more as a matter of urgency.
Relevant training courses include the CAP réalisations industrielles en chaudronnerie, CAP construction d'ensembles chaudronnés and CAP conduite de systèmes industriels. There is also a vocational baccalaureate (bac pro or BEP) in réalisation d'ouvrages chaudronnés et de structures métalliques.
So there's no shortage of study options for a career in this field.
These courses can be taken as apprenticeships or work-study programmes. Indeed, on-the-job experience is an asset when it comes to recruitment.
