Crafts In - Da Nang - Stone Carving

In the villages and the lanes behind the stone showrooms in Da Nang are the empty lots that the stone carvers work in. Blocks of white marble are dropped off into these lots and the carvers come to the stone. Each stone will be carved according to a picture picture available on the showrooms website. The client orders the picture and these craftspeople are sent to carve them. The carvers have been doing the same images over and over so they are pretty quick about it. Each is assigned an area on each statue, blocking, cutting, carving and polishing. Once the pieces are done in that lot, they move on to another lot with more blocks of marble and let the shippers have the statues. The laborers clean out the chips and the lot will await new blocks of marble.
I went to two different locations near each other. One was active and one was waiting for the carvers to return.
The equipment is fairly simple, chisels, grinders and drills. However there is a distinct lack of safety equipment. The carvers don’t wear googles and the mix of electricity, water and handmade tools could be fatal.
Stone carving has been a craft in this area for centuries. The blood of the craftspeople who created the My Son Sanctuary in the 4th century flows thru these workers.