We’re talking stone. But not just any stone, local granite, Breton granite. On Thursday March 17, the Granit de Bretagne association starts its “menhir launcher” operation, it is a reference to whistleblowers who reveal political or environmental affairs.
According to the association, almost 75% of stones facilities in France are from imports.
The mission is simple: to encourage Bretons to learn about the origin of the granite in their towns or the surrounding towns. All this, far from controversy and with kindness; like the smileys sent by the association.
Ratings with smileys
It is indeed with these emoticons, these little yellow men well known on the internet, that the team responds to the inhabitants. The principle is simple: you send a photo of a granite structure and the association responds depending on the origin of the stone :
• a smiling smiley face: all is well, the granite is Breton,
• a grinning smiley face: the granite is imported.
Mathieu Goudal is the president of the association: “It’s more of an observation than anything else, it’s still good-natured. It’s really positive communication, the goal is not to argue. Somewhere it’s more to appeal to citizenship and to the public attachment to the Brittany region and its local producers.”
– Granite from Brittany
300 members to conduct the survey
So to find out where the granite comes from, Mathieu Goudal relies on the members of the association, created in 2015. In Brittany, there are around 800 companions, they are more than 300 to be members of Granit de Bretagne : “In general, we know our granites very well, so we know how to recognize them. By eye, if it’s one of our members who made it, we’ll know it. Afterwards, if it is a granite of Iberian or Asian origin, there we will not be able to specify which granite it is exactly“, develops the president.
There is Asian and European competition – Mathieu Goudal
The idea is therefore to encourage residents to pay more attention to the origin of the granites they come across on their way: “We realize that the general public or even elected officials do not know that Breton granite workers are able to provide substantial accommodations. Today we are faced with a problem, it is that we have real difficulties in being able to place our products in Breton and even French facilities. There is Asian competition but also more and more European competition with products from Portugal and Spain”, explains Mathieu Goudal.
Boosting local businesses
Especially since consuming Breton means making a gesture for the planet and for local businesses: “There is a very simple observation: why go and look for materials 2,000 kilometers away when within a radius of 200 kilometers we have plenty of time to be able to provide ourselves.”
The President completes: “The profession has suffered a lot these years and we want to reverse the trend and revitalize our companies. That’s why we are investing a lot, in particular we are modernizing our tools”
An investment of several million euros over the last 10 years, explains the president.
An idea born from a drawing by Uderzo
For the record, the name of the operation, “launcher of menhir”, is born from a drawing by Uderzo : “It was following an event on the launch of the Album la Traviata in February 2001. A Gallic village was erected in the city center of Rennes. The local granite makers had the task of creating a menhir in Breton granite. thanks, Uderzo drew a menhir made up of Obelix chasing a Breton menhir. That’s what inspired us”, confides Mathieu Goudal.
– Granite from Brittany