Despite two strokes, Jean-Robert Delmas maintains an iron will at the Forges de la Tine in Millau

Jean-Robert Delmas et sa sirène. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

Jean-Robert Delmas est ferronnier d'art depuis qu'il a 17 ans. Entre sculptures et tourne-broches, il ouvre les portes de son atelier et revient sur un parcours atypique. 

Like every morning, Jean-Robert Delmas is in his workshop on rue Louis Julié. Here, you enter as if you were entering the home of someone you have known forever. It must be said that the Delmas family is part of the walls of Millau, working iron there for three generations.

The man who has suffered two strokes is still standing, ready to fight with a hammer if a piece of iron does not go straight. The sound of the anvil resonates throughout the room, when it is not Mozart or Brassens who occupy the space. "They call him the ironworker Mozart, he always loved classical music", his wife says.

The ironworker at work. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

The place seems to come straight out of a period film. The heavy pliers used by the ironworkers of yesteryear are proudly displayed above the forge and the spits that work by weight would make the most illustrious contemporary antique dealers shudder.

“This job is my whole life”

Despite his health problems, the ironworker does not see himself stopping his work anytime soon. Such a scenario seems to move him, as his trembling voice testifies. “It's my life, ma'am, it's my life, he repeats with conviction, if they take that away from me, they take me away.”

The ironworker in his workshop. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

Originally a locksmith like his father and grandfather before him, and from a very young age, Jean-Robert Delmas quickly turned to artistic ironwork. The blacksmith says it himself, it is not the money that interests him, but rather the transmission of this know-how that he loves so much. Although aware of the risk of his trade disappearing, he passes it on to interested passers-by. “People came to work here for several weeks. The students quickly learned what I could do, and that opened my heart,” says the blacksmith with shining eyes. 

Iron, a material without limits 

If the craftsman, fascinated by iron, sees “no limits. I would like to live to be 200 or 300 years old because there will always be things to do that I don't know yet."  One of the sculptures he is most proud of ? A mermaid made“of a single piece”. The “head of Christ”, exhibited at the entrance to the studio, is another figurehead of the artist's work. As Jean-Robert recounts, it has “toured France two or three times”, as part of exhibitions. In the middle of the room, Hercules fights the Lernaean Hydra, a mythological monster with nine heads. It's hard to believe that it's made of iron, the contours are so precise and the lines so similar. 

Jean-Robert Delmas' Christ Midi Libre – Romane Levi

Ancient know-how 

Jean-Robert Delmas seems to regret the time of artisans, without denigrating the current generation. "Today, people know how to do fewer things than before. Of course, there was no electricity or telephones, which we have now, even though we could do without them."

Hercules against the Lernaean Hydra. Midi Libre – Romane Levi

End of the visit, the ironworker presses the play button on his CD player, Oncle Archibald by Brassens resounds joyfully in the room.“Doing your job and loving it, that's the ideal thing. That's my case and it's a stroke of luck” he concludes, humming the music. 

Forges de la Tine, 3 rue Louis Julie à Millau. Contact: 05 65 60 14 02.