Erding: A particularly award-winning masterpiece
Created: 08/03/2022, 15:00
By: Uta Künkler
An excellent lantern is the masterpiece by Michael Faschinger (r.).
Company boss Hans Fehlberger congratulates the champion on first place.
© private
A lantern was missing above the front door.
So Spengler Michael Faschinger simply made one.
And thus made his masterpiece.
An award-winning one at that.
Pretzen – When Michael Faschinger is out walking or cycling, he always looks up.
Then his eyes scan roofs, street lamps and cornices - in search of new ideas.
Faschinger is a master tinsmith.
And the fact that the employee at the Pretzen company, Fehlberger, knows his trade is proven by a high honor he received from the trade journal "Baumetall": Faschinger's masterpiece came first in a Germany-wide competition.
"It's like when the German team wins the soccer World Cup," says company boss Hans Fehlberger, who is pleased with his employee's appreciation.
And Faschinger himself is proud: "That's awesome," he says, "the tip of the iceberg".
After the master craftsman's certificate itself was only sent by post due to the pandemic, without a master's degree celebration or similar, the award ceremony at the "Dach + Holz" trade fair in Cologne was finally "a worthy conclusion," says Faschinger.
A total of 77 sheet metal workers from all over Germany, Austria and Switzerland submitted their masterpieces for evaluation.
In the "Classic" category, Faschinger's lantern convinced the judges the most.
As a reward, in addition to a certificate and appreciation, there is a three-day seminar on church tower roofing at the metal manufacturer KME.
Faschinger, who completed his apprenticeship and journeymanship at the Wildgruber company in Eicherloh, always wanted to produce a meaningful object as a masterpiece that he could really use.
At that time, the house that he and his wife had built in Burgrain, in the municipality of Isen, had only just been completed.
"A lantern was missing over the front door," says Faschinger, "so I just made it."
The curves of the vault in the old stable, which the couple converted for themselves, are repeated in the curved lantern.
The 33-year-old built it a total of seven times as a test in order to get it perfect in the master craftsman's exam.
Most of the copies are now stored in boxes at Faschinger's home.
Born in Erdinger, he bequeathed a lantern to the guild, and one now hangs in its original place – above the front door.
That's the nice thing about his work, says Faschinger.
"You see what you do, you can watch it again and again."
In general, this is a trump card of the trade, Fehlberger advertises for his profession.
As a sheet metal worker, you often have direct contact with customers, "that's really nice," says Fehlberger.
Unfortunately, not all young people see it that way.
He feels the shortage of skilled workers in his company in Pretzen, where he employs 40 people, as do his colleagues.
"We can still need trainees," he appeals to graduates.
Among other things, the young professionals in the company can learn a lot of technical understanding from Meister Faschinger, praises Fehlberger.
And maybe one or the other will learn from him to always look up.
