To manufacture soapstone cookware the traditional way, a pre-formed chunk of stone is fixed to a horizontal mechanical lathe. The stone is then rotated at a fairly high speed, while the block gets hollowed out and shaped on the outside with the aid of different iron bars and a lot of patience and skill. A lid made from a pre-formed disk is then shaped to perfectly fit each single pot. Each soapstone cookware is therefore a unique piece, to which another skilled craftsman will then apply the copper handles.

In this video we show the most rudimentary way of making a soapstone pan. Cookstone, on the other hand, uses modern semi-automatic lathes, which permit a faster, more efficient and standardized production, with a better finish. But the method is still the same since the Middle Ages: a process that requires the skills of a master craftsman.