Additional information
by Jacques Roulland (Author)
This second book intends to tell the worldwide history of fibre-cement: birth, process, improvements, crisis, competition between local producers and international groups willing to gain monopoly. The topics are explained with archives, pictures and links to contemporary operators. The book does not forget humour, through side notes from players. It adds a look at Art and Architecture, with a wink to famous painters and sculptors who worked on fibre-cement paste or sheets. It emphasizes how, despite a certain aversion, the fibre cement industry improved the lives of millions of people around the world, built houses and, until recently, water networks
Author Biography
Jacques Roulland, who has now retired from selling felts and a few other tools for the fibre-cement industry, visited large and small factories in around forty countries on four continents for around 30 years. After writing a first book about the company he worked for, he wanted to write the completely unknown history of the fibre-cement industry. For this purpose, he managed to meet and interview many engineers and workers whom he had come to know over the years. The result was a French book, in 2019, a Spanish adaptation in in 2020, with the help of several experts from Spain and Latin America. And now comes the English version, proofread by a very kind and experienced lady working for a long time in the fibre-cement world.
