Stone-Ideas.com 
The three pictures show Austrian stonemason Melanie Seidl: above on a poster as a “heroine” for her profession, below in an ancient Egyptian pose on her own Linkedin page, and at the ceremony for the Bawag Women’s Award in February 2025. She received this prize for her commitment to the craft and to a modern role for women.
She first appeared in public in 2011. That was at the WorldSkills in London, where she was the first woman to compete as a stonemason at this world championship of professions. After all, she came fifth.
A year later, at the EuroSkills in Spa, Belgium, she was first and won the gold medal.
The experience of fame was impressive, she is quoted on a Skills Austria website: “Everyone wants you.” A perfect start for a career among the well-known and conspicuous. But what did Melanie Seidl do with it?
She moved to the Austrian mountains to the Mayrhofalm near Werfenweng at 1570 meters above sea level and has been hosting guests there in summer ever since. The great passion for stonemasonry she did not leave behind: She has set up a workshop there and is happy to explain to visitors what this profession and her fascination for it are all about.
In the valley and further afield, she regularly offers young people introductions to the stonemasonry profession. A while ago, she ran a vocational camp in Salzburg. “I think it’s extremely cool to pass something on to young people,” she is said.
She has remained down to earth, no doubt about it. “Hoamatstoa” is the generic term for her business model. With “Heimatstein” (Stone From Home), we want to cautiously attempt a translation into High German.
For her, the fascinating thing about stonemasonry is “shaping a rigid element, making something for eternity. I don’t have to buy expensive raw materials, I use what‘s lying around on my doorstep.”
And last but not least: “I am almost always outside in the fresh air, sparing myself the gym and solarium.”
Already as a child, she was gripped by a passion for nature‘s materials, she says.
The Bawag Women‘s Prize is awarded by the homonymous financial group based in Vienna. We mention it here not so much because it is endowed with €5,000, but because it has proven its seriousness over the past ten years. The award is bestowed to women who go their own way and can be role models.
In 2022, Melanie Seidl had already received one of the Austrian National Prizes. It was given to people who had made an outstanding contribution to the positioning of women in society.
In 2016, she passed the examination to become a master craftswoman in her profession.
We found an online video (in German) showing her on her Mayrhofalm.
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