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Based on the case of the Faye family, this article traces the historical, socio-cultural and professional trajectory of artisan foundrymen in Senegal. The craft of aluminium casting underwent a major expansion in the 1950s under the combined effect of the circulation of aluminium objects across the continent, the installation of small utensil production industries and the deployment of certain blacksmith and Seereer families into the urban areas of the capital to increase their production. It was in this context that the Faye Seereer Ndut family moved from the rural community of Mont-Rolland to Dakar. This research is based essentially on surveys of specific foundrymen, the Seereer Ndut in the former Colobane site in 2014 and the Cawléen site in Rufisque in 2021. The story of this family allows us to analyse both the dynamics of the rural exodus and the birth of urban crafts in the city of Dakar. The life stories of this family of foundrymen help us to understand the motivations behind the displacement of this social group, as well as their integration into the sphere of urban crafts, particularly foundries. This article is also part of an effort to raise awareness of the challenges of a living technical heritage, in the wake of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).