Smokingpipes.com

Q: You are a painter as well as a pipe maker. How do the two media of expression influence one another?
A: The obvious answer would be that both pipe making and painting are two art forms, and therefor can´t help but influence each-other. I see pipe making as a job, a good job, but only a job. This job then requires, if one wants to be interesting and one of the best, to have a certain portion of imagination. If people see my pipes as small pieces of art, that is great, and I´m thankful for that. Maybe my the two influence each-other more than I realize, but I only take the colors and shapes from painting, and use them in my pipe making and vice versa.
Q: Is painting an inspiration for the creative shank dressings which many of your pipes are fitted with?
A: Painting was always a tradition in my family, my grandfather was a painter and my father was a painter. I have lived my whole childhood in my fathers workshop, so it was in the blood from the get go. In some way it is connected, but again it is two different things, so you change the way you work with the shanks and the way you make your paintings, but it is probably connected in some way, shape or form.
Q: We see a lot of colorful shank treatments on French and Italian pipes, but not so much with Danish pipes. What motivated you to work with such colorful shank designs?
A: It is a my southern European blood that shines through, the hot temperament and good portion of imagination. A life with without fantasy must be grey and dull.
Q: Your pipes are also made in a variety of colors as well. Do you get more satisfaction from pipe making by being experimental and taking risks with design and color?
A: The variety of colors is one of my specialties, and I probably have the widest range of colors in the hand carved part of the industry. This is something I learned back with working with Preben, and something I continue to experiment with. I love working with new thing, trying them out, seeing what fits, what goes together, in general just experimenting. I don´t mind the conservative styles, but it´s been done. Pushing the boundaries of what the pipe smokers want, introducing something new that they have never seen before, that is the fun part. But I also like toying with the old classics, for example taking a classic, bulldog, canadian or some other type, but make it with a twist, giving a new dimension, make the smoker go "wow, I have to have one of those.." Thats pipe making to me.
Q: Upon smoking a new Winslow pipe, I’ve noticed that they don’t require much break-in, if any at all. What about your pipes gives them this quality?
A: I have forgotten the secret ;)
Q: Your pipes range from traditional to wildly creative. In general, where do you get your inspiration for the different styles of pipes you make?
A: There are shapes all over, one only have to open the eyes. Use the imagination, and being creative, not afraid of jumping in to the deep end of the pool.
Q: The Winslow “Fancy” has been a new trend lately. Tell me about this design. Where does it come from and what is the history of this large, highly creative freehand design?
A: I think the Danes, and especially Preben Holm started the untraditionally type of pipe making, and at that time everybody had only seen the classics. And after creative people like Preben Holm got the beauty pieces of briar in they hands, they saw that you could make much more exciting pipes with those beautiful pieces of wood. In especially in the export to the states, the wild fancy design exploded, it was some of the craziest years, but even in fancy pipes there were better pipemakers than other, for example Preben, who was one of the best, and thankfully my teacher.
Q: Winslow “Giants” always get a big response from pipe smokers. Everyone is awed by the sheer size of them. They are almost a novelty, but they sell very well and many people smoke them just as they would a regular sized pipe. What inspired you to make pipes this large and what makes them so practical despite their large size?>/li>
A: I only started making them after a few customers asked me if made any big pipes, so I thought "You want big pipes ? I´ll give big pipes.." and all of a sudden they took of, people actually started buying them. But they are good, and like all Winslows, all quality pipes with a lot of work put into them, but again just something that just started out of curiosity and experimenting.
Q: Tell me about working with Preben Holm and how his influence is reflected in your work today.
A: We had about fifteen stormy years together, from the beginning I was learning from him, but also learned something from my creativity. We were one of the most succesfull duo´s in those years.
Q: What is important for you in selecting briar? I understand you use only Corsican briar. Is this true and if so, why strictly Corsican?
A: You have to have good quality, the right sizes and a dependable supplier. I use a lot of corsican briar, but I also use the best pieces from different countries around the Mediteranian.
Q: You seem to be doing a lot of carved finishes lately. What has inspired this trend and in particular, what prompted you to carve the horse-hair finish?
A: Well, sandblasted pipes are nice, but once again it´s boring always looking at sandblasted pipes, and I don´t like being bored.
Q: What gives you the most satisfaction as a pipe maker?
A: To have a job where I can use my imagination everyday, working with tree (briar), looking at beautiful grains, being able to see the diamond in the rough. No two pipes are similar, and if I did not enjoy making pipes, I would stop at once......start drinking wine and painting the rest of my life.
Q: As a pipe smoker, what is your preference in pipes and tobaccos?
A: I love the fact that you have to sit down and take your time with a pipe, relax and prepare the pipe, and choose good tobacco to go with your favorite pipe. Pipesmoking is the gourmet of smoking, compared to cigarets for example.