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The aphorisms “God is in the details” and “less is more” are oft quoted, but rarely properly attributed to Mies van der Rohe, the famous modernist German-American architect and designer. Mies was speaking primarily of architecture, specifically his famous ‘skin and bones’ approach building design, but there’s no question that he also intended the remarks to describe a larger intellectual approach to modern design.
So, what has this to do with Jess Chonowitsch? Mies was articulating a kind of aesthetic Platonic essentialism: the chasing of a fundamental aesthetic identity that lies under a more complex façade. While this necessarily all falls short of the Platonic ideal, by stripping away the superfluous, one is left with only that which is necessary and, within this aesthetic conception, that which is necessarily left is inherently beautiful. Of the world’s great pipe makers today, Jess’ aesthetic most closely articulates those ideals.
Jess has argued that, fundamentally, pipes are utilitarian objects and that he is more craftsman than artist. Further, he is a clear believer in the idea that there is something fundamental that underlies pipe shapes, as defined by utilitarian necessity and requirements imposed by the briar itself. Though Jess’ work has been exhibited as art in museums as illustrious as MOMA in New York, he tends to eschew a conception of pipes as visual art.
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Jess is a perfectionist. Though that could describe all or almost all of the world’s best pipe makers, for Jess this is a deeper aesthetic concern. His style is underpinned by a belief that there is an objective aesthetic standard to shaping. His current style is a reflection of forty years of subtle aesthetic refinements in his quest to create perfect pipes that are beautiful and approach that minimalist aesthetic ideal so well articulated by Mies. Jess’ pipe making career is defined by thousands of tiny improvements in that quest rather than a series of large aesthetic shifts. His evolutionary approach to pipe design means that he is incrementally approaching his theoretically unreachable concept of the perfect pipe. There is nothing radical or postmodern about Jess’ pipes or his conception of pipe design, but there is a relentless pursuit of an objective, definable perfection.
This approach is more closely associated with that of the disciplined master craftsman than the bohemian artist, so it is unsurprising that Jess identifies more closely to the former than the latter. To Jess, the discipline necessary to make truly great pipes is all too often lost in chasing the avant-garde. |
Jess Chonowitsch is the grandson of a Russian concert violinist and a Danish concert pianist (hence his not particularly Danish last name). His father was a tobacconist and a pipe maker in his own right and, when he was young, Jess had a career as a drummer. Clearly, artistic, creative blood runs in his veins. Jess and Emil, his father, both started working with Poul Rasmussen in 1966. Sadly, eighteen months later Poul Rasmussen died. Anne Julie, Poul’s wife, ran the workshop after his death and Jess stayed on for a few months, in large part to help her with the business in the wake of Poul’s passing. Thereafter, Jess moved onto the famous Larsen workshop in Copenhagen where he continued to refine his skills.
By this time, Jess already had a reputation for machine-like precision and prodigious efficiency: Jess was making good, high quality pipes extremely quickly. However, it was his relationship with Sixten Ivarsson, from 1968 to 1970, that refined his style. According to Jess, working for Larsen paid the bills, but working with Sixten paid him with a much deeper understanding of pipe making. Jess tributes both of his teachers though, saying that Poul Rasmussen taught him classic shapes and Sixten taught him freehands and, to this day, he still leans on both sources.
In 1970, Jess and Emil started their own small workshop. A few years later, Jess and his wife, Bonnie, moved into a beautiful old thatch-roofed farmhouse in the country about sixty kilometers southwest of Copenhagen. Jess’ workshop is in the flower filled garden adjacent to their house. It is in these delightful, creativity inspiring surroundings that Jess has made pipes for almost three decades. Historically he’s made roughly 160-200 pipes each year, though today he makes somewhat fewer, averaging perhaps 150 per year.
In keeping with his perfectionist mentality, Jess uses only the finest materials. Historically he used only very high quality Corsican briar, though his search for only the finest briar has led him to source some of his briar in northern Italy in recent years. His approach to vulcanite, bamboo, mammoth ivory and other adornments exhibits the same fanatical attention to quality. Jess has purchased the best when able, rather than purchasing as he needs it, ensuring that he has a large stock of the best materials available. Indeed, Jess’ stock of high quality Japanese bamboo is something to behold!
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Jess Chonowitsch has dedicated his life to two things: his pipes and his family. His extraordinary dedication to making the best pipes possible have made his pipes among the most sought after in the world. During the past fifteen years especially, Chonowitsch has become a household word among pipe collectors. And rightfully so. In his quest to create perfect pipes, Jess Chonowitsch has made some of the finest pipes the world has ever seen.
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