Japanese Estates: Ichi Kitahara Smooth Freehand Sitter (2006) Tobacco Pipe

Ichi Kitahara trained classically in the art of Baroque-style fresco, learned cultural silver work techniques from South Dakota Native Americans, and has been a renowned senior sushi chef. In 2004, he also added pipe making to his resume. Learning the craft hands-on alongside Hiroyuki Tokutomi, Kitahara quickly became a superb pipe maker. He embraces the creative Japanese pipe-making aesthetic, imbuing gestural shapes with crisp, organic curves and ridges.

This Freehand Sitter by Ichi Kitahara features an arcing profile, with a crisp ridgeline sweeping from the flattened heel, up the fore, and across the the broad rim, splitting the rim's inflated curvature with its sharp, linear form. Out back, the aft forms a semi-circular curve that resembles a cresting wave, descending from the rim, to the transition, and then back up the flaring shank. Furthermore, the flared shank face is congruent to the rim, offering a nearly identical construction just in smaller dimensions, a rather impressive parallel that imbues this pipe with a cohesive flow. Additionally, the stummel is dressed in a vibrant chestnut stain, highlighting fetching flame grain that ascends the bowl's walls to a rim packed with whorls of birdseye.