Davide Iafisco: Smooth Asymmetrical Bent Dublin Tobacco Pipe

Though he hails from Italy, Davide Iafisco is a pipe maker who draws inspiration from Danish, Japanese, and American design traditions. His various influences are channeled through his personal creative prism, resulting in designs that are singularly his own. This "Asymmetrical" bent Dublin is a fetching showcase of Iafisco's recognizable style, possessing a unique, highly organic outline that's as dynamic as it is structural. As its name indicates, this piece boasts a pronounced asymmetry, most notably at the bowl, which possesses a dramatically raised fore and a lopsided, undulating rim. Said bowl stands atop a firm, slightly pointed heel and grows thick walls that flare upward to the aforementioned rim — the visual disparity between the base and the apex producing a considerable forward-surging momentum. Out back, a lenticular shank supports the bowl and flares outward to an eye-shaped face that receives a demurely curved saddle stem. The shank's flare mirrors the bowl's and produces a subtle visual symmetry throughout the composition, despite the bowl's off-center features. Dressed in a warm, glossy smooth finish, the stummel offers a breathtaking showing of grain, with tight tendrils of flame rising along all sides of the bowl and dense clusters of birdseye populating the rim and the briar's underside.