Michail Kyriazanos: Partially Sandblasted Eskimo with Acer Negundo Burl Tobacco Pipe

Name: Partially Sandblasted Eskimo with Acer Negundo Burl
Brand: Michail Kyriazanos
SKU: 002-629-0034
Price: 500.0 USD
Availability: SoldOut

Product Number: 002-629-0034

Three younger Greek artisans, all keen on classic English shapes but also experimenting with more modern forms on the side, and all proving very skilled — yet all also reaching that same point without being aware of the others. That's a quick summary of Michail Kyriazanos, Chris Asteriou, and Konstantinos Anastasopoulos. Well, they may not have been aware of each other before, but they certainly are now — as evidenced by Michail jokingly referring to this shape as a "U.S.O.", or Unidentified Smoking Object, on his Facebook page, as it was apparently and good-naturedly dubbed by Konstantinos while still in an early state.

The actual inspiration, of course, is the Eskimo, one of the more dramatic plays on proportions ever produced by Tom Eltang. And Michail, indeed, seems to have pushed it even further — a chopped-topped, low-riding interpretation of a shape that wasn't exactly towering in the vertical to start out with. Further alteration can be seen in the shank, where both in profile and as viewed from above, Michail has used a more rounded style of streamlining, in place of the straighter taper that's been Tom's standard. In the vertical, this even further shortens the distance between transition and bead-line, accentuating the compression of the shape, while towards the flanks it has the interesting effect of lending the edges a fin-like aspect, as they reach an even greater breadth than that of the bowl.

- Eric N. Squires