Tsuge Ikebana: Smooth Dublin with Bamboo (Kikuchi) (H) (032) (2021) Tobacco Pipe

Asami Kikuchi's interest in woodworking piqued during college when she began making small wooden sculptures. Requiring access to an actual workshop, she sought out Tsuge, where she became intrigued by handmade pipes, and subsequently apprenticed under master pipe maker Kazuhiro Fukuda. Now one of only three artisans at Tsuge Ikebana, the talented carver makes pipes under her own name at the venerated Japanese workshop, a rare and quite prestigious offering.

This sleek, elegant rendering of the Dublin design is a testament to Asami's pipe-making skill. The sturdy, forward-canting bowl flares subtly toward a slightly inflated, asymmetrical rim, the gentle waviness softening the bowl's design. A much-abbreviated shank is then expanded by three knuckles of bamboo, the even, rhythmic spacing between each carefully calibrated and seamlessly rendered. The curvature of the knuckles then continues through the domed base of the ebony-hued, hand-cut vulcanite stem, all resulting in a slender, refined and organic aesthetic. The bowl is dressed in a beautiful auburn contrast stain that highlights simply stunning, dense tendrils of straight grain all around the bowl, with gorgeous freckles of birdseye dotting the rim.