Tsuge Ikebana: Sandblasted Canadian (Fukuda) (G) (063) (2021) Tobacco Pipe

The Tsuge Ikebana workshop consists of three artisans — Kazuhiro Fukuda, Yoshirou Ohi, and Asami Kikuchi — who individually craft pipes under the Ikebana name. Kazuhiro Fukuda is the workshop's supervisor and was one of the initial carvers that Tsuge sent to Denmark to study under Sixten Ivarsson. With decades of pipe making experience, Fukuda is a venerated carver, and his mastery of the craft is on full display with this Canadian.

Unlike many of Fukuda's designs, which tend to be highly organic, both in shape and accent, this piece is far more conservative, showcasing the Japanese artisan's deftness with traditional forms. As one might expect, this Canadian boasts all of the form's characteristic features, including an upright Billiard bowl, a protracted oval shank, and an abbreviated tapered stem. The elegantly slender and compressed shank and stem keep this shape lightweight in hand and sleek in profile, while the sturdy bowl impresses with its firm posture, softly contoured walls, and slightly bulging waistline. A dark sandblast dresses the stummel and highlights gorgeous growth rings across the bowl's walls, the finish's dark coloration perfectly mirroring the vulcanite stem's hues.