Tsuge Ikebana: Sandblasted Acorn with Horn (Fukuda) (H) (094) (21) Tobacco Pipe

Kazuhiro Fukuda is the leader of Japanese marque Tsuge's Ikebana workshop, a small outfit of three artisans who carve the brand's most superlative pipes. Known as the "flowers of the pipe world," the Ikebana moniker literally translates to "living flowers" in English, a reference to the highest art of Japanese flower arrangement and to the quality of the work the trio does, as if they breathe life into the briar that they carve through their shaping. Fukuda was a student of Sixten Ivarsson's in the 1960s and went on to mentor a young Kei'ichi Gotoh in 1981. As such, Fukuda's shaping style shows a degree of Danish influence, most apparent in his Acorn renditions — akin to Sixten's iconic Peewit design.

The bowl on this piece is characterized by soft supple curves that rest perfectly in the hand. The bowl is rather elongated, with supple curves that culminate in a spurred heel and seamlessly domed rim. Out back, behind a pinched transition, the round shank joins a gently flared horn ferrule and push-style vulcanite saddle stem, hand-cut. Dressed in a crisp black sandblast, the stummel displays fine ring grain around the bowl, with plenty of texture to keep the fingers engaged, while the horn accent offers a fitting contrast to the otherwise reserved palette.