Tsuge Ikebana: Sandblasted Bent Apple (Kikuchi) (F) (043) (2023) Tobacco Pipe

Tsuge's Ikebana workshop is one driven by artistry, with its three artisans crafting pipes in their own unique styles. As such, each Ikebana pipe possesses a distinctive character, all unified by an underlying appreciation for the beauty of the natural world. Among their talented team of artisans is Asami Kikuchi, the youngest of the three, who was mentored by the workshop's master pipe maker, Kazuhiro Fukuda. Kikuchi boasts a versatile shaping acumen, with her work showing a penchant for both sleek, svelte profiles and compact, robust proportions, the latter of which is rendered handsomely in this example. Possessed of a gestural disposition, this bent Apple by Kikuchi displays the signature organicism of the Ikebana workshop, the design replete with soft contours and a fluid sense of line. Squat and plump, the bowl's figure conforms naturally to the hand as its supple walls curve from the sweeping heel toward a broad, low-set waistline before tapering to the rim. A muscular oval shank lifts out of the transition from the bowl and joins to a gracefully arcing saddle stem, the pair's posture poised for comfortable smoking. Dressed in a crisp, inky sandblast, the stummel displays waves of rippling growth rings wrapping around the bowl and blasted birdseye along the underside, with the rim's rich, smooth finish offering a touch of contrast to this pipe's otherwise reserved palette.