Chris Asteriou: Smooth Strawberry with Curly Birch (28/18) Tobacco Pipe

Out of all of Chris Asteriou's renditions of the Strawberry shape, this one takes the cake for most extravagant of form. With a drastic flare, the fore and aft of the bowl bulge in stark contrast to the accentuated heel spur below — a convention within Chris's work. It makes for a profile whose silhouette comes across as almost heart shaped. Within the form's organic curves, though, Chris has imbued the shape with a beautiful sense of balance and exactness, a feature that's apparent in all of his pieces. Here it's most evident in the relationship between the bowl's waistline and the shank. Notice how the high-set waistline is canted at an angle perfectly parallel to the shank's flattened underside. Such a subtle element coheres the shape as a whole, while still allowing the design's smooth lines to flow fluidly, ushering in a sense of forward momentum.

Gorgeous 3/4 grain circumvents the entire bowl, with small but concise regions of birdseye populating the heel and concave rim. Said rim then features just a kiss of plateau at the near side, matching well with the organicism provided by the flaring mount of curly birch at the shank-end. It's stunning work from Chris, showing off the carver's shaping versatility, from perfectly proportioned takes on English classics to a piece as fluid and sinuous as this one.