Chris Asteriou: Sandblasted Acorn with Horn and Silver (45/20) Tobacco Pipe

Anyone familiar with Chris Asteriou's style and design aesthetic should be able to easily recognize this as the Greek artisan's work. Though Asteriou certainly appreciates traditional English and French shapes, he also crafts many organically inspired designs such as Strawberries and Acorns, with one such Acorn being presented here. It readily calls to mind one of Sixten Ivarsson's Acorn designs, though Chris has re-imagined it through his own creative lens by accentuating various aspects. It notably showcases his talented shaping skills and accent work, with a horn ferrule adorning the shank end. The abbreviated shank is drastically pinched at the junction of horn and briar before flaring into the shank end and heel, the protruding spur giving way to a sharply angled line at the bowl's fore.

While the Ivarsson inspiration is evident, so is Chris' own creativity. The sharper lines, orienting plateau along the rim, and the crisply textured, dark-stained sandblast are all things Asteriou's Acorn renditions tend to feature. The Greek carver's fondness for dark color palettes is well-known as is his stellar silverwork, and both elements are proudly displayed in this piece. The horn used is so dark it could easily be mistaken for ebonite at first glance, matching beautifully with the stummel's coloration and the jet-black, vulcanite stem. A trim silver ring is placed between two sections of horn, though it creates the appearance of being wrapped around a single ferrule. This effectively keeps the line of the shank uninterrupted and even, while also adding the right amount of flash to the composition's dark color palette. The slenderness of the silver ring accentuates the sleekness of the shank-and-stem combination, which draws further focus to the forward-urging bowl up front. To make the overall design even more cohesive, the disc-shaped base of the stem echoes the shaping of the silver accent. This piece is a fascinating mix of classy and organic aesthetics, reflecting Asteriou's immense talent as an artisan pipe maker.