Chris Asteriou: Sandblasted Stack with Horn Tobacco Pipe

Chris Asteriou has quite a unique approach to design, something undoubtedly informed by his formal education as an architect, his following career in that field, and his experience in industrial design. Chris began his craft with a great admiration for classic Anglo-French marques and the tradition of Old World pipe design. As he continued, however, his awareness of the Danish and Japanese schools grew, as did his fascination with them, leading to pieces with more implied momentum, more softness, and more organicism about their builds. This Stack represents Asteriou's distinct fusion of these eclectic influences, blending an intuitive grasp of traditional forms with an emphasis on sleek aesthetics.

Asteriou places an emphasis on the fore of this composition, situating a tall, tapered bowl with subtly curvaceous walls atop a rounded heel at the fore of a sleek round shank. Said shank is accented with a section of black horn at its junction to a deftly hand-cut saddle stem of black vulcanite, creating the impression of a military mount. The silhouette showcases a Danish shaping sensibility, focusing on the bowl while retaining a traditional eye for proportion. Dressed in a crisp black sandblast, the stummel boasts a wealth of engaging texture around the bowl, elegantly contrasted by a smooth auburn rim.