Alex Florov: Smooth Ryukin Tobacco Pipe

From any other maker I might call this a wild shape, but from Alex, this is actually a quiet and minimalist composition. The Ryukin shape (named after the breed of goldfish) has a recognizable "family tree" within Alex's work, beginning with the Disks (a design that revolved around asymmetric, disk-shaped bowl and shank at opposing angles, but sporting a conventional style of stem) then branching off into the Circles on the Water (representing a crisper and more flourishing form, where the third disc at the stem base first came in) and the Ryukin (where the edges of bowl and shank are much more softened, and the shape as a whole follows a more seamless aesthetic). As markedly different as the "crispness" versus "smoothness" themes of the Circles on the Water and Ryukin shapes may be, both share in the same big leap from the Disks, that of the stem developing from something that simply followed after the most eye-catching aspects of the design, to becoming one of its main features.

- Eric N. Squires