Ken Dederichs: Smooth Mushroom Tobacco Pipe

A study in dualism, this remarkable Mushroom from Ken'ichiro Dederichs presents a shank of uniform height in profile, but an entirely different shape from above or below. An elevated perspective reveals curved, inverse-parallel flaring from the transition to the end of the shank on each side, which is rounded in a broad, cross-sectional oval and fitted with a brass reinforcement ring around the mortise. The rim is perhaps this composition's most prominent feature, itself somewhat oval along the shank axis and, in profile, rising in an expansive dome with a sophisticated and refined concave inner ring. The transition is high and well defined, advocating the independent nature of the bowl while adeptly conveying the muscular nature of the piece through the shank to its termination, itself domed in scrupulous correspondence to the dome of the rim. A contrast stain enhances the grain, which spreads in fan-like angles from the heel to the rim's ridgeline and supports the expansion of the bowl's shaping as it extends upward. Light and intuitive in hand, this is a pipe that can be smoked in thoughtless appreciation or examined in quiet moments for admiration of its design elements.