Ken Dederichs: Partially Sandblasted Volcano with Bamboo Tobacco Pipe

Germany-based, Japanese carver Ken Dederichs takes inspiration from Japanese and Danish pipe making and tends to craft rather organic shapes. He has the impressive ability to marry stout proportions with supple curves, resulting in rather distinctive pipes that are at once muscular and fluid. Dederichs' background in architecture undoubtedly informs his style, as his pipes are precisely rendered in both fit and finish. Prioritizing quality over quantity, Dederichs has a low annual production rate, so it's always a treat when we receive one of his new pieces, like this Volcano.

Though possessing the form's wide heel and steady upward taper, the bowl of this piece displays a more gestural curvature than many other renditions of the shape, especially along the aforementioned heel, which sweeps upward to shorten the bowl's fore wall. Just as the bowl's fore is abbreivated, its aft side is extended, with the rim dipping down toward the transition and the heel expanding outward in the same trajectory. The heel's lopsided build and lifted stance thrust the bowl into visual prominence and instill a forward-ebbing momentum into the entire composition. An upturned shank brings up the rear before giving way to a single knuckle of bamboo, which immediately brightens the pipe's otherwise muted color palette. Dressed in a dark sandblast, the stummel reveals tight growth rings that radiate up the bowl's flanks and terminate at a smoothly polished, birdseye-speckled rim.