Kent Rasmussen: Sandblasted Cherrywood with Masur Birch Tobacco Pipe

Kent Rasmussen has been working with wood since he was a child and grew up creating art, something he's been passionate about ever since, so much so that, in 1988, he began a career as a modern artist. In 1994 he carved his first pipe, more an experiment than anything else, though in 1998, after losing interest with the realm of modern art, he began carving pipes again, meeting Teddy Knudsen in 1999: a man who showed him that pipes themselves could be art. Armed with the knowledge that he could combine his passion with his work, he redoubled his efforts yet again, making artisan carving his new occupation and creating pieces such as this Cherrywood.

Strikingly dynamic, this pipe possesses a posture rife with gestural charm, its active silhouette pulling the eye toward its sculptural lines. The entirety of this pipe can sit sturdily on its heel, one which extends below the bowl and tapers to a flattened point, creating a Pickaxe-like look which centers the visual weight at the fore. From the heel, the walls of the bowl flare, expanding out and curving as they rise to a firm ridge which marks the start of a softly inflated rim: the thick walls of the bowl surrounding a capacious chamber. Said walls feature a more pronounced curvature at the fore than at the back, this slight belly-like build magnifying the effect of the pipe's significant forward lean and further emphasizing the composition's dynamic elements.

A wide, mid-set transition out back leaves plenty of room to drape a thumb and gives way to a semi-ovoid shank that's rounded at the top and lined with twin ridges at the bottom flanks. This shank curls out of the transition and flares out to a smooth face which has been carved with a domed, tapering, spigot-like arrangement which meets the base of the stem. Said stem is accented with a flaring, stylized fitment of masur birch at the base and is, itself, a demurely curved saddle of boldly patterned blue and black brindled vulcanite. The stummel is dressed in a crisp tanblast which unveils some handsome grain, with ripping bands of ring grain cascading down the bowl and a broad expanse of blasted birdseye on the rim.