Tonni Nielsen: Sandblasted Ballerina with Horn Tobacco Pipe

The Ballerina was one of Bo Nordh's more creative and evocative signature shapes, designed to emulate the look of a ballet dancer's foot en pointe in the strong arc of the front of the bowl. In that visual allusion, the heel of the foot would be the top of the bowl and rim of the pipe, the toes the base and transition. It was also one of his more impressive feats of engineering, the arcing bowl and high-kicked shank balanced in such a way that the whole thing rested soundly on its flattened base while cutting a dramatic pose.

Tonni Nielsen seems to have taken much inspiration from Nordh's original design in this Ballerina, particularly in subtle touches of organic asymmetry and overall playful stance. That said, his iteration is comparatively much more restrained and controlled. The bowl bears just a touch of forward cant; it takes a more upright stance with the arc along the fore being much subtler than in Nordh's rendition. That, of course, actually means it affords more depth to the chamber, as well as a longer canvas on which to showcase some very fine ring grain. Even the horn ferrule is more conservative than Nordh would have employed, yet it fits so naturally with the softer style of domed rim and leaner nature of the shape as a whole. Beautiful work.

- Andrew Wike