An Adam Davidson and Hiroyuki Tokutomi Collaboration

January 26, 2017 by Daniel Bumgardner in Makers and Artists

Adam Davidson and Hiroyuki Tokutomi at Smokingpipes.com

In February of 2014 Adam accompanied Sykes on one of the latter's regular trips to Japan. Having arranged to meet with old friend and master pipemaker Hiroyuki Tokutomi, the two traveled from Tokyo to the carver's home workshop in Maebashi, where they, among other things, had planned to make pipes. This was not an experience to be underestimated in importance, even for such a skilled and well-known artisan as Adam. And as it happened, one night saw the two together in Toku's shop, each in the beginning stages of shaping a different briar, when the elder pipemaker said, "Let's switch pipes."

It's one thing to watch a master of your craft at work in his natural habitat; it is another thing entirely for that master to watch you in said habitat. And it is something all the more daunting, indeed, to be called upon to refine that master's work on the spot. In something of a collaborative dance, Toku did the same with the pipe Adam had been shaping, and the two went back and forth, each imbuing their given piece with subtle aesthetic tweaks, until the results were the forms of a lively, plateau-adorned Blowfish and a poised bent Dublin.

Adam returned to the U.S. with both unfinished stummels. Over the next few years, intricate details came to fruition as they continued to work on the pieces remotely: they rolled the Blowfish's live edge of plateau slightly inward, accented the shank's end with Japanese boxwood from Toku's own stock, and adorned the bent Dublin with a brass-inlay mount. Great care was taken to finish the stems in Toku's distinct style, mirroring the geometry of the shape itself and allowing them to serve as extensions of the shapes' aesthetic character. After three years of this back and forth, the finished pieces made their final return trip from Japan — this time bearing Tokutomi's stamp.

You can find more information about the collaboration in the video above, where Adam recounts his experience working with Tokutomi first hand. So be sure to check that out. Of course, if you want to see the pipes for yourself, just head on over to Adam's page on the site.