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Good evening folks, may I join you in a smoke? We hope that your holiday shopping season has started off in a fine fashion (judging by the amount of gift cards which have left the building, some folks are in for a very fine Christmas/Hanukkah this year). Here, at your favorite purveyor of pipes & fine tobaccos, things have been jumping for quite a while now. Five weeks ago we presented the Smokingpipes debut of Scott Thile, followed by our site launch of Tonino Jacono's art a week later. Three weeks past, Abe Herbaugh joined the SPC family of artisans, and Caminetto's intro to our lineup occurred just 14 days ago. Last week we had the pleasure of being asked by Tsuge to oversee the worldwide introduction and launch of Asami Kikuchi and her stellar Ikebanas. This week? "Drumroll, please... "
This week, we debut the art of a carver whose work you may have enjoyed before without even realizing it. Since 2008, and continuing today, Alexander Tupitsyn, in concert with Sergey Dyomin and mentored by Vladimir Grechukhin, has crafted the fine briars of PS Studio. Often referred to by the members as "The Project," the nickname is evocative of experimentation and exploration, and that, in great part, is the aim of PS studios. Under the guidance of Grechukhin, Alexander and Sergey began making high-quality briar whose shapes nudged against the envelope of convention, and did so with a pricing structure that was amazingly affordable.
Alexander is now, also, channeling his formidable talents into briars that wear his personal mark, and we have nine splendid examples of these Tupitsyn pipes to offer you this evening. While I 'lost the toss' and didn't get to do the Tupitsyn descriptions (I'll get even, Squires!), I did spend a lot (John said 'inordinate') amount of time with Alexander's pipes. Straight from the hip? I really like his stuff; this 30 year old carver has some serious game. As you are about to see, Alexander's executions show a strong amount of Danish influence, with the occasional, muted use of the proportional play seen in the work of many younger pipemakers today. What I didn't expect, but probably should have, given his lineage and more than a half decade as a full time pipemaker, is the across the board sense of politesse displayed in his art.
Tagged in: Alexander Tupitsyn At Smokingpipes Newsletter Photography Pipe Makers Pipe Making
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