Signature Shapes
I draw my inspiration from everyday things. It could be an interesting curve on a piece of furniture, or an object that happens to catch the eye on the dining table. This has led to the design of several pipes that I would count as my own creations — the Signature Pipes. These are both original shapes and interpretations of existing ones. I would like to introduce some of these and their origins.
For me, sketching is a central part of creation. Sometimes I retreat to the library for hours studying masters of design and architecture to try to come up with ideas. Even a quick drawing is a good way to capture a concept — and my pipes all come with the sketch I used to create it.
Cuban
As a designer, you often find pleasure in small details of everyday objects. In this case it was a filigree liqueur glass. A few sketches later, not much was left of the glass, but a new shape was born. The name refers to the shape of a (Cuban) cigar.
Dora
One of my favorite shapes is the Dora. On a long train ride, I played with the proportions between the bowl and the stem. Normally, the stem is thinner than the bowl. What happens if you make the stem bigger than the bowl? I found the result very exciting. And it seems that many of my customers feel the same way. The name, by the way, is a reference to a little blue fish from an animated movie. However, I had the characters wrong in my memory.
Grainbug
A colleague once received a particularly beautiful block of briar as a gift from another pipemaker, who had it lying in his workshop for a long time without knowing what to do with it. My colleague wasn’t sure what to do with it either, and he gave it to me. At first, I was at a loss too. Then I let the wood decide what it wanted to be. In the end, I changed the briar’s shape only slightly. It was a matter of emphasizing the lines and giving the shape a little more tension. Sometimes nature is the best designer.
Tuban
The Tuban is an evolution of the Cuban. The goal was to reduce and streamline the shape. This example shows quite well that sketches do not necessarily have to be beautiful. The main thing is to express the idea.
Architect
I greatly admire the work of architect Zaha Hadid. The shape Architect is a tribute to her design. A detail from a coffee table book about Hadid captivated me. I didn’t have a shape in mind at that point. Only after many sketches was it possible to see where the journey could go.
Reed Leaf
A variation of the Architect shape is the Reed Leaf. The inspiration was how reed leafs bending in the wind. I love how nature managed to combine architectonic structure and elegance.
