Piero Vitale Sandblasted Egg w/ Cocobolo (Two Star) Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

As a child, Piero Vitale spent many an afternoon in the workshop of his grandfather, who was a carpenter and luthier. This proclivity for working with his hands translated into a number of artistic pursuits as he grew up, including painting and wood carving. Then Vitale was introduced to the world of handmade pipes by a friend and was immediately fascinated. The work of masters such as Tom Eltang and Kent Rasmussen showed that pipes could be true works of art while also being precisely engineered smoking instruments. For over a decade, Vitale has crafted his own hand made pipes, developing a distinct style that expertly balances form and function. This has led to partnerships with several Italian pipe companies, for which Vitale has provided designs, but his greatest achievements continue to be those pipes that he makes by hand alone in his workshop, in a small village in Lombardy.

The egg has become one of Piero Vitale’s signature shapes, which is quite an achievement. After all, it is a mainstay among not only the masters of Danish pipe-making, such as Former, Anne Julie, S. Bang and Kurt Balleby, but also the wider artisan community that has followed in their wake. Yet Vitale’s egg shapes are recognizably his. They are simultaneously voluptuous and delicate, stacked and yet also ethereally light, in a way that—to borrow a comparison from a late friend of mine—reminds of certain studies of the human form in fine art. The impressively crisp and dense ring grain sandblast on this one accentuates the organic quality of its shaping even further; here the pipe’s charcoal-black stain serves to temper its vitality—excuse the pun—and to make sure the design keeps one foot firmly on the ground. Adding a final, subtle, additional dimension of contrast to the design, this pipe also features a ring of cocobolo wood placed between its briar bowl and ebonite stem.

 

Details:

Length: 4.6″ / 116.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.70″ / 17.78mm

Bowl Depth: 1.76″ / 44.70mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g