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Pre-Show:  Cavalier Inventory

Synopsis

In the first section of this collection of pipes and commentaries, I illustrate how the development of Tokutomi's Cavalier pipes reflects major themes in the carver's creative evolution.  Examples show changes in Cavalier design from a "Pipe-Dan variation" in 1999 to the emergence of several re-imagined shapes in 2005 and 2006.  The exhibit traces developments in Toku's Dublin, blowfish, and volcano bowl-shapes before and after he attached them to Cavalier shanks.  Drawing on these examples, I suggest that Tokutomi may have developed two different styles of organic carving, which (tentatively) I'm calling "clay-like" and "stone-like."

Tokutomi's work has been strongly influenced by his relationship with his friend and "student," Kei Gotoh.  Kei honors Toku as his mentor and inspiration, even though Kei's own style has developed along quite different lines ("gem-like?").  The display includes major pieces by Gotoh and I discuss the fascinating interplay between these two extraordinarily talented briar carvers.

Even as Tokutomi considers himself to be carrying forward the legacy of Sixten Ivarsson in a Japanese context, Toku's work has begun to influence many pipe-makers outside Japan.  In the final section of the exhibit, I show samples of this cross-fertilization in the work of Danish and American carvers.

Thomas Looker
Visiting Scholar, Amherst College

Hiroyuki Tokutomi and Kei Gotoh at the exhibit

Over the past year, Hiroyuki Tokutomi’s "playful improvisations" in briar have continued to develop with astonishing inventiveness. His palette of shapes has enlarged to include an amazing series of Cavaliers. The freedom of these new designs has allowed Toku to expand his style and incorporate some strong Japanese motifs – including lines taken from Samurai swords – even as he continues to draw upon his original source of inspiration, Sixten Ivarsson and the Danish tradition of pipe-making.

The Cavalier shape is sometimes considered one of the earliest gimmicks in pipe design. Its hollow, removable foot is intended to act like a spit valve on a brass instrument, draining saliva away from the bowl and so producing a drier, cooler smoke. Always a little strange-looking in its various Dunhill iterations (and most recently made with a metal shank), not many pipe-makers or pipe-smokers have regarded the Cavalier as a basis for beautiful new shapes. But Tokutomi has embraced enthusiastically the mixture of technical and aesthetic challenges posed by the peculiar design. With his characteristic boldness and grace, he has poured his creative energies into a series of variations that express his unique sense of form and his virtuosic technique. The results sum up some of the major themes in Toku’s work to date, while suggesting future directions for his visionary imagination. (The pipes are also superb smoking instruments; one high-grade pipe aficionado from Europe has said that he prefers smoking Tokutomi’s Cavalier to any other in his possession .)