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NOTES: Teddy
called this pipe "Ear," for whimsical reasons. I know the
composition began as an exercise in asymmetrical design - Teddy saw that
the grain on the bowl was leading the "Dublin" bowl to twist away from the
shank and the "apendage" just seemed to stick out of the shank as the bulk
of it started to bend around to the right. But
Teddy - and his brother Sven - have a long history of making pipes with
little "feet" or flippers on them. The famous Walrus design was a
staple at W.O. Larsen ever since the Knudsen brothers developed it.
And I have my own affection for the design, since my friendship with Teddy
began when I ordered a wonderful Walrus variation from his on-line Pipe
Gallery in early 2004.
I also have a rather curious Sandblast Teddy that has a single protrusion
off its shank. I once referred to this pipe as a "post-modern"
Walrus - though I wouldn't want to defend that name too strenuously.
However, as much as one side of the new horn looks as though it has
sprouted a flipper, if you look at the pipe from the top, you can see that
a far deeper (and less whimsical) impulse is driving the composition.
The separate curves defined by the shank, as
it flows along its asymmetrical course, astonish me with their grace,
power, and sensuality. I know that, in a sense, Teddy is
"fracturing" the shank with this design, but the results seem remarkably
harmonious and coherent to me.
<More discussion to come> |
