Smooth Acorn (Kikuchi) (E) (029) (2018) Tobacco Pipe

While Asami Kikuchi of Tsuge Ikebana has certainly demonstrated her penchant for beautifully curve-laden, inherently organic forms with more than a light echo of the Danish school, typically when we see this approach from the tactile sculptor-turned-pipemaker, it tends to manifest itself as something more Acorn-like. This is due to the wide, Ivarsson-esque, inflated and rolling style of rim at play, which tends to lend itself naturally to an organic Danish Acorn shape. Here, however, Kikuchi has made use of a pronounced proportional emphasis on the visual weight of the bowl itself, along with a steady sense of taper (evident especially when viewed from the fore), allowing the bowl to meld effortlessly into the transition and shank via a singular, steady line traveling from rim to shank-end. The muscular, gently-flared shank and gently downturned saddle stem offer a perfect sense of visual balance, making use of a circular stem base as something of a threshold for the eye into the implied negative space around the stem, while still allowing plump bowl to take center stage. Finished in a subtly smoldering contrast, tight licks of flame dance on all flanks, surrounding pools of birdseye tucked neatly into the rounded rim. Beautiful work from Asami.