Smooth Blowfish Tobacco Pipe

This is the first Blowfish we've received from Ken'ichiro Dederichs, and what a first it is. Typically, the Germany-based, Japanese carver tends toward a more directly Danish-informed style, but here Ken seems to showcase his appreciation and respect for Japanese masters, playing with an organic, asymmetric aesthetic championed by Hiroyuki Tokutomi. This piece from Dederichs features many of the Blowfish's standard shaping conventions — namely, the grain orientation and use of ridgelined fins on either side of the transition. The flanks of the bowl are supple and rounded, studded with swirling whorls of birdseye while a well defined band of cross grain wraps the center of the bowl. Playing with asymmetry, Ken has oriented the cross grain slightly to the right making the left side of the bowl curl rightward when viewed from above. To offset this whimsical asymmetry to the right, the shank is subtly tiled to the left, making for a piece that is not only beautifully balanced as a composition, but one that subtly implies movement and momentum as seen in nature.