Vitale

My passion for woodworking started when I was just a child.At that time, I use to spend a lot of time in the workshop of my grandfather, trying to get something out from the pieces of wood that he cut for me (my grandfather was a carpenter and then became a lutist and sculptor once he retired).I've always loved manual works and I've experienced many different arts during my life, like painting, playing music and wood carving.I discovered the smoking pipe's world in the 2014, when a friend of mine introduce me to it. Just few months later, it became natural start carving my first pipes and I soon felt in love with this "work", that is actually more like a pleasant game for me. When I've seen for the first time, the works of pipe makers like Victor Yashtylov, Kent Rasmussen, Tom Eltang, Eder Mathias, Gamboni and many others, I've found out that pipe making may be something more than an handicraft work.I've discovered that with creativity, skills, by designing and carving harmonious shapes that highlight the beauty of the briar, a pipe can became something very close to a piece of art. That made everything much more interesting to me.My current production is about 80 pipes per year, all completely handmade with rasps, files, sand paper, dremelI and a small lathe that I use for the pipe stems only, that I work from rod of ebonite.Most of them are made with smooth finish, but I also make some sandblasted and few rusticated.I use the best quality of briar (only plateaux and ebouchon extra extra quality) stored in my workshop for about 2 years before using it. Most of the briar that I use comes from Tuscany or Calabria, whilst the stems are made with German ebonite.