Over the last decade or so, Indonesia has produced some impressive pipe makers in the ever-expanding global artisan scene. Since taking up pipe making in 2013, West Java’s Wandi Riyadi has shot to international acclaim, and has even inspired something of a “Riyadi school” back in his native land. Riyadi’s work has been inspired by Scandinavinan masters, such as Sixten Ivarsson, Lars Ivarsson, Bo Nordh, and Jess Chonowitch, and the Japanese master Hiroyuki Tokutomi. As gestured, Riyadi himself has also become an influence for numerous other artisans both home and abroad, and has even joined the ranks of pipe makers such as J. Alan, David Huber, Alex Florov, and Cornelius Manz in being invited to design pipes for Zhang Guo Hui’s GH.ZHANG project.

Though its origins reside in 19th and early 20th century English and French briars, the acorn is a shape that, we might say, was all but uprooted by post-war pipe making. Beyond the occasional quaint from Dunhill or similar, the acorn now thoroughly belongs to the moderns. It appeared frequently and famously in the pipes of Sixten Ivarsson and, later, in the pipes of his son, Lars and his granddaughter Nanna. All three have been of decisive importance in the acorn as we know it today, and, indeed, there is a significant amount of their influence in this pipe, by Wandi Riyadi. This is especially palpable in the case of Lars and Nanna; Riyadi’s acorn takes on the long, large, muscular physique of Lars’s iconic renditions, but takes on a rugged, naturalistic bent that is closer to Nanna—especially with its liberal use of plateaux burl. Perhaps the most interesting part of Riyadi’s composition is its subtle use of asymmetry, though it’s easy to miss given the extraordinary straight grain stealing the show.

Details:

Length: 6.3″ / 160.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.90″ / 48.26mm

Weight: 2.2oz / 64g