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"There will be a global league"

Many serious collectors still view carvers from Denmark as a guild apart. But how long can they retain this special status? The low dollar has added fresh impetus to complaints about Scandinavian prices. Meanwhile, little remains of the unique training infrastructure that helped make Danish pipes famous. Nonetheless, the lure of a Viking gem continues to seduce us.

Lars Kiel's comprehensive portal danishpipemakers.com is probably the web's leading resource for information on Denmark's celebrated carvers. In a Pfeifenbox interview, he talks of changes to the scene in recent years and speculates on the future of the trade.

It's commonly said that there's less jealousy and more solidarity among Danish carvers than in other countries like Italy and Germany. If that's true, what are the reasons for it?

LK: I don't know if there is jealousy between the carvers in Germany or Italy, but you will not find much between the Danish pipe makers. There is a very relaxed and friendly tone among the Danes, and all are very helpful to each other. There are no 'trade secrets' anymore - and the reason is obvious: for the past five years or more, life has been good to the Danish pipe makers. There is a great demand for their pipes, and almost all of them are selling well. At the same time, they have all grown older and have established a comfortable lifestyle. There is no need for them to protect their 'secrets'.

The workshop tradition of the 1960s and 1970s is said to have played a pivotal role in the development of Denmark as the 'superpower' of freehand pipes. Do any remnants of that tradition remain, today? Is it still possible to become an apprentice carver and learn from the established masters?

LK: For sure, one of the vital reasons for the Danes' leading position in the pipe business is their strong background from the old workshops of W.O. Larsen, Sixten Ivarsson and Poul Rasmussen. Almost all of the masters started out in one of these workshops, where design and craftsmanship were at their best and the demands on young pipe makers extremely high. There was a friendly and very healthy competition between the pipe makers, and they were all working very hard. They learned the pipe business from scratch. Many of them started out doing pipe repairs for a year or more, before they were allowed to make pipes.

Today, you won't find any of the grand workshops. They died out when the market slowed dramatically down in the 1980s. Also, the fact that the pipe makers grew older and started making pipes under their own names was a reason for the end of the workshops.

Nowadays, government rules and regulations have made it almost impossible to run a workshop with employees for any kind of craftsman in Denmark. Security and other demands on employers are almost ridiculous, and no pipe maker or pipe shop can afford to set up a workshop. Furthermore, pipe smoking is not that popular among young people today, and there is no longer the same tradition and understanding for pipes, smoking and craftsmanship that existed 20 years ago.

Another reason for the lack of workshops today is to be found among the pipe makers themselves. Many of them have been working on their own for the past 20 years, and the majority are over 50 years old - and not really interested in changing their daily routines. Apart from the investment in machinery and the need to find extra space, they would have to invest a lot of time in any 'trainees'. Not many are willing to do that.

Over the many years during which pipe makers have worked on their own, they have developed routines that leave no room for 'interference' by 'strangers'. They produce and sell their masterpieces as true and genuine handwork - with their good name and reputation as guarantees of that. I don't think that many of them are interested in setting up a second brand, where only part of the process would be under their control. A true high-grade pipe is expected to be fully handcrafted by the carver himself.

A few of the Danish pipe makers are working with a small team of assistants, and have been doing it with success for several years. They have the setup and the routine to work this way, and it has become known and accepted. The ones that have always been working on their own are not likely to change their routines.

Currently, very few of the top Danish names are under 50. Do you think the Danish scene can rejuvenate itself, or must Denmark be prepared to pass the sceptre to carvers in other countries?

LK: Due to the circumstances mentioned earlier there is not going to be the same number of Danish high-grade carvers in the future.

I'm quite sure that the ones that are active now have a good many years of productive activity left. We will see fewer and more expensive pipes from them in the years to come, and a few of the pipe makers will take the time to help the few newcomers get on the right track.

We will not see the same number of young people wanting to dedicate their entire lives to pipe carving. A few new and fresh names are popping up on the horizon - and a few of them have the talent to continue the Danish tradition, though far from as many as we all could hope for.

I don't see a new nation taking over the sceptre from the Danes. There will be a global league of high-grade carvers, but the tradition that was born in Denmark will not re-emerge in a single country somewhere else on the globe.

Common knowledge has it that even the world's top carvers have a hard time making ends meet financially. How true is this perception?

LK: I know this is very true - and for several obvious reasons.

The true high grade carvers can only produce a very limited amount of pipes a year, and although there is a market for these very expensive pipes, there are also the high costs involved in getting the pipes to the market.

Today, a pipe dealer takes at least half of the profit that goes to the pipe maker. Briar, vulcanite and machinery are getting more and more expensive, and the buyers are getting increasingly picky in their demand for perfect pipes without natural spots and flame grain. This means higher costs for the pipe maker.

A few pipe makers are trying to sell their pipes directly to the consumers, leaving out the dealers, but almost all others realise that they can't handle the marketing work. Taking pictures, managing an Internet site and replying to endless numbers of emails takes up at least 50 percent of their time - which means that, at the end of the day, they have not produced enough to keep up their living standards.

At the other end of the scale you will find some very skilled pipe makers - maybe some of the very best - that have always had a hard time making enough money on their work. Their reason is that they can't sell themselves. Today, it's not enough to be a good carver - you need to be 'a name'. And many of them don't have what it takes to promote themselves. Today, it is more or less expected that the master carvers show up at the big pipe shows. But if you by nature don't want to travel, and if you don't speak English, at least, you will never reach a level where you can make a living out of pipe making at the high end.

(June 24, 2004)

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