Sixten Ivarsson

Though he was born in Sweden and retained his Swedish citizenship throughout his life, and though there were pipe makers in Denmark long before he arrived, Sixten Ivarsson is considered to be the father of “Danish” pipe making. After a stint as a mechanic and a debt collector, Ivarsson found himself stopping by Suhr’s Pibemageri, a pipe workshop, in need of a new stem for his pipe. The foreman was absent and the lathe was broken, so Ivarsson took it upon himself to fix the lathe and cut the stem himself. Thus began his career as a pipe repairman, then as one of Suhr’s resident pipe makers, and, ultimately its foreman. Here he had some of his first apprentices, such as Poul Rasmussen, and his first taste of fame, with his distinctive approach to classical pipe shapes attracting significant attention. This included the attention of Poul Nielsen, who ran the Stanwell pipe factory, and who had the bright idea of commissioning Ivarsson to design shapes for Stanwell pipes.

Ivarsson left Suhr’s Pibemageri in 1956, setting up his own workshop in Copenhagen, but his renown, his collaborations with Stanwell, and his “school” of apprentices would continue to grow until his passing in 2001. He became a worldwide sensation in pipe making; mentored a veritable who’s who of post-war artisans, including Bo Nordh, Jess Chonowitsch, Jørn Micke, Hiroyuki Tokutomi, and his son and granddaughter, Lars Ivarsson and Nanna Ivarsson; and contributed scores of shapes for Stanwell across a nearly five-decade partnership. Today, there are few artisans who could truly claim to not have been inspired or affected by Ivarsson’s work in some way.