Kristiansen Emma L Smooth Ballerina Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Maurizio Fraternale’s Kristiansen pipes are among the most explicit representations of a certain trend in Italian handmade pipes of late, that being a turn away from certain established “Italian” styles in pipe design and toward something a little more “Danish.” Or, rather, they represent a novel synthesis of the two, though with a marked emphasis on the former. Fraternale’s tagline for his project is “Danish design, Italian taste,” and one can indeed see parts of each in the pipes he makes.

One shape that Fraternale is especially fond of, for example, is the “Ballerina,” seen here. Technically, it’s not a “Danish” design, as the shape was originally created by the legendary Swedish artisan Bo Nordh, though as Nordh is responsible for so much of what is commonly called “Danish” pipe making nowadays, I think we can let that slide. As for the shape itself, the name comes from its resemblance to a ballet dancer standing en pointe and, at least as far as Nordh designed it, from the shape’s remarkable ability to sit upright in that position. It is a challenging shape on an aesthetic and a technical level, though in the case of this one, Fraternale has pulled it off with aplomb, dressing the bowl’s flame grain in a deep red contrast finish as a cherry on top.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating, and comes with its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.83″ / 46.48mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g