Wandi Riyadi Smooth Deep Contrast Canadian (New)

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.

Since the mid-20th century, pipe makers have utilized contrast stains to accentuate the natural patterning of the briar they work with. By carefully applying layers of different oils over long periods of times, they found that they were able to create multi-tonal finishes that not only gave pipes a lustrous sheen, but also added visual depth, even on smooth-polished surfaces. And one genre of pipe that proved especially receptive to contrast finishing was the cross-cut, an approach to bowl construction that situates the ends of a block’s root fibers at each of its flanks, foregrounding what we typically call “bird’s-eye” graining. Such is the case for this pipe by Wandi Riyadi; it’s a rather traditional, yet still slightly modern, take on the Anglo-French Canadian, turned in a cross-cut fashion so that its deep, golden contrast finish is able to properly accentuate an explosion of said bird’s-eye patterns.

Details:

Length: 4.75″ / 120.6mm

Chamber Width: 0.77″ / 19.55mm

Chamber Depth: 1.67″ / 42.41mm

Bowl Height: 1.73″ / 43.94mm

Weight: 1.0oz / 28g