If a pipe describer is bound and determined to name drop, the smoothest possible point of insertion lies within the topic of a given artist’s pedigree or mentoring lineage… providing that they have one worth mentioning. Having learned the art of pipe making at the side of her late husband, Poul Rasmussen, and having *taught* the likes of S. Bang’s Ulf Noltensmeier and Tom Eltang, Anne Julie pretty much has the whole lineage thing coming and going.

When it comes to art, referring to Anne Julie as a renaissance woman would be appropriate. In a world where most artists can consider themselves fortunate to have an enthusiastic following in a single medium, Anne Julie boasts an extensive, enthusiastic clientele for both her painting (her gallery is gorgeous) and her briar sculptures. My pursuit of evaluating Anne’s work has been pretty frustrating, as of late. Her painting aesthetic embraces the soft abstraction of floral subjects, and the same can (usually) be said of her approach to pipe shaping. I have personally encountered only five of Anne’s pipes prior to this one, and not one would even vaguely come close to being categorized as ‘quintessential Julie’. Having declared thus, while not qualifying as quintessential, this unsmoked classic comes damned close.

This semi-freehand exudes a fusing of the aesthetics of both Anna and Poul; the latter can be seen in the diamond shape of the rim, as well as the clean drop to an almost martial point on the heel. The anima of Anne lies within the modernist, rakish lines, and again in the soft, near evanescent transitions between round to plane, and back to round again. The quality of this Julie’s grain is a bit deceptive in the photos and video, but the deception falls to your favor. The lighting we used, in combination with the lack of a contrast stain, causes the striations to be more occult than if you looked at it in person. Anne Julie fans, start your engines.

Bear Graves