In 1978, I started my own workshop and sold pipes worldwide, but also continued to sell straight grain pipes to Larsen. In 1982, I moved to the United States with my American wife, Barbara, and our two children, Johan and Karina. We live near Louisville, Kentucky. I have my workshop in the lower level of our house. I like being able to work at home and look out at the trees behind our house.I often sit outside and work when the weather is nice.

Pipemaking is solitary work. So, to get out of the house and get some exercise, I started playing tennis almost daily. I quickly became quite good at tennis and that led me to becoming a teaching pro. I taught tennis from 1988-1998. I enjoy doing both tennis and pipemaking. These days I teach a few private tennis lessons, but spend most of my time making pipes.

My philosophy in making a pipe is to capture the grains and beauty of each piece of briar. That means carving a pipe with perfect lines, designing a stem that complements the form, and carefully finishing the pipe, so that the original piece of briar reaches its full potential. My goal is to make a pipe that has beauty to the eyes, softness to the touch, and smokes perfectly.

My inspiration comes from the block of wood itself and from nature. I’m always noticing the beautiful shapes of rocks, trees, flowers, and animals. I develop many of my ideas for pipe designs from the shapes found in nature.

The briar I use to make my pipes is the finest quality briar from Morocco and Corsica. The stems are all handmade from ebonite or cultured amber. I like to add middle pieces of different types of exotic woods such as boxwood, ebony, zebrawood, buckeye burl, and redwood burl.