About Teddy Knudsen

Teddy Knudsen--Master of Form

Teddy learned to make pipes from his older brother Sven in the early 1960's. Later, he worked in the Suhr workshop with Anne Julie, and went on to become the head carver at W. Ø. Larsen under Former, before venturing out on his own.

I regard Teddy as among the finest carvers in the world, and his designs have a freshness and originality that comes from his detailed knowledge of briar and the flow of grain therein. He has spent many years traveling to Corsica, Spain, France, and Italy, studying how briar grows in the field, and how it is harvested, cut and aged. He has a summer house near Taggia, home to Mimmo, and has a pipe making "laboratory" in Mimmo's workshop.

I call him the "Master of Form" because he can see the pipe inside the block of wood even before he carves it; and because he produces such a wide array of shapes and sizes, many of which have a kind of naturalness and inevitability that makes them appear to have been around since the beginning of time.