Mastro Grandolfo

Mastro Grandolfo is an Italian Pipemaker from Puglia. Online gallery: www.mastrograndolfo.com

I learned to build smoking pipes from my maternal grandfather. After the Second World War, during the great reconstruction of Italy, my grandfather started a tobacco shop. He also built pipes and lighters with the shells of bullets.

Before I was born, he sold the tobacco shop, but has continued to build smoking pipes.

When I was 6 age old, I went for the first time in his laboratory. I remember the light that came in through the high window and cut the darkness, I remember the wood dust in the air. There was a scent of olivewood and humidity. I was fascinated, I was a child in the laboratory of Merlin.

As you can imagine, spending time with my grandfather, I learned to build smoking pipes as a game.

My annual production ranges from 250 to 350 pipes.