Gotoh: Difference between revisions

Gotoh continued to make pipes as an amateur for five years, while pursuing other interests. In 1981, he went to work for Tsuge, making the '''Ikebana''' line of pipes along with Fukuda-san, who makes all of the Ikebana pipes today. His skills became more and more refined. The exacting engineering standards of Tsuge had a great impact upon the young carver, who immediately recognized the importance of even the smallest engineering detail. He worked at Tsuge for two years making Ikebanas. Incidentally, [[Smio Satou]] was at Tsuge at the same time, though he did not work on the Ikebanas at that time. From 1983 to 1987, he worked as a subcontractor for Tsuge, making the Ikebana series pipes from his own workshop. Some of these pipes, in recognition of Gotoh’s extraordinary talents, were stamped both with the standard Tsuge Ikebana stamps and with ‘K. Gotoh’. During this period, because of Tsuge’s focus on replicating the high grade Danish style, Gotoh became imbued with that aesthetic vision. It became the foundation from which he would build, reinterpret and create the most interesting forms.