Franz Pipes (Roberto Franzini)

Franz Pipes is a small-scale brand run single-handedly by Italian maker Roberto Franzini. Franzini makes his pipes in a workshop set up in the garage of his home in Saronno, northwest of Milan; the work is part-time, and according to records annual output stays around fifty pieces. The brand name comes not from the maker's surname but from the nickname "Franz," said to have also been carried by his father and grandfather. Sources give his birth year as 1982, in Domodossola, at the foot of the Alps in Piedmont.

Coming to the Bench

Franzini learned the craft not from a master but through his own trial and error; he began in 2012. He first gathered information from online videos and written sources, then acquired a few briar blocks and basic hand tools and set to work. He describes his early period as a learning process advanced by testing every step against failure. Living in a region with a long-established pipemaking tradition, northern Italy, sped up this process: he had the chance to visit nearby workshops, ask technical questions, and attend the events hosted by Savinelli and Brebbia to watch briar being worked up close.

Early on, a connection formed with another Italian maker whose actual profession was dentistry, Angelo Fassi. As the story goes, Franzini began looking into the matter after a colleague mentioned that a dentist he knew made pipes, and later learned that this person was Fassi; in Fassi's version, Franzini was one of his former patients and moved to the bench under his direct guidance. Sources agree that the two makers became friends in later years and kept up an exchange of ideas through mutual visits.

Formal Language

Although he learned the craft entirely within the Italian scene, most Franz pipes lean close to the formal sensibility of the Danish school. Franzini avoids counting his own work as part of that tradition, but among the names he cites as influences are Lars Ivarsson, Hans "Former" Nielsen, Jess Chonowitsch, Tom Eltang and the Japanese maker Kazuhiro Fukuda.

The brand's two recurring molds are known as the "Danish billiard" and the "Danish egg": the first joins a fairly long, Lovat-like shank to a wide, rounded body approaching a brandy or pot bowl, while in the second the line joining the oval bowl to the shank stays curved from end to end. Chart shapes such as Dublin, brandy and bulldog and Rhodesian are also produced, but never repeated exactly. Franzini first sketches on paper, transfers the dimensions to the block, and lets the work drift outside the classic mold as it proceeds. A slight forward tilt of the bowl, measured curves, and here and there a deliberately left asymmetry are recurring details.

Material and Craftsmanship

His briar is sourced from Italy; the ebonite rod used for stems is said to come from Germany. Franzini insists on ebonite rather than the acrylic that has become common in Italian workshops, citing its gentler feel against the teeth as the reason (stem materials). He keeps color restrained: mostly plain black, occasionally Cumberland. Hardwood and horn appear in bands and rings, while he avoids bamboo as out of keeping with the brand's overall look.

Most of the pipes are smooth-finished, with tight, regular flame or straight grain sought in the body; sandblasted pieces remain limited in number. Light, near-natural tones stand out in the staining. Bowls are said to be drilled before any filter chamber is opened.