Kriswill

Kriswill is a brand founded in the city of Kolding on Denmark's Jutland peninsula, considered one of the country's two largest pipe factories through the 1960s and 1970s. It is spoken of alongside the era's other giant, Stanwell, in terms of workforce size and production volume; the two names were each other's chief rival, especially in export markets.

Name, Stamp, and Provenance

When the new factory's products first hit the shelves under the stamp "Kriswell," Stanwell found the name too close to its own brand. The compromise between the two sides resulted in a single letter being changed, and the brand took the "Kriswill" form known today. The stylized compass rose stamped on the stem was also settled around the same time; the emblem is a reference to the founder's seafaring background. The brand's catalogs also carry the trade name "Kriswork Briar Trading" along with a statement claiming supplier status to the Danish royal court; this claim has not been separately confirmed by official records.

A Factory in Kolding

The brand's founder, Karl Robert Kris, was an engineer with the A.P. Møller shipping company before moving into pipemaking. According to accounts, he first encountered briar during this job, in a harbor shipment. When the postwar decline in shipping business pushed him to look for a new field, he opened a workshop with a few people in his hometown of Kolding in 1947. The first years' output went to the domestic market, and the pipes carried not the Kriswill name but a different brand. Once demand grew, a new plant was built outside the city in the mid-1950s; real growth and export came with this factory.

Design Line and Model Ranges

Kriswill's reputation comes from taking design seriously while working at factory scale. Its first models were drawn by a local architect; in later years the joint design office of Swedish Prince Sigvard Bernadotte and Dane Acton Bjørn prepared its own series for the brand. These pipes are referred to with the mark "Bernadotte designed" and place the brand within the export wing of the Danish school outlook, which carried designer signatures into mass production.

The main lines distinguished in the catalog are as follows:

• Golden Clipper: small, light, and measured shapes, aimed mainly at the European market.

• Chief: a series prepared for the American buyer who wanted a large pipe, yet kept light relative to its size.

• Danish Clipper, Saga, Count, Comfort: other lines distinguished by shape and fitting preferences.

• Danish Crown and Navigator: secondary names known to be Kriswill production, used according to records for bowls that did not meet the standard of the main lines.

The Factory's Closing

Karl Robert Kris died in 1966; the business stayed within the family, and according to records his son Jens Kris continued as manager until 1975. The 1970s were harsh for the pipe industry everywhere, Denmark included: as demand fell, costs and wages rose quickly, making it difficult to maintain the level of handwork without it showing in price. Following the management change, the company did not last much longer. According to records, the brand name and model series were sold to the Lillehammer factory in Norway, while the machinery was taken over by Nørding. Production at Lillehammer also stopped within a few years. Although pipes were made under the Kriswill name for a time in the 1980s at the Iberica de Pipas factory in Spain, these pipes share only the name with the original production.