Morel

Morel is a handmade pipe workshop that has carried the same name across two generations in Saint-Claude, the town considered France's pipe capital. The name refers both to Pierre Morel, active in the mid-twentieth century, and to his son, born in 1949; within the community the two are usually distinguished as "Père" (father) and "Junior." The brand is known for keeping alive the tradition of the one-person workshop in a town where series production dominates.

The Father: A Pipe Maker with Artistic Roots

Pierre Morel Père turned to pipe making after receiving a fine-arts education in Paris; he is known to have come from cartooning, advertising drawing, and cane-handle work. According to records, in 1961 he moved his workshop to La Coupe, on the bank of the Bienne River. He is counted among the pioneers in France of the "fait main" approach — pipes shaped entirely by hand from start to finish. The idea of leaving the briar block's outer bark visible on the bowl's surface rather than carving it away is also attributed to him; this approach sowed the seed of what would later become his son's signature.

The Son: Fleur, Magma, and Grand Cru

Pierre Morel Junior began working alongside his father in 1971, after completing his military service. According to accounts, following his father's death he worked independently for more than a decade, turning out about a hundred pipes a month during this period. The Grand Cru line, a Chacom series finished entirely by hand from start to finish, was established by his hand in 1978; Naja and "Fleur de Bruyère" are freehand shapes (see freehand) he designed for this work. The years in which the master ran his own workshop alongside a factory job begin here: around 1987 he moved full-time into the Chapuis-Comoy organization while never giving up his personal production. According to records, he left this position in 2009 upon reaching the age limit and returned entirely to his own bench.

Fleur, accepted as the master's signature, is a shape that leaves the briar's natural bark exposed at the mouth of the bowl, recalling an open flower; in his own words, it is the model that defines his career. The surface treatment he calls Magma gives a rough texture reminiscent of volcanic rock; the Pause Café series rests on a sanding method he developed himself. Selecting clean blocks with straight grain, and requiring that the pipe cleaner pass all the way through without the stem being removed, are among the workshop's known habits. Alongside briar, he also works with bog oak, bamboo, horn, and cumberland.

Recognition

In October 2007 he won the Meilleur Ouvrier de France title in the pipe category, considered the highest honor that can be awarded to a craftsman in France. The pipe that earned the award is on display at the Pipe and Diamond Museum in Saint-Claude. He has said he has made roughly thirty thousand pipes over his career. He is counted among the few craftsmen in Saint-Claude able to finish a pipe entirely on their own, from the first cut to the final polish, and is also known for guiding the town's younger generation of makers. What "fait main" means in French pipe making today is, in large part, told through the single-bench line sustained by father and son, the two Morels.