Florov Pipes (Alex Florov)

Florov Pipes is the one-man workshop of Alex Florov, working in Round Lake, Illinois, in the United States. Although Florov did not take up pipemaking until middle age, he quickly became a name recognized among American artisan pipe makers.

From Wood to Pipes

Florov was born and raised in Moscow; records give his birth year as 1969. The first long chapter of his working life was spent as a restorer at an antique furniture museum. This role gave him steady practice both in working wood and in using workshop equipment; stone, metal and plastic were also materials he became familiar with during this period. He emigrated to the USA in 1992 and settled in Illinois. In the years that followed he worked for firms making models and prototypes. This work, dominated by modeling wax, composite materials and three-dimensional computer design, broadened his technical range but pushed his relationship with solid wood into the background.

The turning point came in spring 2004. His father-in-law A. A. Slonim's encouragement to carve a pipe prompted Florov's first attempts. He began with pre-drilled kits and soon took on every stage himself, from block to finished pipe. The pieces he made during this period for acquaintances in the USA and Russia also caught the attention of pipe circles. His introduction, through a network of collectors around Chicago, to figures such as Rex Poggenpohl and Tom Eltang is counted among the factors that accelerated the transition.