Fritz Becker and Becker Pipes

Becker is the name of an Italian pipe workshop carried on for three generations in Rome. Its founder, Fritz Becker, was an unusual name for the Italian pipe world; he came to the bench only in middle age, after a long life spent in painting and translation.

Records place his birth in Vienna in 1921, to a Jewish family; he left Austria after its annexation in 1938. Accounts of his escape route differ — some point to the Balkans, others to England. What is agreed is that this refugee, who spoke five languages, worked as a linguist and translator for British intelligence during the war years and, as the front advanced north, reached Rome and stayed.

The Attic on Campo De' Fiori

After the war Becker continued his translation work while also making a name as a painter, sculptor and designer; he is said to have also served as the World Jewish Congress's representative to the Vatican. He took an attic in the Campo de' Fiori district as his workshop. He first came into contact with pipes in 1944, and over the years made a habit of reworking, in his own way, the pipes that came his way; where this tinkering was headed was clear, and in 1970 he made his first pipe himself.

The pursuit stopped being an idle hobby after 1974. His son Paolo, who had a knack for machine work, began coming regularly to the attic, trying out different ways of working briar. Father and son worked in small numbers with premium plateau briar from Calabria in southern Italy, deciding together on shape, balance and smoking behavior.