Getz Pipes (Georgi Todorov)

Getz Pipes is a one-man pipe workshop founded and run by Bulgarian designer Georgi Todorov under his own nickname. Working in Sopot, Todorov was for a long time regarded as Bulgaria's only internationally recognized pipe master, since the country has no established pipemaking tradition; he learned pipemaking not under a master but entirely on his own.

From Design to Pipemaking

Todorov's training comes from design, not craft. He began his studies at an art and design school in Kazanlak and continued in the industrial design department of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, graduating in 1995. Learning silverwork from a friend during his academy years underlies the metal bands and ornamental solutions later seen on his pipes. After graduation he worked for a time as a graphic designer at advertising agencies before settling in Czechia.

His introduction to pipes goes back to the late 1980s, to a cheap factory-made Czech pipe he acquired as a student. The idea of making pipes also matured in that same country, during the four years he spent in Czechia; according to the account, meeting Czech master Karel Hinger at a pipe shop in Prague, and the books he gained access to there, determined this direction. Records give both 1998 and 1999 as the starting date: craft records place the start of his profession in 1998, while in Todorov's own account he considered himself, above all, a pipemaker from the end of 1999.