Heeschen (Peter Heeschen)

Heeschen is the signature under which Danish master Peter Heeschen (1945-2015) produced handmade briar pipes at his one-man workshop near Odense. Visible from the last years of the twentieth century, this signature is regarded as a late link in the Danish school tradition: light stummels resting on proportion rather than ornament, flowing lines, and hand-cut mouthpieces.

A Master Who Sat Down at the Bench Late

Heeschen's return to the craft began with a loss. At fifty-three he became unemployed when the institution he worked for cut its budget, and, records indicate, he set his pipe bench back up in the late 1990s. A friend's simple promotional page did better than expected; the first series found buyers quickly. That interest in top-tier Danish-made pipes was at its peak in the early 2000s also eased this return. The following year he attended the Chicago pipe show and rarely missed these gatherings in subsequent years.

Yet his acquaintance with the craft was much older. Born in 1945 in Copenhagen, Heeschen spent his entire adult life on the island of Fyn, around Odense. At seventeen, following the example of his father, who made pipes from cherry wood, he made his first attempt; but for a long time this pursuit remained a spare-time affair. In between he worked as a machine-tool technician, then moved into social work. He never learned mastery at anyone's side; he was, to a large extent, self-taught.