Kai Nielsen

Kai Nielsen is a Danish pipemaker born in 1951 in Vordingborg. Like most Danish makers, he learned his craft at the bench, carrying on his production first in a family workshop and later at his own place on the island of Fyn. His pipes sit in the measured, near-classic wing of what is called the Danish School.

The Family Factory and the Faaborg Years

The Nielsen family's connection to pipes goes back to the Bari factory his father Viggo Nielsen founded in 1948 in the town of Kolding, Jutland. Kai's first work at this factory came in his youth, half-day shifts to earn pocket money; he moved to full-time production in 1972 at the age of twenty-one. The factory's sale took place in the second half of the 1970s, with sources citing both 1975 and 1978 for this event.

After the factory was sold, father Viggo began making the pipes known as Faaborg together with his two sons, Kai and Jørgen. This three-person arrangement continued for a long time, with the brothers needing to take outside work during periods of falling sales. In later years father and elder son worked in a shared workshop on the island of Fyn, and after Viggo's death Kai remained there alone. His brother Jørgen Nielsen continues his own production in a separate workshop.