Michail Kyriazanos

Michail Kyriazanos is a Greek pipe master working on Paros, one of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean. He was born in Athens in 1989; apart from the five years he spent at university, he has lived his life on Paros, where his workshop is also located.

His name is occasionally spelled "Michael" in sources; the everyday Greek form of the name is Michalis. In the workshop's early years his pipes carried the Archaggelos mark, before he later switched to his own name.

Founding of the Workshop

Kyriazanos began making pipes at the end of 2010, at the age of twenty-one. By his own account, the first pipe he made was a saddle-stemmed Dublin; the first piece he considered sellable was his third pipe. By his own measure, the real turning point was his thirteenth pipe, which he says set the direction of his subsequent work in terms of shape and finish.

His preparation for the craft dates back to childhood: he grew accustomed to working with hand tools from an early age, spent two years during his school years making wooden stands and furniture for sound systems, and from age fifteen spent his summers with a marble sculptor on Paros. Compulsory military service in Greece lasts nine to twelve months for young men; according to records, Kyriazanos fulfilled this obligation in the Greek navy. He considers his relationship with the Greek masters Chris Asteriou and Kostas Gourvelos, along with the knowledge he gained through maker forums, decisive to his progress.