Parks Pipes

Parks Pipes is a one-man pipe workshop run by Michael Parks in the town of Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. Parks made his name known in the early 2000s and has become a figure recognized in high-grade workshop pipe making, both for his careful reinterpretations of established twentieth-century shapes and for his own sculptural designs.

Founding of the Workshop

No exact founding date is on record for Parks Pipes. That the maker was described in the early 2010s as having roughly a decade of production behind him, and that his own site states he has worked in the craft for more than twenty years, places the workshop's beginning in the first half of the 2000s. Bowmanville has been kept as the address to this day.

Information on the maker's training and entry into the craft comes from a single source. According to the account, his interest in pipes was sparked early within his family, while his actual training at the bench is credited to the relationship he formed with American maker Lee von Erck. Because these two pieces of information appear only in retailer promotional material, they should be relayed with caution. According to a notice on the maker's own site, he received the Master of Pipes award in 2022; this information has not been confirmed by an independent source.