Speden Pipes

Speden Pipes is the signature of a small-scale pipe-making practice carried on single-handedly by New Zealander Don Speden. The name describes not a workshop but pieces produced by one person's own hands at irregular intervals. Given how few New Zealand-origin pipe makers there are, the brand is counted among the examples for which at least some first-hand information exists.

Place and Scale

According to records, Speden lives in the city of Niigata, Japan, owing to his work as an English teacher, and makes his pipes in the time left over from his main job. This information rests on a source dated 2008; where the maker has been in later years and whether he continued production remain unknown. A New Zealand-origin maker working in Japan places the brand somewhere between the two countries; the pipes' design language therefore cannot be tied either to a local school or to a specific national tradition. For the general framework of pipe-making tradition in Japan, see the Japanese pipe making entry.