Tajima (Tatu Pipe)

Tajima is the workshop of Tokyo-based master Tatsuo Tajima (b. 1955), known under his own name; since his pipes are signed with the "tatu pipe" stamp and a design number, he is also known in the community simply as Tatu.

Tajima came to pipemaking in his middle years: he worked in film and graphic design until the mid-2000s, and later carried that experience into wood. He reportedly spent a long time working on large-scale image design, and as digital tools became widespread he moved toward multi-medium design; his sensitivity to volume and proportion is considered to shape the bowl construction of his pipes.

Transition to Craft

Tajima closed his design-career chapter at the end of 2004 and began learning pipe carving under Shizuo Arita and Shigeyoshi Yanagihara in 2005. Some sources give this return as 2007; what they agree on is that the learning took place under a master's supervision. He first appeared with a full-time maker's identity in 2009, exhibited at a tobacco shop in Tokyo's Setagaya district. His first visibility abroad dates to the 2011 Chicago pipe show; from that date his work has also become known among collectors in Europe and North America. This line fits well within the narrative of Japanese pipemaking beyond Tsuge — the generation of Japanese makers working individually outside the factories.