Tom Richard Pipes

Tom Richard Pipes is the brand German pipe maker Thomas Richard Mehret derived from the first two parts of his own name. The workshop sits in Tönning, on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein, a short distance from the Danish border. Mehret has carried this geographic proximity into his description of the work itself, calling what he makes "Danish-border handmade pipes." The brand stands not for a mass-production factory but for a hand workshop where every piece remains a one-off.

The Maker's Path

Mehret studied architecture professionally; he came to pipe making out of a desire to shape with his own hands an object he had long smoked. His visits to Danish masters, particularly his contact with the Winslow workshop, turned this interest into a concrete attempt. Records indicate his first pipes appeared in the very early 2000s for his own use only, with production opened for sale in 2003. Mehret was born in Karlsruhe and has lived in Tönning since 1998.

Several names stand out on the training side: Flensburg pipe maker Karl-Heinz Syring gave him his first guidance, easing his start by supplying rough blocks and stems. In later years, contacts with German masters such as Rainer Barbi, Cornelius Mänz, Reiner Thilo, and Paul Becker developed his technique step by step. Introducing his early work through German online auction platforms helped his name spread quickly on collector forums; a few pieces exhibited at the international pipe show in Barcelona in the fall of 2003 also played a role in taking the brand beyond Germany.