HJ-24-018
Price: € 0
About the Item
LUXURY ARGONAUTA-MERMAID SMOKING PIPE KIT
You are seeing one brilliant creation by two italian master Gioacchino Sauro and Salvatore Rizzuti. Luxury Arogonauta-Mermaid is made of very high quality Romeo brair and olive wood. The pipe is designed in a shape of an Arogonauta. The Argonauts are a group of pelagic octopuses. They are also called paper nautiluses, referring to the paper-thin eggcase that females secrete. This structure lacks the gas-filled chambers present in chambered nautilus shells and is not a true cephalopod shell, but rather an evolutionary innovation unique to the genus Argonauta. The argonaut was inspiration for a number of classical and modern art and decorative forms including use on pottery and architectural elements. Some early examples are found in Minoan art from Crete. A variation known as the double argonaut design was also found in Minoan jewelry.
The Mermaid is in a shape-style that is coherent with Salvatore's poetic. The tail, for instance, doesn't have such dimensions as to attract all the attention on itself. The sculpture is a body gracefully twisting on itself, almost simulating a water vortex. The face, then, which may look alien to the Mermaid's figure, actually gives it concreteness, reminding the typical faces of some Greek sculptures. Keeping the natural color of the pipe and stand, the two main elemetns are in absolute harmony. The veining variation remarks the difference between the two objects, yet holding them into materials and ideas coherence.
As for the support for the pipe, stand composed of three parts: mermaid sculpture, long brass rod, and wooden base. The pipe is simply places on the top of the mermaid. This stunning kit comes with its own box.
About the Artist
Gioacchino Sauro was born in 1959 and he smoked his first pipe when he was 14 years. He wanted to emulate the myth of Sherlock Holmes, whose series were broadcasted on TV, at the time a monster in black and white who was beginning to claim its first victims. He experienced the warm feeling to hold in my hands a polished wood mirrored object from which some evocative smell of faraway lands sprang.
"I was fascinated by building bridges and raisings made in chestnut stakes during the summer camp with the Scouts. Years later, to cultivate my passion for the sea even in winter, I began to build model ships. Leuds, frigates, xebecs and sloops (never tried with the Victory, it was too much for me) appeared in my house, sharing the limited space with my books" the artisan said.
Then, as it generally happens, it was time to think about how to earn his daily bread. Degree in agricultural sciences, 5 years at the University of Palermo as a researcher involved in one of his other interests, wine, and finally the employment at the regional administration as agricultural adviser . Today he works at the observatory for plants diseases in Palermo, he is specialized in diagnostic laboratory and promotion.
"I desire to build my first pipe arose when he decided to start smoking it, in 2009. Why not try? – I thought. I found a man who stimulated me to try, the lovable Carlo Riggo owner of one of the oldest tobacco shops in Palermo, and still a reference point for Sicilian pipe smokers. The apprenticeship began by consulting books on that subject, videos on You Tube and heated debates with Carlo, who was always generous with advice. Then, one day Carlo said to me: you are no longer a hobbyist. Go to a Master and make an important breakthrough, because you have what it takes. This stimulus made me contact Mimmo Romeo and then Guido Guidi, a friend of Carlo Riggio, unfortunately at the end of his days on earth. I could contact Master Guidi only by phone, while Master Romeo saw my pipes by e-mail, and he didn’t hesitate to say that they were very bad. I was not discouraged, and this, perhaps, convinced him to meet me in his laboratory and to start this wonderful adventure" the artisan said.
Two years have passed since then, and today he considers Mimmo and his wife Karin his masters and sincere friends. His productions are focused on the techniques learned by working with them; his style, except the shared decision to use not the colour, is constantly evolving and he hope they could inspire in the viewer a clear identity.