Dirk Heinemann

Dirk Heinemann is a product designer from Neustadt, Germany.  The art of woodworking has been his chosen profession all his life.  Many years of study have led him to design everything from buildings to belges combined with the love of working with wood makes him a truly prolific pipe maker.

In addition to reading and traveling, Dirk occasionally breaks from his professional passions to apply his design skills to briar.  Heavily influenced by the Danish School of Pipe Making, he cites the great carvers as inspiration, including Bo Nordh, Cornelius Manz, and the Ivarssons.  In addition to those that came before, he also likes to give credit for learning the sacred art from Axel Glasner and the free-thinking style of Christian Wolfensteiner.

Ultimately, Dirk creates pipes much to his own compulsion for choice of what to smoke; smaller pipes with medium to medium-large sized chambers that are shapely and easy to clench.  All of the pipes from his workshop are stamped with HP for Heinemann Pipes and a number representing his years spent carving.  At the time of this writing the current stamp is a "5."

A consistent smoker of the English and Oriental blends, Dirk prefers the shapes of horn, tomatoes, and especially the blowfish.  It is not unusual for a high caliber artist to draw and sketch out the proportions of a piece before he starts the shaping process, but Dirk goes one step further by providing a finished sketch with every pipe he finishes.  It is a nice touch that exemplifies the kind of detail he has already become famous for.

Every pipe, no matter the commission or the price range, is given the same detail and exactness that Dirk has in his arsenal of talent.  Design driven, but also amazingly functional as well,  Dirk's work and brand have become synonymous with a high level of consistency and caliber in the international pipe world as he continues to showcase simple and exotic materials from oxbone to bamboo.  Though he is fond of pointing out, "It doesn't have to be exotic to be beautiful.  There can be beauty in any forest or even a garden."