My name is Jonas Alteryd. I live with my wife and our two sons in Örby, in the beautiful west-part of Sweden close to Gothenburg and Borås. I have been making pipes as a hobby since 2016. It started a few years ago when our family visited an amusement park in Gothenburg called Liseberg.
It was in wintertime and I was strolling around whilst wife and kids were somewhere else on some roller-coaster (I can`t handle them without getting sick). Suddenly I felt this wonderful scent in the crisp winter air. I had to get closer to have a look. There was a sales stand pretty crowded, by mostly men, smoking and buying pipes and cigars. I randomly bought my first pipe and some tobacco they offered me (a bent Ratos and some Sweet English mixture).
I did not dare immediately telling my wife about my buy… when I did she thought I had crises due to my 40th birthday coming up. Maybe she was right. Anyway, I started to look into pipe making and there was this guy that I knew, Lars Svahn, that had been making pipes for a number of years, whose work inspired me and my interest for pipe making grew.
Having been working with wood and renovating our house, I already had some tools in my garage. I did not have a lathe though. I found one in great need of love and care, an old Storebro. I spent that winter taking it apart, cleaning and painting, and since then a number of improvements has taken place in my workshop.
I think there are different reasons why I like pipe making so much.
As long as I can remember, I have enjoyed working with my hands and creating things. I am educated as a carpenter and since I was a kid I have spent a lot of time in the woodshed making things. There is a special feeling about having an idea and then trying to work it all the way through to a finished product. Involving body and mind, creativity and aesthetics.
Making pipes includes all this. It is a collaboration with that particular piece of wood. Reading the grains, embracing the things that show up on the way that might alter the direction of the work and then finally discover the hidden pipe inside the block. That’s how I like to think about my work: discovering the hidden pipe inside.
Pipe making also involves a lot of problem-solving. Finding your own ways and solutions to the different steps in the process. Often this means that you have to make your own tools. It’s a joy!
Making pipes is special in that way that you cannot stress. If you do, it will show. It is a very slow process, time consuming and also in many ways a great way to set your mind on something different than your day job. Relaxing in a focusing way. And at the end, that very special feeling of having a finished pipe in your hands!
I only make pipes as a hobby, this means that the number of pipes I make are limited. If I have pipes available they will show up on this site as well as @alterydpipes on Instagram and Facebook. If you are interested in a pipe or have questions about a particular pipe, let me know.
My First Pipe
Being a child I spent most of the time playing with friends outside, like kids did back then. We were building cottages, fishing, rafting on the lake and just hanging out. I remember in the summertime when we used to pick dry leaves and put them in Cow Parsley (I think that is the name in English) and tried to smoke them… I took this a step further and made a pipe with a piece of metal-net inside the bowl so the leaves wouldn’t go all the way into my mouth. I must have been around 12 years old. That’s when I made my first pipe…
