Manduela Freehands

Manduela Riger-Kusk is one of the ‘living legends’ of the Danish pipe making scene, and certainly one of the best top 10 pipe makers in the world.

Originally born in Germany, she got into pipe making in the mid 80's when she found out that none other than Poul Ilsted lived not far from her in her hometown Svendborg. He became her first teacher for pipe making and characterised her own style.

After a creative phase with her own shop in Copenhagen, and a brief interlude working in the Pipe Dan shop with Phil Vigen, she concentrated again on pipe making in her home town of Svendborg at the beginning of the 2000s.

In addition to her pipe-making activities, Manduela is also active as a stage designer for Danish television and as a sculptor.

Her style is typical of Svendborg, and is primarily concerned with extremely elegant interpretations of Bulldog and Dublin shapes.

The elegance of her pipes is particularly evident in her approach to creating small, delicate masterpieces that meet the standards of jewellery and jewels.

The few pipes that leave Manduela's workshop each year are internationally coveted collector's items.