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Down the Yuan Dynasty (1271), Chinese Drawings gradually split into two  major categories: Trade Drawings, painted by Hang Jia, i.e. artisans, who emphasized skills and techniques, and were more decoratively aware; and Literary-men’s Drawings, “written” by Li Jia, i.e. feudal bureaucrats, business elites, scholars or hermits, whom often had the opportunities to get accessed to masterpieces of all time, from various sources, including their own collections.
Qi, Yi, styles and ambiance concocted were key criteria, in Li Jia Drawings, mainly rendered for mental enjoyments; mutual studies and tributes in and between art circles; or for reciprocation in a graceful manner. LiJia Drawings, or Amateurism, were not confined and constrained by sheer proficiency or perfection of execution; nor did they have to fall into the stereotypes on themes or lay-outs, which almost inevitably led to vulgarity and “cloying sweetness”. Hence, Li Jia works have been highly regarded by art critics and collectors -- Connoisseurs see God while laymen otherwise wouldn’t have seen, from better Li Jia works.
Avid German pipe collector Mathias Dittmar possesses one of the creamiest collections on Scandinavian ultra-high-grades in the world, particularly L.Ivarsson, B.Nordh, and T.Eltang’s. As it hardly satiated his appetites by merely playing with these coveted gems, over the intervals between very hectic family steel business  routines, Mathias learned the basics from makers extraordinaire T.Eltang, W.Becker et al, and performed plenty of researches by himself. In Osterode, a small town located in the mountain area of central
Deutschland, with unparalleled bucolic scenery, Mathias started his pursuit on making his own pipes, at his workshop
down his house basement, a mini tool museum in its own right, using the best possible woods he could get.
Inspired by the constellation of the past and present, the nature, also following the inner him, Mathias combines his passion, his benign personality, his horizons enriched by his top-notch pipe collection, and his German instinct for engineering precision, into Li Jia pipes that are both aloof in Qi and superb in smoking quality.
Mathias doesn't have the glacial execution in shape contours compared with those who have decades of full-ti me experience, or any background on sculpturing labyrinths. While the pleasantly childlike, properly concise, and soothingly soft lines; the open enough while not hollow airway configurations; the comfort that only few greatest makers can deliver, on mouthpieces; the world-leading lab-staining and finishing methods learned, deciphered and applied, and absolute persistence to his pipe making philosophy due to the fact that Mathias doesn’t have to worry about sales at all, and the huge amount of care and love he invested in, all integrated in an organic way placing Mathias’ pipes into a unique and new genre in today's pipe making ecology: insipid and naïve, Mathias pipes are down-to-earth with subtleties, modesties and imposing intrinsic energy all at the same time. Under the seemingly infinitely barren motif, meticulousness abounds, with a trace of playfulness.
Production volume is out of the question.  Formerly not for sale, Mathias only made them as gifts for himself and for friends, e.g. L.Ng and P.Billhäll. Since Gloredo and Mathias share a lot in common on philosophy of pipe making, e.g. fondness for long-shank pipes, and Neo-classicism, Minimalism in shape language, as well as doubts against the nowadays growing trend towards Cubism that merely for novel visual effects. Over numerous detailed discussions, Mathias came to agree to make around a dozen pipes per year, exclusivey under the Gloredo name, as an intriguing crossover project.
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© 2007 Gloredo Pipes