Moonlight

Moonlight Pipes are made by Ondřej Bárta, an artisan craftsman from the Czech Republic.
Born into a family of woodworkers, Bárta was formally educated at an academy of arts and industrial design, after which he pursued a career in blacksmithing and metalwork. Bárta was ultimately drawn to pipes and pipe-making, but as his relatives were all non-smokers, his first "bowl" was filled with black tea leaves!
Bárta soon moved on from covert tea consumption to pipes and tobacco proper, and to pipe-making soon after. His fellow Czech pipe-makers Jiří "Biftek" Maczko and Martin Cermak proved to be sources of inspiration, as did German pipe-maker Uwe Maier. Bárta initially learned pipe-making as an autodidact, following various online tutorials and guides, but as he became acquainted with the wider pipe community, he was also able to receive valuable advice on the craft, especially for technical questions.Like most artisans, Bárta primarily works with briar and ebonite. On the other hand, the shapes and styles that Bárta pursues through these mediums are highly distinct. Bárta works by the dictum that inspiration is everywhere, with his pipes often being overtly figural in design, imitating forms from nature and human industry. In this way, parallels can be drawn between the aesthetics of Bárta's Moonlight make and the works of the previously mentioned Uwe Maier, as well as Maier's compatriot Roger Wallenstein. Or, in the Anglophone world, comparisons can be drawn with Brian Orton, Paul Larrysson Hubartt, or Rolando Negoita. Each has created pipes whose figural leanings bring them closer to meerschaum carving than is typical for briar. But unlike in typical meerschaum carvings, each utilizes stains and color schemes that allow them to go further in the representation of their subjects.For example, one motif that Bárta has returned to a number of times is the "seed pod," which Bárta carves, not unlike Turkish latticework, into his briar, creating a multi-layered effect mimicking the pod's desiccated form. Another is the "barnacle," which reinterprets the vase and bean pot shapes of Italian pipe-making as instead a cluster of marine arthropods. Bárta's design influences do not only come from nature, however; industry and mythology are also common themes in his work. In the case of the former, many of Bárta's pipes evoke the metal- and leather-based engineering of the steam age, while in the latter, fables and iconography from Ancient Greece and Medieval Europe abound.
Bárta also pursues non-figural designs, though less frequently at present, with clear linkages to be drawn to post-war Scandinavian pipes and their successors beyond Northern Europe. One example is his "Pharoah's Tomato," which mixes elements of Bo Nordh's legendary "Ramses" with those of the "surfing" shapes found prominently in Czech handmades. 
It should come as no surprise that Bárta has not settled for a favorite shape or finish, nor that he doesn't intend to. He follows inspiration wherever he finds it: "Each has something to it," he tells me, "and each has its place."
== Gallery ==
File:Moonlight bamboo pot.png|"Bamboo pot."
File:Moonlight Lotus Pod.png|"Lotus Pod."
File:Moonlight Dragon Claw.png|"Dragon Claw."
File:Moonlight Steampunk.png|"Steampunk."
File:Eskimo.png|"Eskimo."
File:Moonlight Barnacle.png|"Barnacle."
== Contact Information ==
 Email: ondrej.barta.94@seznam.cz
 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moonlight.pipes/
Category: Pipe makers by nationality
Category: Czech Republic