Why do you start making pipes when you have passed 50 and have been a successful businessman during your whole grown-up life? The explanation is found in a brochure from the beginning of the 60’s, in which Arne tells us about himself. Please read it carefully! I sincerely hope that you will get the same feeling of wisdom and “joie de vivre” as I got when I read it: I am a pipemaker and a happy human being……… Can you be happy when you are 58 years old? Can you be happy when you 3 years ago got a life-threatening illness? When you due to this illness had to leave an occupation as a managing director for a car company? The answer is Yes! – Despite all that I am a happy human being! -happy to be alive… -happy that a long standing hobby has become a stimulating way to earn my living… -happy to be an integrated human being… -happy to have the time and possibility to smell the flowers along the road… -happy to be engaged as the first and only teacher in pipe-making as a hobby… -happy to be the only pipe-maker in Sweden… -happy that my pipes have been appreciated not only in Sweden, but on the continent and in the U.S. as well… -happy that as long as the last pipe-smoking individualist is still alive, pipe-making as a handicraft of art will survive -happy that THE SWEDISH SOCIETY FOR INDUSTRIAL DESIGN has my pipes on its exhibition ART – HANDICRAFT… Yes, that was what I wanted to tell.
Arne Ljung