Johs Freehand

Mogens "Johs" Johansen was born in 1953, just outside the town of Frederikshavn, and even if he has moved around a lot, he has been faithful to that area. His education was as a metal worker and plumber, but after finishing school he devoted himself to many other tasks as well. He worked as a welder, he helped build ships for a while, he was an assistant in a camera shop, worked as a stone cutter and much more. Now and then he was unemployed, and during those periods he started to make pipes.

In the late 1980s Johs met Peter Hedegaard, a meeting of great importance for Johs. The beautiful pipes Peter made inspired Johs, and Peter gave him valuable advice and suggestions. The two of them became close friends, and that probably was a contributing factor for Peter to move from Helsingor to Frederikshavn in the early 2000s. As time passed, Johs spent more and more time in his cellar, where he had his tools and machines, and finally he decided to try making a living from pipe making. He rented an old stable, situated in the backyard where he lived, and started to make pipes full time. Most of them were sold to German tourists. But in 1992 Johs started to work for Bjarne Nielsen and continued until Bjarne passed away. Information from Pipepedia