I may not be a great chess player but I can appreciate a cool chess set design when I see one. These three designs are individually and awesomely green, sleek and just a touch creepy.
First up we have a set designed by Alessandro Garlandini with Stefano Castiglioni and produced by ilVespaio. The board itself is created from old Whirlpool banners and the chess pieces are recycled Whirlpool plastic knobs from kitchen stoves no longer in use. The entire set is made from 100% recycled materials. If anything, the set itself at first glance reminds me of little stormtroopers with their helmets and some sort of tank robot as the pawns. That’s just my interpretation; others may see something completely different.
Next up we have this sleek, modern design byMete A. The design is intended to be created in silver and titanium and presented with a portable carrying case. The clean lines and modern look would make this set at home in any contemporary urban loft.
This last set is perhaps the most disturbing. Designed by Megan Searle of Rochester, NY, this set is simply titled “Daunting Chess Board”. The pawns, king and queen all have some rather vicious looking spikes. The king and queen sort of remind me on the sand worm in “Beetlejuice” or the monsters described in “Dune”. The bishops have a sort of eye of Mordor look going on. Perhaps I’ve just let my imagination run wild with the pieces in this set though.
Some other interesting chess set designs we’ve seen in the past include “Aliens,” “Star Wars” (no surprise there) and “Blade Runner.”
No matter what kind of set you’re looking for, environmentally friendly, sleek and modern or unique and daunting to your opponent, or any other design for that matter, it just goes to show that there’s a chess set out there to suit anyone’s taste.
