Tapping into its popularity for minimalist design, German furnishings model E15 has launched a chess set by industrial designer and goldsmith Annabelle Klute, comprising handcrafted wood items and a leather-based chessboard.
Titled ‘Nona’, the chess equipment take their title from Nona Gaprindashvili, a midcentury chess champion who performed for the Soviet Union. In 1978, Gaprindashvili turned the primary lady to be awarded the title of grandmaster by the Worldwide Chess Federation. She returned to headlines final 12 months, when she sued Netflix for erasing her successes in opposition to male opponents in its drama sequence ‘The Queen’s Gambit’. Klute believes that the brand new launch ‘could be a pleasant strategy to honour her legacy’.
‘Nona’ chess set in oak and leather-based
(Picture credit score: E15)
The ‘Nona’ chess items are made in European oak, responsibly sourced within the historic Spessart forest close to Frankfurt. They arrive in pure and black lacquered variations for opposing sides of the sport, and have felt gliders to facilitate clean motion.
Whereas their types are summary, even by the requirements of modernist chess units, they comply with a transparent and simply discernible logic. The kings, rooks and pawns are all rectangular cuboids, in numerous heights to mirror their various levels of significance. Different figures function distinctive cuts that allude to recreation guidelines. ‘For instance, the silhouette of the knight resembles the pinnacle of an summary horse and suggests the route of its doable strikes,’ explains Klute. ‘Whereas the queen is essentially the most versatile determine and due to this fact essentially the most advanced one.’
(Picture credit score: E15)
The chessboard, accessible individually, displays the proportion and scale of the chess items. It’s produced from harness leather-based by Sørensen, a Danish provider recognized for its eco-conscious strategy (it upcycles uncooked hides which are pure by-products of the meat and dairy business). The 2 layers of leather-based, that are exactly stitched and waxed on the edges, provide a clean and agency floor to play on. The floor is left untreated, other than the chessboard sample, which is silkscreened in black. ‘It’s meant to age superbly with time and use, turning from a pale pink to a heat tan,’ explains Klute.
German-born Klute, who has led the E15 product improvement group since 2019, beforehand labored for Michael Anastassiades in London, which exhibits in her skill to distil basic typologies into elegantly restrained types.
(Picture credit score: E15)
‘I recognize the main target and measured ambiance, and in addition admire the mental problem and the strategic aspect in enjoying chess,’ Klute displays. ‘Some years in the past, I designed and made a set of chess figures for my accomplice as a Christmas current. We had bought E15’s ‘Calvert’ chess desk by Ferdinand Kramer [introduced by the brand in 2014, based on a cardboard picnic version the German architect proposed to Coca-Cola in 1951] for our residence, which turned some extent of inspiration.’
With its thoughtfully understated design, beautiful craftsmanship, and compelling backstory, the ‘Nona’ chess set is actually match for a grandmaster.
‘Nona’ is obtainable by choose retail shops, similar to Viaduct in London, Andreas Murkudis in Berlin, Markanto in Cologne and Teo Jakob in Switzerland
Chess figures, €580; chessboard, €830; collectively as a set, €1,350. Costs exclude VAT
E15.com (opens in new tab)
Supply: Wallpaper
