Tarek Elkassouf designs steel and brass limited-edition chess sets

The chess set, designed by Tarek Elkassouf removes all kinds of ostentation around the product and strips it down to its bare essentials. This removes any distractions that players may encounter during a game and allows the product to stand out for the classiness that is associated with the game. The simplistic design of the chess set offers a heavy contrast to the already complicated and layered game. With so much happening during the game, it seems practical to limit any extra complications in the product through design. This led the artist to design the chess set in such a manner that there’s enough creative space left out for its users to interpret the product in their own manner.

“We neutralised everything. Everything is frozen. Just standing,” says Tarek Elkassouf about the gunmetal chess pieces that stand on the stainless steel or brass chessboard.

Tarek Elkassouf is a Lebanese object designer and sculptor. He designs everyday objects as well as bespoke collectables. His designs are characterised by very simple geometric shapes and forms that intersect to form innovative and unique sculptural designs. Elkassouf often marries visually contrasting materials to create sculptures and other utilitarian objects, such that these symbolically conflicting materials effuse balanced energy when gelled together. The artist divides his time between Beirut and Sydney and operates at the intersection of art and design. Despite ascribing to contemporary sensibilities, Elkassouf’s designs appear timeless.

“My work is about the raw energy extracted from the heart of the Earth, crafted by the work of hands, cut and fashioned with passion, roughness removed, inequality polished away. It is an ode to beauty, an ode to the material,” says Elkassouf about his practice.

Made out of natural metals, the chess pieces hold the energy of the Earth and ooze out power, automatically making the chess set appear elegant and exclusive. The chessboard comes in four different variations: Carrara Marble, Basalt, Travertino Classico and Travertino Rosso. The rectangular chess pieces, bearing inscriptions on their head, stand erect on the board at different heights, representing their hierarchical positions on the board. The rectangular pieces are seamlessly cut from larger blocks of stainless steel, brass, oxidised brass or gunmetal.

These exclusive chess sets are limited edition, with a total of 100 sets, that come enclosed in a wooden box with a velvet lining.