Over the years, the game of chess has inspired many a beautiful chess set. The board game lends beautifully to art and design. Last year, we had discovered a rather electrifying interpretation of the classic board game thanks to designer Brent Black, where the board was a series of sockets and the chess pieces were light bulbs. The bulbs lit up when alive, and were placed in non-powered sockets when killed. It was certainly a marvelous interpretation, but aesthetically speaking, it is not a patch on the Naef Bauhaus chess set.
The Naef Bauhaus chess set is a class apart from every other set that you may have laid your eyes on. Marked by a stark minimalism that adds, rather than subtracts, beauty to the set, this set is a study in how appealing minimalism can be. The Bauhaus school of art is all about combining the fine arts with craftsmanship to create beautiful art works. The Naef Bauhaus chess set achieves that admirably.
Sculptor Josef Hartwig originally designed the chess pieces in 1923. Clean geometric lines are his signature style. But look closer at the chess men. Each piece is designed to represent that way it moves. You have the knights boasting an “L” shape. The bishops are topped with intersecting diagonals. A sphere tops the queen, indicating that she can move in any direction. The pawns are little cubes, indicating limited movement. The castles are larger cuboids. And the king is like a castle topped by a pawn.
If you are planning to learn how to play chess, this is the perfect starter kit. That is, provided you are willing to shell out $350 for this brilliant set.
