As an artist I found the chess sets at Velvet da Vinci gallery site
fantastic- my thanks to those who drew our attention to the site. It
was great to see the sheer variety in approaches to the same design
issue-very inspiring. I immediately caught the desire to make a set.
My son is an avid competitive chess player, part of a high school
team that plays widely, is well-ranked nationally, etc. Since I was
so blown away by the chess pieces at the exhibition, in my
enthusiasm I forwarded the link to my son coaches, and the rest of
the team.
Today I received responses…and not what I was expecting. Almost
everyone said, in almost the same words, “Very interesting…but I
wouldn’t want to play with any of them.” There is definitely a
difference here between the artistic mind and the chess-player’s
mind!
My son said, “You know, I don’t actually look at the pieces, so it
doesn’t matter what they look like. They should look the same as
they always do.” H’mmm…I think they are too busy visuallizing
their strategy to really see the pieces they are moving, and would
prefer to avoid distractions. (I’m glad I found out before I made
him a set…!)
I wonder if any of the metalsmiths in the exhibition actually play?
Lin Lahlum