Day 2: Modern Chess

During the creation of classical sculpture, artists were obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect form. After trying to decide what the modern day equivalent of that would be, I remembered listening to a podcast where they were discussing how chess pieces were made. Most chess pieces take a few months to learn how to whittle, the knight, however, takes 5 - 6 years to learn how to make. As well as that, the Staunton chess set was first designed in the late 1840's and hasn't really changed since. This is one of the few products still used today where a design was set so long ago and not updated, indicating that it has a perfect design.

I next looked into how that chess set was designed and found out that it had been based on the best features of previous designs and the architecture around London. As a result, I went and photographed modern buildings in London and used them to inspire ideas for how I would create my pieces.