IC Design - Noguchi Chess Set

In his chess set design, which became prototypes for Noguchi's sculptures of that era, he devised a simple but ingenious system of notching together thin contoured planes of material to create fully 3-D objects, but using a minimum of materials. Noguchi made his figures of translucent red and green Plexiglas to echo rubies and emeralds often found in Moghul jewelry. With the exception of the rook, all other pieces have headlike forms and arched spines. The King and Queen, to show their procreative as well as regal powers, have pronounced genitalia. He mimicked the beauty of Indian and Persian black lacquered boards that had round, center-point inlays of mother of pearl or ivory with his black ebonized curvy-edged table featuring a grid of white circular inlays, not squares. 

• Board: Folding Perspex black plexiglass with red and translucent white circular inlays to represent squares.
• Pieces: Perspex plexiglass
• Largest Piece - King: H:3", Board: 22” x 24”
• Made in Switzerland

Ships from the USA within 1-2 business days, via Fedex or USPS.

Zurich-based IC Design specializes in the licensed re-editions of design classics and forgotten pieces by such visionaries as Man Ray, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Antonia Campi. In so doing, it tells the story of the wealth of objects, toys of various kinds, in particular, created in the 20th century to enrich and embellish lives of increasing efficiency and leisure.

About the Designer

Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was a Japanese-American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces, some of which are still manufactured and sold.

In 1947, Noguchi began a collaboration with the Herman Miller company, when he joined with George Nelson, Paul László and Charles Eames to produce a catalog containing what is often considered to be the most influential body of modern furniture ever produced, including the iconic Noguchi table which remains in production today. His work lives on around the world and at the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York City.