Art Deco Chess Table

Size:
24.5″ square by 34″ high
Materials:
Macassar Ebony, Bubinga, Holly, Ebony, Mother of Pearl, and Jatoba
Description:
An Art Deco inspired Chess Table in Macassar Ebony with a playing surface of Bubinga and Holly squares framed with Ebony and Holly inlay.  There is one drawer for chess piece storage and a slide out tray decorated with inlayed Mother of Pearl to hold captured pieces during the game.  The finish is Bright Rub Conversion Varnish.

I also thought it would be worthwhile to illustrate my process for designing an original piece of furniture by creating a design board as shown in the last image.  This particular piece is influenced primarily by 1920’s and 1930’s  Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann Art Deco furniture and 17th and 18th century marquetry cabinets and is a unique interpretation of those various design influences.  The many different details are brought together in an original piece faithful to the Art Deco style of the 20’s and 30′s.  This design board shows in detail the key design details which are present in the initial design and follow through to the final design essentially unchanged.  Each step in the evolution of this design is documented to demonstrate how an original piece of my furniture evolves through a process of refinement from an initial concept through to a final finished design.

I wrote two articles for Fine Woodworking magazine about the original Chess Table.  The first article detailed my procedure for veneering the cove shaped sides of the main box and the second covered how to create a veneered chessboard.