PRINTWORKS: Wood Chess

Chess The Functionist

Chess has found its place on the bookshelf

A chess set with very little interest in disappearing into a drawer after the final move. PRINTWORKS The Functionist Chess from the Legacy Collection takes the familiar game and gives it a strikingly reduced visual language. Kings, queens, bishops, knights, rooks and pawns become small geometric wooden objects, recognisable by their function without relying on every traditional detail. Natural matt beech meets deep black, echoed by the graphic two-tone chessboard. Made from beech wood and MDF, the set measures 30 x 30.5 x 5.7 cm and weighs approximately 2 kg. Once the game is over, everything can be stored inside the grey cardboard box covered in cotton cloth. Although “stored away” feels slightly misleading here: with its bold typography and editorial design, the box looks rather more like a book on architecture than conventional game packaging. Which means this PRINTWORKS chess set can comfortably stay on the coffee table, sideboard or bookshelf. A classic game, certainly, but also an object made to live in the room.

32 pieces, remarkably little fuss

The Functionist follows one clear idea: form is guided by purpose. Decoration is stripped back while proportion, geometry and function take over. The result feels unfamiliar for a moment, yet the pieces remain easy to distinguish, giving centuries-old chess a distinctly contemporary character. That also makes it an appealing gift for beginners. New players receive a proper chess set without the rather serious look of traditional club equipment, while experienced players can rediscover a game they already know through a different design language. And wood or plastic? For a gift like this, we would choose the character of wood. Beech offers natural grain and a tactile quality that plastic cannot quite replicate, although plastic can be more uniform and forgiving of minor marks. With either material, longevity ultimately depends on how the set is used and stored. Here, however, wood is central to the experience rather than simply a material choice.

A digital detox involving a queen

PRINTWORKS was founded in Stockholm in 2017 around a very current observation: we can be connected all day and still spend surprisingly little time properly together. The brand responds by bringing analogue rituals back into everyday life, creating photo albums, games and gifts that are designed to remain visible rather than being packed away. The Functionist belongs to the Legacy Collection, in which PRINTWORKS interprets influential ideas from art, architecture and design through chess. This edition looks towards functionalist thinking, favouring clear geometry, reduced ornament and forms with an obvious purpose. It sits naturally within the LIVOSY world too. We are drawn to objects that do something useful while quietly shaping the atmosphere around them, particularly when they give people a reason to gather around the same table for a few moves, a coffee or an evening that lasts longer than expected.

Leaving it out is part of the plan

At 30 x 30.5 cm, the board is compact enough for a coffee table, desk or sideboard, although its approximate 2 kg weight makes The Functionist better suited to home and considered trips than to being an ultra-light travel chess set tucked into a backpack. The book-style box keeps the board and pieces together when it does need to travel and gives the game a natural home between matches. In an interior, its black and natural wood palette works particularly well alongside art books, glass, metal and other graphic accessories. Those building a collection of analogue games can continue through the wider PRINTWORKS world with backgammon, card games, memory games or The Essentials gift sets. The Functionist makes a particularly good starting point: a wooden chess set for people who already love the game, people who simply love good design, and people who are about to discover just how much trouble one innocent-looking pawn can cause. Set it up, make the first move and feel free to leave it exactly where it is.