N.Y. designer's opening gambit: Ishikawa-lacquered chess sets

NEW YORK (Kyodo) A New York design house has put on sale the world's first "urushi" lacquered chess sets, handcrafted in Japan, with prices ranging as high as $123,600.

Collect the whole set: The world's first "urushi" lacquered chess set, handcrafted in Japan, is shown Monday in New York. KYODO PHOTO

The Fellissimo Design House in midtown Manhattan is displaying two of the world's three Japanese-lacquered chess sets, produced by artisans based on a concept by Alexander Gelman, a New York designer.

Gelman, 42, partnered with artisans in Yamanaka, a small Ishikawa Prefecture town known for its traditional craftsmanship.

"I wanted to bring them a little bit closer to my world," Gelman said Monday on introducing the concept of lacquered chess sets to Japanese artisans. "To get them to work with an object that is a little more familiar to me and completely unfamiliar to them . . . it was true collaboration."

Each chess set on display consists of a black lacquered table with silver squares and a full set of pieces representing a combination of styles.

Among the pieces, four different kinds of Japanese craftsmanship are showcased: "fuki-urushi" (wood lacquering), "makie" (gold lacquering), platinum lacquering through haku or leaves, and "kutani" (hand-decorated ceramic pieces with intricate textures and patterns).

Depending on the combination of chess pieces and chessboard-table, one set runs from $80,000 to $123,600.

Gelman, who worked on the project for more than a year, anticipates that the intricacy of the craftsmanship will be met with pleasure by chess and lacquerware enthusiasts alike.

"I want them to get as excited as I am," Gelman said of his fellow New Yorkers.

"New York is probably the fastest city, where time is really precious," he said. "But just seeing these (pieces), and thinking about somebody taking the time to make them 100 percent and not trying to find a 'faster' way . . . it's a good thing for New Yorkers to think about, an alternative way to look at life."

The chess sets were previewed at a solo exhibition in Tokyo in January.