The smallest piece on the board, the Pawn often appears to have the least power. Yet it is the piece that can travel furthest.
It represents the individual within a larger system: shaped by the rules of the game, while still carrying the possibility of transformation.
These chess pieces are not made to be played with. Each piece is a sculptural character, exploring the human roles we perform, inherit and sometimes question.
Made from naturally vegetable-tanned leather, each piece is individually shaped and coloured through Dirk Vaessen’s own experimental colour processes. Waste materials are used wherever possible as pigment sources, giving the leather its unique and unpredictable surface.
Each piece is handmade by Dirk Vaessen in limited editions.
