Luxurious Armenian Chess Backgammon Set with Interlace Ornament

Luxurious Armenian Chess Backgammon Set with Interlace Ornament

The pattern on this board did not start in wood. Armenian weavers have been running interlaced ornament across carpets for centuries — strands crossing over and under, never breaking, filling a field edge to edge — and what the workshop has done here is translate that off the loom and into carved timber, then fill and finish it with hand-poured epoxy resin. It is the same pattern a grandmother would recognise from a rug, cut into a 23.6" / 60 cm chess board.

Open it and the second game is waiting. Chess on the outer face, backgammon inside, with checkers and dice included — a genuine chess backgammon set rather than a chess board with a compromise underneath. The pieces are hand-carved, the case is protective, and nothing about the second game feels like an afterthought bolted onto the first.

Every model from this workshop passes through fourteen separate stages and as long as two hundred days, with a different craftsman at each. Interlace is exactly the pattern that punishes haste — one crossing out of line and the eye finds it immediately — which is why this design in particular is worth the time it takes.

What's Included

• Hand-carved 2-in-1 board — chess on top, backgammon inside
• Full set of chess pieces
• Backgammon checkers and dice
• Protective case

Specifications

• Board: 23.6 x 23.6" / 60 x 60 cm
• Material: solid natural wood with epoxy resin
• Hand-carved interlace ornament
• Made in Armenia by Hrachya Ohanyan

Why You'll Love It

• Interlace ornament carved by hand, every crossing even
• Two games in one board: chess outside, backgammon within
• Hand-poured epoxy resin — no two pours ever match
• Made by the workshop of National Master Hrachya Ohanyan

Woven in Wood

Armenian weavers and wood carvers have passed the same ornamental vocabulary between them for centuries — interlaced bands, geometric fields, patterns that scholars can trace back a very long way. A carpet and a carved board are made by completely different hands, but the pattern travels between them intact. This one has simply moved from wool into walnut-dark wood.

About the Master — Hrachya Ohanyan

In 1985 National Master Ohanyan began his fine wood craft, bringing a new approach to a very old tradition. After years of that work the Hrachya Ohanyan workshop was established in 2010, making Armenian, classic and original models from high-quality raw material — each set a piece of work admired at home and well beyond it.

Fourteen Stages, Up to Two Hundred Days

Every model passes through fourteen distinct phases of production. Fourteen separate craftsmen leave their mark on one piece of wood before it reaches its finished form.

A Gift Worth Giving

A wedding, an anniversary, a house that has just been bought. Two games, one board, and a pattern that anyone Armenian will place immediately — which is usually the moment a gift stops being an object and starts being a conversation.