Luxury Walnut Chess & Backgammon Set Tree of Life Blue Epoxy 23.6" | 60 cm

Luxury Walnut Chess & Backgammon Set Tree of Life in Blue Epoxy - by Hrachya Ohanyan

Branches. The whole walnut border of this board is cut away into the spreading limbs of the Tree of Life, and the space between them is filled with hand-poured epoxy in a deep, shifting blue, so the light sits in it and the wood seems to grow across water. Brass studs mark the joints; inside the frame the playing field is laid in glossy black and white squares, and two armies of brass filigree pieces stand ready. The Tree of Life is the oldest thing carvers in this part of the world put on wood — on khachkars, on doorframes, on the front of dowry chests — and the reason it survives is that it says something simple: a family is one continuous thing, not a series of separate people.

The board itself is a proper chess backgammon set. Chess on the outer face, a full backgammon field within, checkers and dice included, all of it 23.6" / 60 cm across in a protective case. Two complete games, neither one shrunk to make room for the other, and a playing surface wide enough that a long evening never feels cramped.

Every model from this workshop passes through fourteen separate stages and as much as two hundred days of work, a different craftsman at each. The resin pour cannot be repeated and the carving cannot be corrected, which is why no two of these boards have ever come out the same.

What's Included

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

Specifications

• Board: 23.6 x 23.6" / 60 x 60 cm
• Material: solid walnut wood with blue epoxy resin; brass pieces
• Motif: Tree of Life branches carved through the border, brass studs
• Handmade in Armenia

Why You'll Love It

• The Tree of Life carved as open branches over vivid blue epoxy
• Two games in one board: chess outside, backgammon within
• Every resin pour is unique — no two boards can be matched
• Made by the workshop of National Master Hrachya Ohanyan

The Tree of Life

Carvers have cut this tree for well over a thousand years, and always in the same way: nothing separated, everything growing out of everything else. It appears on the stone crosses that stand in fields across Armenia, and it means continuity — that what is here now came from something and will become something. It is a good thing to have on the table when the family is round it.

About the Master — Hrachya Ohanyan

In 1985 National Master Hrachya 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 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 Luxury Gift Worth Giving

A wedding, a christening, a first house, or under the Christmas tree. The Tree of Life is the gift people give when they mean it — and this one comes with two games attached, so it gets used rather than admired from a shelf.