Each set is hand moulded and painted from a set of master figurines created by an award winning sculptor. Find out how Oxbridge Chess was crafted from wax and inspiration into a unique set of high quality playing pieces.
The sculptor
Each master figurine was made by award-winning sculptor Shawn Slother. Shawn has worked for a variety of clients such as the Smithsonian Institute and the Martin Luther King Jr Foundation. He has done sculpts for the Musical Production “Les Miserables” in London, worked for film-studios like Warner Bros. and Disney and created awards for sport and social events.
The overall design and coordination of the set was carried out by Matthias Weichert, an architect local to Cambridge who founded Oxbridge Chess.
The process
Each figurine starts out as a “lump” of wax, that gets roughly shaped to proportion and into a simple look-alike of the original, adding the first details:
Once the figurine is brought into shape, in the next step details are added using original photos and local knowledge as reference. Permission needed to be granted from several university organisations and the project was often waiting for the approvals of fellows who only meet a couple of times a year! Each piece is revised several times between the sculptor and designer to capture even the smallest details of the figurine:
When the figurine is approved, a silicon mould is made in order to cast the production master:
The production master is used to hand cast the playing pieces. Each figurine is hand painted in two colours as a final touch. The technique highlights creases and recesses which lends an appearance of age and enhances the 3D quality of the figurine.
360° views of all pieces
Scroll through images showing all hand-cast and hand-painted Oxbridge Chess pieces.
