Hasta La Ideas

All this talk of chess got us thinking of our favorite designer chess set: History Chess by Boym Partners. The oversized wooden pieces are hand-carved icons of the last century, from the Unabomber Cabin and the sinking Titantic to a VW Beetle and the distinctive swoop of a Panton chair, all easily assembled for battle on a four-foot-square chess board.

(Photo: Boym Partners)

Having celebrated Boym Partners’ National Design Award win at the White House over the summer, Constantin and Laurene Leon Boym are gearing up for a busy fall. On the evening of Tuesday, September 22, our friends at Unicahome in Las Vegas will welcome the Boyms for a lecture and reception to celebrate an in-store exhibition of their work. In the neighborhood? Skip the casinos and invest in Recession Souvenirs, the designers’ new line of “interrupted skyscrapers” that miniaturize stalled-on-the-boards buildings such as London’s Leadenhall Tower (“The Cheesegrater”) and the Norman Foster-designed Russia Tower into sturdy bronze conversation pieces. And while what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, what’s sold there can be shipped worldwide.

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