LÖNNSPRINGARE® Chess game for the Linköpings University

Riina Kauppi and Alice Brengdahl won a design competition which was announced by Linköping University’s Property Division in the beginning of 2019. The assignment was to design and develop 32 big and playable chess pieces for the new Studenthuset. Riina Kauppi´s and Alice Brengdahl´s concept LÖNNSPRINGARE® won the competition which was directed to the students in the Design and Crafts program at Liu.

Inspiration for the design was found from the nature and the traditional chess pieces silhouettes. Purpose was to bring ‘nature into the space’ and play with ‘the old in the new’. One side of the pieces shows the traditional chess piece, and the other side is the shape of a leaf – a different leaf for every piece. For example has the king the shape of an oak leaf, because the oak trees has, on previous times, belonged to the state (at least in Sweden). The queen is shaped like a leaf from an apple tree, because an apple tree produces fruit. Chess pieces are colorful and the colors reflect the four seasons. The blue – green team represents spring and summer and the red – violet team represents autumn and winter.

The pieces are made of birch plywood and painted with eco-friendly linseed oil paint. They are designed and handmade by Riina Kauppi and Alice Brengdahl and nowadays the game can be found from the Linköping University’s Studenthuset from Campus Valla.