During the COVID-19 lockdown, many of us returned to the things that grounded us as kids as a means of finding headspace and meaning. Chess, for me, is a source of both creativity and connection. I designed and built a complete set from ad-hoc materials found in my own backyard: a stone slab as board; cork and wire as pieces. The elements combine a dialogue between play, memory, and place—between material simplicity and symbolic meaning.

Extremadura, in southern Spain, is shaped by cork trees, rough terrains, and summer heat. It carries the history of Spanish kingdoms, rural life, and the natural world that fascinated me as a kid. I used to watch spiders and grasshoppers and imagine them on their own quests - here spiders became towers, grasshoppers became knights. Place, game, fables, and history - all having a party on a checkerboard carpet.