Board games are getting a designer makeover. Think Fendi’s Roma Tower — a glammed-up Jenga set — and Tiffany & Co.’s luxurious backgammon set, both launched in 2025. Together, they raise a playful question: can board games be fun and look like a million bucks too? Taking a cue from these international ateliers, Young Designers India (YDI), a group of designers of Indian origin but spread across the globe, have put their stamp on the chess set. Two iterations reimagine the materiality, form and storytelling of chaturanga (predecessor of chess), crafted as collectibles, for those who enjoy the savoir faire of a well-made chess set.

YDI was started as an online community on Instagram around 2020 by Sushant Vohra, a Seattle-based industrial designer. “Our community of around 16,000 members regularly conducts design experiments. In a pilot last year, we offered designers a chance to work in a studio-style setting and get different resource people from across the world. The brief was simple: create an object through the lens of modern India,” explains Vohra. The chess project was part of YDI’s first ‘Community Project’ initiative.