On a November morning in Brooklyn, the workshop is quiet except for the saw. Outside, the city is already thinking about Christmas — lists, windows, wrapping paper. Inside, a piece of honey-coloured stone turns slowly under the light, and an amber chess set begins, the way it always begins here: not on an assembly line, but on a bench, one piece at a time. Baltic amber carries the season inside it. It holds the colour of late autumn sun, of candlelight, of wood fires — and when it is cut well, it seems to keep a little of that warmth in the hand. That is why, of everything we make, chess is the piece we return to each winter. A luxury chess set should feel right before the first move is played: weight in the fingers, light moving through the stone, a board that invites two people to sit down and stay a while.
A Stone Older Than the Game
Chess is an old game, but the material is far older. Baltic amber formed around 44 million years ago, when resin from ancient pine forests hardened, settled, and waited through ice ages for someone to find it. Every stone arrives with its own character: pale butterscotch, clear honey, deep cognac, sometimes a cloud or an inclusion sealed inside since long before there were people to wonder at it. No two pieces can ever match exactly, and we do not try to force them. A handmade chess set in amber is therefore never quite a copy of the last one. The light side glows; the dark side deepens. Across a board, the contrast is not paint or stain — it is the stone itself, sorted patiently by tone, piece by piece, until the two armies belong together.
Cut, Carved and Polished in Brooklyn
Each set is Made in USA from Baltic Amber, worked in our Brooklyn workshop from rough stone to finished piece. The process is slow on purpose. Stones are selected, cut, and shaped; knights are carved with their arched necks, crowns are turned, and every base is levelled so the piece stands steady on the board. Then comes polishing — stage after stage — until the surface turns glass-clear and the colour inside wakes up. Our carving and finishing rely on U.S. Patent Pending technology developed in this workshop, but the final judgement is still a human eye holding a piece against the window light. It is in this stage that a set like our Konigsberg Imperial amber chess set takes its final form: thirty-two pieces, each checked by hand before it is allowed to join the board.
Why a Chess Set Becomes a Christmas Heirloom
Most Christmas gifts are used for a season. A chess set is kept for a life. It comes out on winter evenings, teaches children patience, gives grandparents a reason to linger at the table, and slowly gathers the memory of every game played on it. As a chess gift for him — a father, a husband, a partner, a colleague who seems to have everything — amber adds something wood and plastic cannot: a material that was already ancient when the game itself was young. KIZIMA is a second-generation family workshop, and as the only Baltic amber manufacturer in America, we make these sets in small numbers, so that the set given this Christmas can be handed down, not replaced.
If you are choosing a gift to be kept, we invite you to see the sets in person or online: the Konigsberg Imperial, the large Konigsberg chess set with a 16-inch board, and the amber chess set with a hand-carved cherry wood board. Visit us at KIZIMA, 271 Brighton Beach Ave, Brooklyn, NY — the board is set, and the light is warm.
