The Amber Journal
The Amber Domino Set: Craftsmanship in Every Tile
Dominoes are one of the oldest tile games still played today, and at KIZIMA® we make ours the way the game deserves: cut, matched, and finished by hand from genuine Baltic amber. Each set starts as raw stone and ends as twenty-eight tiles that carry real weight, real color, and no two exactly alike. A Familiar Game in an Unfamiliar Material Most domino sets are wood, bone, or plastic. Ours are amber — fossilized tree resin between thirty and fifty million years old, sourced from the Baltic coast and worked in our Brooklyn studio. The material changes the game before a single tile is placed: amber carries natural inclusions, subtle color shifts, and a warmth to the touch that manufactured materials can't imitate. It's a small object with a long history behind it. Twenty-Eight Tiles, One at a Time Building a set means selecting pieces of amber close enough in tone to read as a set, then cutting, shaping, and polishing each tile individually. The pip markings are set into the stone rather than printed on it, so they hold up to handling for years. Because amber varies piece to piece, no two KIZIMA® domino sets come out quite the same — the honey, cognac, and amber tones shift slightly across the tiles, which is part of what makes a hand-assembled set different from a mass-produced one. Built for the Table, Not the Shelf We make our domino set for people who actually play — a family game night, a gift for someone who collects handmade objects, or a piece that simply looks right sitting on a desk between rounds. It's a game set first, but it's also a small display of what Baltic amber can be shaped into beyond jewelry, which is where most people first encounter it. The tiles are sized to sit comfortably in the hand, and the finished set comes ready for regular play rather than for a display case. As the only Baltic amber manufacturer in America, we handle every step of the process ourselves, from sorting the raw stone to the final polish, so a set like this never leaves the studio until it's ready. You can see the full domino set, along with the rest of our amber game collection: shop amber chess and games or shop amber home décor — hand-carved in our Brooklyn workshop.
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Setting Amber in Metal: Why the Mount Makes the Piece
An amber pendant is really two materials working together: the stone, and the metal that holds it. It's easy to focus on the amber itself — its color, its clarity, the way light moves through it — but the setting is what decides whether a piece survives daily wear, and whether the stone looks cared for or merely attached. The setting does more than decorate A bail or prong isn't just a frame around the amber; it's what carries the weight of the piece every time it's worn, clasped, or set down on a dresser. Amber is relatively soft as gemstones go, so the metal mount has to grip firmly enough to hold the stone securely through years of use, without clamping so tightly that it puts pressure on the amber itself. Getting that balance right is a large part of what separates a piece that lasts from one that doesn't. Fit is decided by hand Because natural amber varies slightly in shape and thickness from piece to piece, no two settings at KIZIMA® are adjusted in quite the same way. Each mount is fitted to its specific stone in our Brooklyn workshop, checked for a secure seat, and finished so the metal reads as part of the design rather than hardware bolted onto it. It's a slower way to work than stamping out identical settings for every stone, but it's the only way to get a proper fit on a material this individual — and it's one more reason mass production and genuine amber don't mix easily. What a good setting protects against A well-fitted mount does quiet, unglamorous work. It keeps the amber from shifting inside its frame, which over time is what causes stones to loosen or fall out. It also covers and smooths any edges that would otherwise catch on clothing, hair, or a scarf — small points of friction that, repeated daily, are enough to crack a stone eventually. None of this shows up in a photograph, but it's the difference a wearer feels a year or five years in. Why the mount decides the piece's future A well-fitted setting is also what makes an amber piece something you can hand down. Loose settings work stones free over time; poorly finished edges shorten a piece's working life no matter how fine the amber inside it is. A mount that's been fitted properly protects the stone from exactly the kind of everyday wear that would otherwise wear it down — which is really the quiet job of good metalwork: doing its part so the amber can do the rest. See the full collection of handmade Baltic amber jewelry: shop handmade amber jewelry or shop amber pendants — every setting fitted by hand in our Brooklyn workshop.
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Amber Backgammon: An Ancient Game in Fossilized Stone
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games still played today, with roots tracing back thousands of years to the ancient Near East. At KIZIMA®, we make backgammon pieces and boards from genuine Baltic amber — a material that is, in its own way, even older than the game itself. Each piece began forming in ancient forests millions of years ago, long before anyone rolled a die. A Game Older Than Most Civilizations Versions of backgammon-style games have been found in archaeological digs across Mesopotamia, Persia, and the Roman world. The combination of strategy and chance has kept it popular across cultures and centuries, evolving into the checkered board and doubling cube familiar today. Pairing that history with amber, itself formed over 30 to 40 million years ago, brings together two very different kinds of age in a single object. Why Amber Suits a Game Board Baltic amber has a warmth of color and a natural translucency that makes each checker piece slightly different from the next. No two pieces of amber are identical, so a set made from it carries small variations in tone and clarity — something a mass-produced acrylic or bakelite set cannot offer. It also has a pleasant weight and a smooth, cool-to-the-touch surface that many players notice the first time they pick up a piece. Handmade in Brooklyn Every KIZIMA® backgammon and checkers piece is cut, shaped, and polished by hand in our Brooklyn workshop. As the only Baltic amber manufacturer in America, we work directly with raw amber rather than pre-made components, which means we can select stones for color and clarity piece by piece. The result is a set that plays like any other backgammon set, but looks and feels distinctly different on the table. A Gift With Some Weight to It Amber backgammon pieces make a natural gift for collectors, for anyone who already owns a backgammon board, or for someone who appreciates objects with a bit of history behind them. They pair well with a wooden or bamboo board and hold up to regular play far better than many people expect from a natural material. You can see our current backgammon and checkers pieces and explore the full amber games collection.
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Handmade, and What Really Stands Behind “Made in USA”
On Labor Day, a look at what “Made in USA” actually means for a small Baltic amber manufactory in Brooklyn — and why part of the work stays by hand.
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Workshop Tools: How Amber Is Cut and Polished in Brooklyn
Diamond discs with water cooling, hand grinding through ever-finer grits, felt wheels and polishing paste — the tools behind every KIZIMA® piece.
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