Ebony Chess Set

Here we are featuring a beautiful ebony chess set from Kenya, East Africa. This work of art was masterfully hand carved from ebony and mahogany wood by an Akamba carver, living in southern Kenya. The board it's self is 12 inches in diameter and the chess boards that we offer have different animals such as elephants, rhino, giraffe, and zebras carved on the border. The chess pieces vary with some being carved animals, birds, or human faces. The chess sets that we offer are very unique with no two that are exactly the same.

In rough woodsheds and under the shade of the mango trees, Akamba wood carvers work in a craft-cooperative, surrounded with sounds of chipping and sanding, men’s voices and laughter, occasional singing and the spicy, tangy smell of exotic woods. Here the craftsmen reduce single pieces of wood into useful and beautiful pieces of folk art, using only simple hand tools of axes, various-sized knives, files and sandpaper. The Akamba people are famous all over the world for their unique wood carving skills, which are passed from generation to generation. I have met Akamba men who were 5th generation carvers.