In the ultimate power ranking of common domestic herbs and succulents, which would you say reigns supreme? It’s an important question that deserves serious consideration before playing the green-themed Micro-Planter Chess Set, which ingeniously doubles as a mini indoor-outdoor checkerboard garden.
The husband-and-wife duo behind XYZ Workshop looked back about 100 years to Josef Hartwig’s iconic Bauhaus collection for design inspiration, then tweaked the clean-lined geometry of those originals into vessels ready to get down and drrrrrrrty.
In an ultra-modern twist, these pieces are all 3D-printed, so you can customise colours based on what’s happening in your home decor.
Then, of course, it’s all about the strategy: parsley against sage, rosemary versus thyme, bitty cactus opposite bitty cactus. Anything goes on the game board.
Now, actually putting living things in these teensy containers means you wouldn’t be able to stow the whole thing in a cabinet when you were finished, but the whole shebang might make a mean coffee-table centrepiece. Or line up the little guys on the windowsill when they’re not in use, and let them thrive in some sun and fresh air till you’re ready to match-up again.
I’ve been meaning to learn to play chess forever (but never have…); I kill every growing thing I bring into my apartment; and I don’t have a 3D printer; so this is like a triple whammy forcing me to face a few of my (many) weaknesses. For all of you out there in the world who are my complete and total opposites, however, you can download your own files here. [Design Milk]