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Joe Burrow, a young man with light brown hair, stands against a gray wall wearing a navy polo shirt

Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow sits on the floor next to a brown leather couch, looking at the camera with a custom crystal chess set on a coffee table

Joe Burrow is a franchise quarterback known for his sharp, tactical gameplay, and his precision, accuracy and leadership. He brings this strategic perspective to one of his great off-the-field passions, chess, a game he picked up in elementary school and mastered in the locker room, where Joe routinely challenges his teammates to matches. Joe’s project combines chess with another interest: minerals, fossils and crystals, culminating in a custom chess set design that is, in Joe’s words, a playable work of art.

Joe Burrow's Chess Set

Examine the notes, sketches, and inspiration that came together to create Joe Burrow’s chess set.

A modern, white chess set with gold and black bases, featuring a pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king

Minimalist Chess Piece Option

Minimalist Chess Piece Option

Joe looked at many different designs for his custom chess set. Early exploration was wide-ranging, from classic styles in wood, metal and stone to more modern, abstract shapes. One consistent element was the inclusion of some sort of crystal in the pieces. Here, they’re showing up as disks weighing the pieces down.

Two dark, jagged mineral pieces with white and red veins, possibly for Joe Burrow's chess set, lie on a white surface

Black Agate Samples

Black Agate Samples

Joe called out the striking black minerals agate and onyx early on in the design process, hoping to use them for chess pieces and board design. Both these stones are related to quartz and are exceedingly hard, making them tough to work with (but excellent for fine details).

A malachite slab, copper, brass, and aluminum bars, and various metal spheres and blocks, representing materials for Joe Burrow's chess set

Green Malachite

Green Malachite

One mineral that immediately stood out to Joe was malachite. Malachite is a green copper carbonate hydroxide mineral that’s historically been prized as a protective talisman for warriors and royalty - perfect for a strong chess piece like a knight or a rook.

Joe Burrow, wearing a respirator, uses an angle grinder to shape a mineral for his custom chess set

Refining the Design

Refining the Design

To get the shape perfect, each piece is hand-cut by experts using specialty tools like this angle grinder. Some crystals, like fluorite, are quite soft and hard to carve at the sizes needed for a chess piece, so backup materials were always on hand in case of cracking.

Joe Burrow sands a wooden frame with carved details, part of his custom chess set

Fabricating the Board

Fabricating the Board

Joe's chess board is as unique as the pieces. With a base made from walnut on a steel frame, each square is an individually cut piece of marble.

An open chess book on a brown leather surface displays multiple chess diagrams and accompanying text for "The Unfinished Set" project

“My System” by Aron Nimzowitsch

“My System” by Aron Nimzowitsch

“I first started playing chess in fourth or fifth grade. Somewhere around there. I kind of fell in love with it ever since.”

— Joe Burrow

Joe’s continued love of chess comes in many forms, including reading classic chess strategy books like this.

A close-up of Joe Burrow's custom chess set reveals a pyrite specimen surrounded by various crystals and a blue agate slice

Material Selection

Material Selection

“For my materials, I think natural stone, gems or crystals are cool. Something strong but purposeful.”

— Joe Burrow

A custom mineral and crystal chess set by Joe Burrow features translucent green pieces on dark, rough-hewn bases

Initial Design

Initial Design

The first design Joe really felt spoke to him featured stone and crystal-like elements in striking colors.

A person sits with a laptop open to a chess piece design, with a chess board and pieces visible in the background

Rendering Materials with Chrome

Chrome's logo

Rendering Materials with Chrome

Chrome's logo

Joe uses Chrome to easily and quickly visualize what different material and piece combinations might look like. With Gemini in Chrome, he can take his designs and explore different creative combinations without ever needing to switch tabs.

Two crystal chess pieces, one clear and one golden, stand on Joe Burrow's custom wooden chessboard

Crystals

Crystals

“I'm really into crystals lately.”

— Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow’s recent interest in crystals evolved from his long-term love of fossils and other minerals. When thinking about a high level concept for his chess set, pairing crystals, with their interesting colors and properties, with modern chess piece design, was immediately appealing.

Joe Burrow's design sketches for his custom mineral and crystal chess set, showing various chess piece concepts

Sketches

Sketches

Joe worked with a designer to draw hand sketches to start visualizing his ideas.

Joe Burrow's chess piece exploration features four knight designs and two physical chess pieces on a blueprint

Knight Designs

Knight Designs

While exploring early on, Gemini in Chrome was invaluable for quickly generating multiple chess piece designs, so Joe and his design team could narrow down shapes and styles before moving onto more labor-intensive hand sketching.

Joe Burrow works on his custom mineral and crystal chess set, marking a piece on a cardboard strip

Carving Pawn Pieces

Carving Pawn Pieces

Testing stones and different sizing for each piece, and marking where the cuts should go for the first prototypes.

Joe Burrow sits cross-legged on the floor, holding a crystal while surrounded by various minerals and crystals in a wooden tray

Sample Crystals

Sample Crystals

A chess set should feel as good as it looks. Testing the texture and weight of different crystals helped Joe choose which materials to add to each piece.

Joe Burrow lies on the floor, surrounded by his custom mineral and crystal chess set, looking at his phone

Researching with Chrome

Chrome's logo

Researching with Chrome

Chrome's logo

Using Chrome to dive deeper into mineral information on many sites, Joe explored the properties of the crystals he likes, giving him a much stronger concept for his chess set.

Three Joe Burrow "Unfinished Set" chessboards are displayed, featuring black and white marble squares with varying border designs

Board Renders

Board Renders

Renderings for the board design to test aluminum or synthetic stone framing, walnut exterior and waterjet-cut stone inserts.

Joe Burrow's custom chess set features six pieces made from various minerals and crystals on a dark slate board

Prototype - Black Version 3

Prototype - Black Version 3

Different base designs change the color and weight of the pieces. This render shows a smaller crystal base for a sleeker design. Ultimately, Joe chose a bolder, more crystal-focused design.

Six unique, handcrafted chess pieces from Joe Burrow's "The Unfinished Set" are displayed on a white background

Material Change

Material Change

The Knight piece was originally designed using fluorite. In production, fluorite was found to be too soft, cracking when worked. As a late fix, malachite, a similarly vibrant green crystal, was used.

Chess Set

Inspired by Joe Burrow? Discover how you can use Chrome to help bring your unfinished projects to life.

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Joe Burrow sits on a couch, looking at his phone, with his custom mineral and crystal chess set on a coffee table
Joe Burrow works at a desk in a wood-paneled room, with his custom mineral and crystal chess set on a coffee table

Finish what you started with Chrome

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Joe Burrow's custom mineral and crystal chess set features a black and white board with various gemstone pieces
Joe Burrow, a young man with light brown hair, stands against a gray wall wearing a navy polo shirt