KAYS SCOTLAND
In 2025 I was contacted by KAYS Scotland, producers of the world famous Ailsa Craig Curling Stones about designing some chess pieces around a small perfect copy of their Olympic standard curling stone to be included in their exclusive gift range.
Their own specialist craftsmen had already produced a stunning granite board in the famous green blue stone and they required pieces designed to match.
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As an Ayrshire local I was excited at this prospect. It offered a very different design project to my normal day to day, was based around a game I love and featured material from the almost mythical mountain in the sea.
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For non Ayrshire/Scottish readers information, Ailsa Craig is a small Scottish island in the Firth of Clyde which can be seen standing solitary in the sea from all along the Ayrshire coast. It is best seen from Girvin and Turnberry where the island is at it closest to the mainland.
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Now known as a closed wildlife sanctuary it is a large pluton of volcanic rock similar to the neighboring isle of Arran from which Kays Curling mine the finest micro granite for use in Olympic curling stones.
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Kays Scotland has been manufacturing curling stones since 1851 in Mauchline Scotland. A town which coincidentally has been my home for the last 5 years. The factory is almost directly behind my home, as bob ross would say this was a happy accident and made development and communication easy.
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The remit for the design was for a functional but elegant aesthetic. The pieces were required to be fairly large as the board was 540mm on a side with around 50mm squares. Type of material the pieces were to be produced in was not decided at this point so the design had to be compatible with various materials and production methods. ​
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The owners at KAYS curling were happy for me to run with the design options and they would select the final style and design at each stage allowing us to collaborate to create something I am truly proud of.
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This page details some of that process and demonstrates why you should consider Bracken Moor Jewellery Design for your product design and development.
The Stone and making the base
The first task in the process was to measure and recreate the stone digitally to work the pieces design around so we could first produce a base to rest the stone on. The stones as supplied resembled a small skate board wheel. The had been turned and bored to give me a 14mm central hole and a 25.8mm x 1.5mm recess top and bottom. These machined details would hide any connections and make the piece appear seamless and solid around the stone. We also planned to incorporate some form of base, potentially made from leather.
Designing the 6 pieces
A chess board has 32 pieces. 8 pawns, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops, 2 Rooks on each side but as pieces are duplicated the design brief was for 1 final design for all the 6 individual pieces. After some discussions about manufacturing restrictions relating to style and detail I set about developing the general shapes with options to increase the detail. The customers indicated they wanted the designs to be large, elegant and minimalist so the basic shapes in the initial CAD design quickly became the basis for the overall aesthetic. This i was also happy with as it is more in line with my own tastes and style as a designer. The only pieces which was not working was the pawn so we worked on several size variations until we found a design the customer liked.
Prototypes and production
Once we had the designs finalised they were 3d printed in high quality photoreactive resin to ensure there were no issues with design files and they are optimised for production. In this case the final pieces for general sale will be produced in resin with a painted coating. There is an option of having the pieces cast in metal if the final purchaser requests it. The Final pieces all look fantastic and after consultation with KAYS Scotland they indicated two grey tones for the opposing sides and a satin finish to compliment the sleek modern aesthetic.
