Mahjong Board for JLS by JLS – 2009. Mahjong is a tile-based game developed in China. One of the myths of origin attributes the game to Confucius around 500BC. I have no idea how to play this game, but I do like using things for purposes outside of their original design – therefore, the wall board you see here. This piece originated with an end game in mind – I wanted to present some texture and movement into a room that was going to house a lot of “flat” wall art. The tiles are a great “fit” as they present color, spin, and have an interesting visual and physical texture.
This project was an interesting mix of manual labor and sourcing. After looking for the tiles at more pedestrian places such as game stores and online, I decided to go to the source, China Town in Manhattan. During a business trip to NYC, I was able to slip away for a bit and visit my favorite “department” store on Canal Street. The manager of the store thought it was hilarious that a man who admitted to knowing no Chinese wanted to purchase four sets of tiles. The frame was a simple build, using remnants from another project. The tile preparation was a larger project. Perfection is never the goal, so using a drill press and going nuts to produce drilled tiles within tight tolerances was not in the cards…but at the same time, the tiles could not be so far off center so as to look horrid. I decided to drill by hand…luckily no tiles were lost in this project, but some of my sanity is likely gone forever. I also decided that the pattern should be random. Tiles were tossed in a bag and grabbed without regard for pattern while stringing. The end result is a visually appealing mix of colors and patterns. I hope that there is nothing offensive embedded in the pattern.
This project was without the now common “what I learned” items. The only unexpected item was the weight – it may not look it, but the board has to weigh at least 30lbs!
This board is not for sale, but I would gladly entertain discussions with parties interested in the concept and in having something similar made to order.
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