I’m not a big chess fan. I did see Bobby Fischer, though. It was ok. Kid had mad strategic skills. I like Becki Chan’s skills too. She turned an old discarded phone booth into a public chessboard as part of IDSwest’s “Off The Hook Exhibition” in Vancouver. Becki is part of a small Vancouver-based design firm Milbec Design. Each year IDSwest challenges the design community with a unique design project. This year they threw out a challenge to 6 designers (individual artists, firms, collaborative teams) to take a typical used telephone booth, something we are using less and less of these days, and transform it into something different—and useful. And, the best part about it…they’re keeping old crap from ending up in a landfill.

“We saw this design exhibition as an opportunity to provide a public chess board, akin to those that exist in similar public places elsewhere—notably, New York’s Washington Square. While our design may not end up at Robson Square, it allows us to at least imagine Vancouver having the same kind of public amenity as other major cities.” – Becki Chan

Check out more of Becki’s personal work on her Behance page.