Alexandra Llewellyn: the Knightsbridge studio designing the world’s most bespoke luxury board games
Walking into the workshop, you’re faced with an entire wall of one-of-a-kind artistry, and today the business is a treasure trove of games, from playing cards to full-size games tables and intricate jewellery boxes.
Alexandra Llewellyn started out 15 years ago making bespoke backgammon boards, hand-painted to reflect every client’s taste and interest. As demand grew, so did the ambition. Alexandra found herself hand-painting commissions late into the night, and through extensive research, discovered a new solution: marquetry, painting with wood.
Each board uses hundreds or even thousands of pieces of timber with different colours and grains, arranged into compositions of stunning depth and intricacy. Standing a few feet back, they look as if they were painted. Close up, the wood’s texture becomes visible through the surface.
Materials are the thread running through everything, and customisation is taken to a whole new level. Alexandra personally selects all the materials used, and incredibly, the studio recently sourced Martian meteorite for a commission. The meteor dealer has since sent lunar rock, which the team has been grinding in a pestle and mortar, separating it into grades for use as pigment.
Almost three-quarters of the business consists entirely of bespoke commissions from luxury brands, internationally renowned figures, and royalty, with pieces ending up in private homes and hotels. Just one of these backgammon boards can take around three to six months to make, with a full games table taking up to nine. The Belgravia studio is the heart of a network of 20 trusted specialist UK workshops creating these heirloom pieces.
Backgammon is one of the oldest games in existence, and its popularity continues to rise. It’s a game that rewards strategic thinking, quick calculation and composure under pressure. The doubling cube (invented in the 1930s) has no upper limit – it can turn a £100 stake into £6,400 within a single game, with outcomes determined in under a minute.
Each board tells a story. They are built by hand from materials made to last, and intended to be played.
