Javier Mariscal

JAVIER MARISCAL (Valencia, 1950).
“El ajedrez.” Chess set, ca. 1992.
Consists of a chessboard and 32 cast-metal pieces presented in their original individual boxes and a metal case.
With its original packaging.
In very good condition. Slight wear consistent with use and age.

The chess set *El Ajedrez*, designed by Javier Mariscal for the firm Akaba to commemorate the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, is one of the most iconic pieces of late 20th-century Spanish design. Crafted from cast aluminum with matte silver and black finishes, it features a metal board and pieces with geometric and sculptural forms that depart from traditional iconography to adopt an abstract and architectural language, characteristic of Mariscal’s creative universe. Each figure maintains its own visual identity through simple volumes and balanced proportions, combining functionality and expressiveness with the playful character that defines much of his work. The set, conceived as both a game and a design object, stands out for its postmodern aesthetic, its formal refinement, and its meticulous presentation, making it an icon of Spanish industrial design and a piece highly prized by collectors.

A renowned industrial designer, illustrator, and comic artist, Javier Mariscal has lived and worked in Barcelona since 1970. He studied design at the Elisava School in Barcelona but soon left his studies to learn directly from his surroundings and follow his own creative impulses. He began his career in the world of underground comics in publications such as “El Rrollo Enmascarado” and “Star,” alongside Farry, Nazario, and Pepichek. After creating his first original comics in the mid-1970s, in 1979 he designed the Bar Cel Ona logo, a project that began to bring him recognition among the general public. The following year, the Dúplex opened in Valencia—the first bar designed by Mariscal, in collaboration with Fernando Salas—for which he created one of his most famous pieces, the Dúplex stool, a true icon of 1980s design both within and beyond Spain’s borders. In 1981, his work as a furniture designer led him to participate in the Memphis Group exhibition in Milan. In 1987, he exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and participated in Documenta in Kassel. Two years later, his Cobi design was chosen as the mascot for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games; controversial at first, it is now recognized as the most profitable mascot in the history of the modern Games. In 1989, he founded Estudio Mariscal and collaborated on various projects with designers and architects such as Arata Isozaki, Alfredo Arribas, Fernando Salas, Fernando Amat, and Pepe Cortés. Among his most notable works are the visual identities for the Swedish Socialist Party, Onda Cero radio, the Barcelona Zoo, the University of Valencia, the Lighthouse Design and Architecture Center in Glasgow, the GranShip Cultural Center in Japan, and the London-based post-production company Framestore. In 1999, he received the National Design Award, presented by the Spanish Ministry of Industry and the BCD Foundation in recognition of his entire professional career.