Dama

Dama takes its name from the Italian word for draughts. The starting point was the game’s crowned king, rather than the familiar chequered board.

The crown has always been a wonderfully economical symbol. A few points are enough to suggest status, ceremony and authority. Reduce it further and those associations remain, even when the crown itself becomes harder to recognise.

That abstraction became the basis for Dama. I wanted the reference to sit somewhere in the background rather than turn the tile into a literal symbol.

There is a nice connection here with traditional playing pieces and games. Their shapes often communicate an idea with very little information. Chess does much the same thing, using silhouettes to distinguish characters and hierarchy.

Dama borrows from that visual shorthand. The crown has lost its ornament and much of its original identity. What remains is a simple geometric idea with a distant connection to the game that inspired it.