Kickstarter: Pagan Playing Cards

The genius that is Peter Dunham and Linnea Gits, designers and artists behind the Chicago-based design studio, Uusi launched their fourth Limited Edition deck on Kickstarter yesterday called Pagan. With no surprise, the Pagan Playing Cards was successfully funded in just 1.5 hours!

Oil painted entirely by hand, Pagan continued Uusi's trend of using a new medium for each deck they've created thus far giving each one its own distinct look. The artwork for the first, sold-out deck, Blue Blood, was created entirely with color pencil. The second deck, Bohemia has a velvety look of gouache to give the artwork a lush, expressive quality. The recent Royal Optik deck was all about the line, using pen & ink to create a woodcut style with the intense geometric patterns of Op Art.

Pagan was inspired by the great forests and lakes of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Pagan era theme was used for this deck because it was a time in history when religious belief went hand in hand with people’s everyday interaction with nature. This can be clearly seen on the beautifully hand-painted court cards. Enchanting!

The Ace of Spades is an important card in the deck as it sets the tone and look of the deck. For this reason, Uusi chose a young woodland tree that has been felled for use, but continues to live on and epitomizes the phrase: Bowed but unbroken.

For the back design, Uusi decides to return to one of the original playing card design elements – the borderless back. This is the first borderless back deck in the series and it suits the theme and looks perfect on the deck. Finally, the tuck box has minimalistic look, rich with details and textures designed to reward the senses with it's intricate embossing and elegant gold pattern work. The shimmering gold look of the Pagan tuck box and card backs was achieved by carefully replicating the look of gold leaf with oil paint.

The deck will be printed by the United States Playing Card Company on Bicycle playing card stock with an Air Cushion (linen) Finish. There are two decks on offer to backers- One Limited Edition Dark Brown deck and an Unlimited Light Cream coloured deck. Pledge starts from $11.

The first deck is due out to the backers by April 2014.