Indiegogo: 7 Questions with Kenneth Aidan Foo of Isometric playing Cards

Isometric Playing Cards are a deck of playing cards designed with cardists and magicians in mind. Created by Kenneth Aidan Foo, mastermind behind the popular card flourish, Ripple, this aesthetically pleasing deck is sure to grab attention in a quick glance.

Exuding style, this deck subtly pays tribute to one of the great classics, the Tally Ho Circle backs. The design is centered around a hexagon with triangles blading out along the short ends. The striking blues, combines with the stark geometric design and two-toned greys accentuate spinning flourishes, fans, cuts and displays.

We were able to catch-up with Kenneth for a quick chat on the Isometric deck, the design process and cardistry.

You are an amazing cardist! Can you tell us about yourself and how long have you been doing cardistry?
That’s so nice of you to say! Well, first off, my name is Kenneth, I’m a Singaporean born and raised, studying in Perth, Australia. I've been doing cardistry for about 7 years now!

When did you first start thinking about using Indiegogo for the project? What made you decide to take the plunge?
Well, I had initially planned to use Kickstarter, however, after setting up an account and beginning to formulate a marketing plan, I realised that Kickstarter did not support Singapore citizens so I had to make the move to Indiegogo. It is super unfortunate that people don’t see Indiegogo in the same light as Kickstarter. Indiegogo has been a pretty satisfactory platform for me so far!

What is your inspiration behind the Isometric Playing Cards? How did you come up with the idea?
I had wanted to make my own deck of cards for a very long time. A lot of the early versions consisted of triangles and hexagons. I gave up on designing the deck for a couple of months and focused on a bunch of other projects. Eventually I decided that my deck would pay tribute to the Tally Ho circle backs and slowly everything fell into place.

Some people see a major similarity with the Isometric Playing Cards to the Virtuoso deck. I can definitely see the similarity, but I felt that my design offered a different sort of take on the concept of geometric backs.

Walk us through the process you took to design this unique deck. How did you get to this finished product and what was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
That’s a tough one to explain. I’ve had this long standing fascination with hexagons and wanted to find a way to incorporate them into something I did. Eventually, like I said earlier, I decided that I would use one of my all-time favourite decks – Tally Ho Circle Backs, as a starting point and everything fell into place.

The hexagon sat nicely in the centre and the “blades” of the design mirrored the lines along the top of the circle backs. The most brilliant breakthrough was the colour scheme. I was trying to find something that looked different enough, and was experimenting with a wide range of hues and colours to fill the 10 triangles in the deck. It is much harder than it looks. After a few nights of experimenting, I finally came to the current colour scheme and just loved the heck out of it.

With all the projects competing for funding, why should potential backers choose your deck? Well, I've found that a lot of the current decks vying for funding are either super intricately designed decks that are going for the “custom everything” look, or the super minimal, almost lazy, design. The Isometric Playing Cards offer a really cool, simple custom back design that catches the eye, but at the same time doesn't feel too lazy, or go too overboard.

At the same time, they are going at a really affordable price for backers! I don’t want my deck to sit on someone’s shelf as a “super rare limited collector’s edition”. I want to see people use them!

What do you think of about the growing trend of cardists having their own brand?
It is really great to see people willing to take risks and developing their own brands. Not just with cards, but with merchandise and marketing as well! One piece of advice that I can give for cardists developing their brand though, is to take your time to find out what you are trying to achieve. I often see very new cardists struggle with trying to make themselves popular by putting out video after video and picture after picture. Work on your material first, then find out how your material can work for you.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
I gotta go with the classics. Blue Seal Tally Ho Circle Backs and original Studs. I would stab someone to get my hands on more of those cards.

Thank you for your time, Kenneth and all the best! If you like what you've read here and want to support Isometric Playing Cards, you can find it on Indiegogo Here! 

Pledge starts from USD$12 and will be printed by Legends Playing Card Co on their Emerald stock and finish.