First Look: Ravn Playing Cards by Caroline Ravn designed by Stockholm17

[Update] RAVN Playing Cards are now LIVE on Kickstarter! Don't miss out!

We are honoured once again to have a guest post by Lorenzo Gaggiotti of Stockholm17, creator of stunning playing card decks such as Requiem, Heretic, No.17 and Le Chat Rouge. In this exclusive first look, Lorenzo shares with us about collaborating with Caroline Ravn, the challenge behind designing the Ravn Playing Cards and the creative process behind the deck. Enjoy! 

Caroline Ravn and I teamed up just after summer to create her deck. I usually do not take freelance work, but I wanted to do an experiment and try a collaboration with a magician from Sweden. Living in the same country, it is easier to communicate and work. The deal was simple: I do the design and I follow the production, Caroline does the promotion and the public relations.

Ravn Playing Cards was a challenge because it is hard to make something simple and at the same time attractive. We wanted to keep the classic look because while performing magic tricks it is important to have a standard unsuspicious deck of playing cards. I made a dozen of back design proposals and it took me 2 months just on the back. Balance, contrast and graphics had to fit our goal.

The faces are quite standard, but I wanted to improve the hands and the faces of the Jacks, Queens and Kings. Also, I wanted to make elegant and intriguing jokers, and an attractive Ace of Spades. I worked a lot on the ambigram for the tuck, it turned out very nice and pretty symmetrical.

Overall, Ravn Playing Cards is a semi-custom deck design to be beautiful in its simplicity, great to perform magic tricks, or cardistry, or just some poker at the green table.

The Kickstarter campaign will start in 2 or 3 weeks, and the plan is to have 2 colors: crimson red and petrol green. As for add-ons we are planning a 1.5" coin, and a mini-deck. As always, it depends on how the campaign goes. We will try and keep prices as low as possible.

[Update] RAVN Playing Cards are now LIVE on Kickstarter! Don't miss out!


This exclusive guest post is written by Lorenzo of Stockholm17 for Kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can check out Lorenzo's work online at stockholm17.com