Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Benji Taylor of ICON Playing Cards

ICON Playing Cards is created by a talented young cardist, Benji Taylor. This minimal, simple and quirky deck came together when Benji realised from his sketchbook that some weird random icons when put together could make a stylish deck design.

Benji was nice enough to have a chat with us about his design background, the inspiration & design evolution of the Icon and support from the playing card community.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
My mum is an artist and so growing up I have been able to experience that world quite a bit from art fairs etc. I have also always loved to draw, just random doodles mainly. It was only after I got my laptop that I really started to experiment with different types of design. The internet is amazing for me, it's a great way to be inspired and also learn pretty much everything you need to know about what ever you want to know about, the rest is just practise!

You are an amazing cardist! What motivated you to create your own deck of cards? 
Haha, thanks! I think it was when I went into my local magic shop and picked up an awesome deck I had never seen before. I asked the guy working there who had made them and he said it was an independent design by one person on Kickstarter. I had backed projects on KS before but had never though to search up playing cards let alone design my own deck. After that I knew I wanted to do it.

What is your inspiration behind Icon? How did you come up with the idea?
I couldn't think of a solid theme, I had all these ideas in my head that could of worked but I also didn't want to limit myself to one solid thing. I drew down a bunch of little ideas in a sketchbook, when I looked back at them and saw what were all these random icons, I decided that if I couldn't choose one that I liked best, I would use every single one that I had done! I drew them out neat, scanned them in, went over them and then put them all onto a back design! That is how Icons came about.

How much time did you spend working on the deck and can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
In total, I probably spent near to 5 months designing this deck. Everything else aside, just focusing on design, around 5 months. Some might think that is quite long considering it is not fully custom and is just the ace, box, back and jokers but I wanted every detail, every letter space on the tuck, to be just the way I wanted it. I also kept coming back to it, I would save something and then a day later change it all again till I was happy. It took me a long time just to get the colour the exact shade I wanted it! (it doesn't help that I am colour blind either..) Originally it was going to be a one way back with different icons than there are now, and was going to be a dark brown... This just shows how much things can change from the first try to the final product.

We initially noticed Icons on your Instagram account. What do you think of the playing card community and the support that you’ve been getting so far?
The response from icons has been overwhelming and generally amazing from the word go. When my good friend Franky Morales and I shared the first photo on Instagram we started getting lots of messages and comments asking where they could buy one of these decks. We released photos bit by bit and tried to not give too much away. Over time we developed a big group of people who were incredibly supportive and kind who are now the people backing the deck. One thing I have learnt along the way is that you cannot please everyone and this is a very valuable lesson to learn. You cannot keep changing things until you please everyone because you simply cannot please everyone. If you are truly proud of something you have done then be proud of it. All in all I think the community is great, they are supportive, communicative and kind and I hope it will all continue to grow.

What are your thoughts about some concerns regarding the shipping and fulfilment of Icon?
With the help of my whole family the idea will hopefully be to create a human conveyor belt and get everything packaged and sent as soon as possible. I think problems with shipping will always arise and it's not always possible to stop these things from occurring but I will make sure to work around these issues so that every backer gets what they have pledged for and is satisfied.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
My favourite decks... I would have to say.. Absolut Vodka, Fulton's China Town, Virts, Watermelons and Private Reserve? Those are just a few, I have so many!

Thank you for your time Benji and all the best! If you like what you’ve read here and want to support the Icon Playing Cards, you can find it on Kickstarter here. 


This deck will be printed by the USPCC with linen finish. Pledge starts from $16 and there are multiple add-ons available such as Icon t-shirt, Icon Anything is Possible bottle by Jamie D. Grant and Joe Porper Card Clip.

Deck View: Ignite Playing Cards

Hot. Flames. Glow.

From Elusionist, this is the second release in the Origin Series, Ignite captures golden flames, glowing embers and the smouldering black char of a scorching inferno. From the blazing ace of spades on the front of the box, to the world of flames on the back, there is no mistaking the theme of this deck.

Featuring line-art embellished pips, court cards colored in the orange glow of a dying hearth, and polarized jokers, reds and blacks in contrast, for a color-change illustrating the very name of the deck; Ignite.

Available at JP Games. Use the code KARDIFY10 during check-out to get 10% off for orders over £50.

Encarded: 7 Questions with Paul Carpenter of Zenith Playing Cards

Zenith is the first deck in the Encarded Signature Series masterfully crafted by Paul Carpenter. This highly anticipated deck is a dramatic re-imagining of the several commonly seen playing card themes: the black and white deck design, the central circular medallion motif, and borderless design. Zenith may be the only deck to combine such themes into such a cohesive and elegant package. Housed in a special sideways opening tuck box made of elegant, thick matte black paper, Zenith is adorned with amazingly detailed and vibrant holographic silver foil and sealed with a sequentially numbered seal (xxxx/1000) under the cellophane. Stunning!

We caught up with Paul, in between his busy schedule to chat with him about his design background, launching Zenith outside Kickstarter, the inspiration behind Zenith and EPCC.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your design background?
My design background goes quite a ways back, actually to when I was about 12 years old. My family got our first Macintosh computer (a screaming fast Mac IIci with an entire 12Mb of RAM!) in 1989 and I was immediately fascinated by it. I spent many hours playing with Photoshop 1.0 (which came on 4 floppy disks at the time) and fashioned all kinds of projects for myself. I started doing freelance in high school when designing for the internet was uncharted territory, went to college for graphic design and ultimately got a job as the creative director for a small internet company. Over the years I’ve worked on a wide variety of projects but the vast majority were digital. Digital creations, no matter how great, tend to quickly fade, be superseded by the new version, or become obsolete so I had always craved outlets that created tangible products. It took about 20 years but finally playing cards fell into my lap and I knew I had found a perfect medium for my design passion.

This will be your first release outside Kickstarter. What is the motivation behind this decision?
Kickstarter is great, and did give me chance to start Encarded. However, I always hoped to create my projects in such a way that it was self sustaining and (with some planning and a bit of luck) even profitable. I think that if you work out your projects properly, Kickstarter can actually fulfill it’s intended purpose, to give a project creator a jump start. Zenith was the perfect project to do outside of the Kickstarter model, as it was a purposefully small run, making it feasible to pay for the “real way.” Kickstarter adds costs and complication that don’t exist in a traditional storefront, so if possible I hope to do projects outside of Kickstarter.

Do you see this (KS creators releasing playing cards outside KS) as a trend? Why or why not?
Right now, I don’t see the Kickstarter trend stopping. The entrenched market of Kickstarter is strong and it does bring a lot of eyeballs to your projects. More critically, I think Kickstarter has, in some ways, lulled people into a false sense that all of this is really easy and painless, and as we’ve seen in almost all facets of modern life, everyone wants quick and easy.

I think that many projects creators really don’t understand the costs, profit potentials, shipping hazards and other factors that make doing these projects hard in the traditional way. Having backed many projects on Kickstarter it’s clear that only after the fact to people see the “wow this is a lot of hard work” aspect and in some cases this sudden reality can derail all the good intentions.

What is your inspiration behind Zenith? How did you come up with the idea?
Zenith is an experiment in taking two themes that we’ve seen a lot of, namely black and white art and borderless designs, and mix them into an entirely new way. I have many decks with predominantly black and white art on the back. They are all very nice, but in my opinion all too often stick religiously to the established norms. Borderless designs are also common but almost exclusively rely on small repetitive design detail for their effect. I wanted to explore a way in which these elements could be dramatically reimagined into a fresh design that you wouldn’t expect.

Can you briefly go through the design evolution of one of your unique card design?
My process is very amorphous. I do not really have a concrete way of doing things and almost all of my projects have developed in organic ways on their own. Usually, I do have some vague notion or theme that I want to explore.

With Tendril, I was inspired by Costa Rica and knew I wanted to explore the conflict of light and dark. For Aurum, I wanted to instill high detail and luxury alongside hand drawn details. For Deco, I wanted to see how I could incorporate stark simplicity with immense detail.

I usually start work by writing outlines for myself with facets of the design I would like to see. I might do some small pencil sketches to generate some ideas. From there, I usually go to the computer and simply start experimenting. Usually, the design of a deck will change significantly over perhaps 10 iterations and usually I end up with something vastly different from the start. I keep many of my ideas and thoughts that don’t make the cut for a particular project and revisit them later, which is how many parts of my Signature Series decks will come about. Anyone watching my decks sees that I clearly do not so the same thing over and over, so any of the ideas I stumble upon might bear fruit later.

When did you first start thinking about using EPCC for Zenith? What made you decide to take the plunge?
When I was at the 52+ Jokers annual convention in Las Vegas last year, I had the opportunity to talk with Bill Kalush of the Conjuring Arts Research Center in New York. He showed me one of his latest decks (the Exquisite, which was unreleased and a secret at that time) and I was very impressed with the quality, handling and feel of those cards. In the course of the meeting we were able to talk about the work Bill had done to find and experiment with the international printers and the options that they made available.

I got the idea of using some of the designs that I had stumbled upon in the course of creating my other decks to create the Signature Series, and EPCC afforded me the flexibility to do small runs at a reasonable cost. I also wanted to make use of the EPCC printer’s ability to get extremely precise registration, as my design for Zenith would not be tolerant of variations in where the border of the card was cut. Being the first time using a new printer, it did require a fair amount of time and effort and because I packed Zenith full of luxury touched it’s far from a “cheap” deck, but the EPCC printer did an amazingly good job and I’m certainly going to make use of their capabilities again.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
I have quite a few decks and open everything I buy so that I can study the art. I do not own much vintage (yet) but hope to acquire more of the beautiful artistry from days past. Some of my personal favorites right now are the Federal 52 from my friend Jackson, the Seasons from my friend Alex, the Exquisite from CARC, Whispering Imps, Royal Optik, Virtuoso, Curator, Tally-Ho Vipers, and v1 Artifice.

Printed by the Expert Playing Card Company, Zenith is one of the rarest full releases in the world of modern playing cards. There are no other editions, no other box designs, no other colors and it won't be printed again. Less than 1,000 sealed and individually numbered decks will be released. Don't miss out on your chance to get this groundbreaking deck from Encarded!

Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Ade Suryana of Aquila Playing Cards

The Aquila Playing Cards is a collaboration between Three of Clubs and Kardify Projects. This meticulously designed playing cards is inspired by the Garuda Wisnu Kencana in Bali, Indonesia. This large mythical bird with eagle-like features has been featured in many cultural and religious mythologies, and has become a cultural symbol in Bali and Java.

This custom deck of playing cards is designed by Indonesian graphic artist Ade Suryana and will be printed by the Legends Playing Card Company (LPCC). In between preparing for our Kickstarter project, I had a quick chat with Ade about his design background, the inspiration behind Aquila, LPCC and his thoughts on Kickstarter.

Can you tell us about yourself, Three of Clubs and what is your design background?
My name is Ade Suryana. I was born in Tomohon, North Sulawesi of Indonesia. I love drawing and painting since the age of 5. I always get support from my parents and frequently attend the drawing competition (and of course I won some of them, haha). I was introduced into playing card by my uncle since I was 7 years old. We live in different town, he visit me once a week on Sunday and everytime he came, we always play a game with playing card. I remember when I was in elementary school, I love to make a small size of playing card and sell it to my friend at school. I use markers to draw the indices and pips and made the tuckcase from cardboard.

I moved to Yogyakarta, Central Java of Indonesia at 2004 when I attend to college to study IT. Talk about my design background, I have never attend formal college for design. I learned about graphic design from my brother. He is an illustrator and graphic designer and also my teacher in design. At the moment, I’m a freelance graphic designer for 4 years based in Yogyakarta, mostly designed logo for business and individuals. Back in 2013, I won a small contest of VJose Playing Cards at August 2013, later on September 2013 I collaborate with my friend Joao Pereira to submit my design and we won Bicycle Club 808 Contest Design-A-Deck-Rematch.

I’ve been collecting modern playing cards for 3 years and enjoyed the art of playing cards. Being in a playing cards community, I met two people this past year that have the same passion and vision, later we formed. Three of Clubs- myself as a designer, Akmal Luthfi (Magicican, Photographer, Video Editor) and Krisnapati Bayu (IT Professional, Content Creator , Deception Artist). We’re based in Indonesia. This is the first time we’ve been working together for a playing card project. We have one vision to spread our culture into playing cards and also create high quality playing card that could be accepted, enjoyed and used by playing cards enthusiast such as magicians, cardists and collectors.

What is your inspiration behind Aquila Playing Cards? How did you come up with the idea?
The idea of the deck itself came from Akmal Luthfi when we’re been talking about playing cards. Back in 2009 I visited Garuda Wisnu Kencana in Bali, so I think this will be a great idea to spread our culture into playing card. Later I start to build a concept design based on his idea. Garuda also described as a myth in our culture, so we create a concept of “The Myth” into a Marking System based on Krinapati Bayu idea which will be featured in The Standard Edition of AQUILA.

How much time did you spend working on the deck?
Couldn’t really say exactly how much time I spend on this deck. If I'm counting it's probably three months from the first line I drawed on this deck. I started the first rough design concept at January 2014, and spend 8-10 hours a day, most at night to designing and tweaking.

If funded, this will be the first Kickstarter project printed by Legends Playing Card Company. How did you come to this decision to use LPCC and were there any challenges when you approached them?
Legends Playing Card Company is known for their breakthroughs in quality and card handling. Legends #852 sold out the bulk of its inaugural print run of 11,000 decks in days, and are highly coveted among collectors, magicians, and poker players for the “glass-like” edges, durability, and printing precision. This was followed by a close partnership with The Expert Playing Card Company and CARC to create the Exquisite decks, and working together to innovate and create exciting new projects.

Well, after some research I found that LPCC could fulfill what we need for Aquila deck project, particularity in the areas of card stock, finishing and handling. The other thing that really impressed me is the consistency of the card borders, which are perfectly centered even with a thin border under 3mm.

As an artist, working with LPCC was extremely smooth and fast from the first time I submitted the artwork through to the final approval. The guidance from Lawrence Sullivan was really detailed and the communication was excellent. Being able to collaborate with Lawrence Sullivan from LPCC was such a great experience.

What are a few of your favorite reward levels and why?
I’ve to say my favorite reward level is the Limited Collector Set and Mixed Dual. As a collector for myself, mostly I would buy 2 decks, 1 to be opened and 1 for displayed. And the collector box is nice item for displayed.

Playing card projects on Kickstarter has grown exponentially over the past few years? What are yout thoughts?
Kickstarter has become a great platform for artists and other creators. I have seen a lot of playing cards projects on Kickstarter and I think it is mutually beneficial for both creators and backers to create and enjoy the art of playing cards. Although there are several funded projects that failed to delivered because they set goals that are too low and can not cover the cost of production and delivery. For me as a creator, "PLAN" is the most important thing and ensure the artwork has been approved by the manufacturer before launching a project. It will save your time in a production phase when the project is funded. I have seen a few projects of playing cards that have not been approved by the manufacturer when they launched a project, and ended up with a few design changes, even the worst there are a few projects that can not be manufactured by the same manufacturer that has been promised in the campaign.

With that being said, there are always the greatest, the good, the bad and the worst playing cards projects that I’ve seen on Kickstarter. Backers are more selective, and the decision to bring a worthed project is in the creators hand.

Finally, what are your three favorite playing cards?
+ Monarch from Theory11: I love the linework design and the tuckcase. Classy and elegant.
+ Exquisite by EPCC & LPCC: This deck of playing cards represent a breakthrough in quality and card handling. The consistency of the card borders which are perfectly centered really impressed me, aside from the top notch of the card stock and finishing.
+ Federal 52 Series by Jackson Robinson: The art detail that has been put on this deck are amazing. I would describe the deck with two words : Playing cART :)

Thanks Ade!

Aquila will be available in two editions: Standard and Limited Edition (LE). Both decks are completely unique and 100% customised. The LE deck is limited to 1,500 and features an embossed tuck, custom deal and gold foil. These beautiful deck will be printed by LPCC at the highest quality stock with Legends 'Diamond Finish'. Pledge starts from $12.

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Designers: UUSI's Creative Process

In the continuation of our designers series, we are honoured to have a guest post from Linnea of UUSI, creators of popular playing card decks such as BlueBlood, Bohemia, Royal Optik and Pagan. This month, Linnea shares with us about working together with Peter as a husband & wife team, the creative process behind creating a deck of cards, and how an artwork is finalised. USSI's upcoming project Hotcakes (launching on 26th April - 10am EST) will be used as examples in this article.


One of the questions Peter and I are always asked is how do you guys work together? I think this question is made up of part curiosity for the actual design / art process we use in the studio and part incredulity that we would actually want to work together as we are not only partners in a design studio, but husband & wife. Truth be told, whenever I hear that "Husband & Wife Team" moniker I cringe. What immediately comes to mind is an insanely dysfunctional, unprofessional work environment with a very combative, emotionally charged atmosphere. I've been around those situations and they are claustrophobic. But when they work, they are really fun and the environment is incredibly trusting and supportive. I think at Uusi we manage to walk that line of keeping personal issues at home (mostly!) and bring to the studio our creative energy and productive focus.

Hotcakes Card Backs

When we decided to work on a six-deck series for Uusi we had been making art and design together for quite some time and the creative process was well established. Peter is the founder of Uusi, but his official role at the studio is Art Director and mine is Lead Creative. We both brainstorm for a deck's theme and once one is decided on my role is to explore the visual possibilities for the deck. This usually requires a lot of sketching out of ideas, color directions, medium choice, etc. During this process Peter will come in and start to winnow out what works and what doesn't until we are down to about two or three different looks from which one is finally chosen. Finding the look and theme is definitely the longest process in creating these decks.

Hotcakes Heart Court

Once a look and theme are established the deck's art work moves fairly quickly from there. The final artwork is worked on by whomever has the strongest skill in the chosen medium. With "Hotcakes" I created sketches for the characters and Peter came in to ink the line work using a traditional pen and ink technique that he is skilled in. After the sketches have been inked they come back to me and I added the color to them. This time the color was produced with markers and tempera paints as we wanted the look to be highly illustrative and playful. The final artwork is then scanned into the computer and laid into the playing card templates. Each card has its own digital file that is then converted into a working digital format for print. When all the digital files are ready they are then dropped onto USPCC's server and their Post Production team rips them into a master template for print.

Hotcakes Ace of Spades

The video embedded below is part of our soon-to-be-launched, "Hotcakes" Kickstarter video and shows both Peter and I working on the the Queen of Hearts artwork for this deck. The video begins with Peter inking in the pencil sketch and then my adding the color. Hope you enjoy it and we hope to see you over on Kickstarter next weekend for the launch of our fifth deck, "Hotcakes!"




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

Revealed: Zenith - Encarded Signature Series

I am really excited about this stunning deck! So, without a further ado, here is THE exclusive first look of Zenith- masterfully created by Paul Carpenter, designer and founder of Encarded.

Thanks to Paul, who provided us some of the most visually stunning photos we've ever seen of a playing card deck, we would like to share some of the images that were sent to us.

We asked Paul to describe Zenith and why he is passionate about it. Paul replied,

"Zenith was a very fun design challenge. As with my other decks, I really enjoy finding new ways to combine styles or existing genres but add in new thinking, and Zenith did that as well. The central circular medallion is an extremely common theme in card design, as is the solid color black artwork, but I wanted to shake those up in a very new way. In the course of designing Aurum I had stumbled across some motifs used in India of centuries past and found them quite striking, so I researched those to create my grand medallion for Zenith."

Paul Continued,

"By taking that main feature and expanding it to spread right off the card, it introduced an entirely new look and feel, creating a borderless card that did not rely on a small repeated pattern. I was really excited the first time I fanned out my prototype deck, the overall visual changing dramatically depending on the size of your fan or spread. Producing such a small run was a tough choice, but I wanted to make sure I could produce exactly what I want, not rely on Kickstarter, and give collectors a “true” collectible item, not merely a box variation or slight color tweak. "

To pre-order Zenith and for premium custom collectable playing cards visit Encarded. Also, to see more exclusives and interviews, please follow us Facebook.

News: The First Discourse Deck Design Contest Sponsored by the Expert Playing Card Company

Do you have a design idea for a playing card deck? 

Take your design, hammer out the dents, then present it at the Discourse. The Discourse entered into a sponsorship arrangement with the Expert Playing Card Company (EPCC) and created a contest for fledgling and experienced deck designers.

How It Works 

Stage One is now underway. Present your ideas to the public for comments and suggestions on the Design and Development board.
Stage Two begins Sunday, May 18th at 04:00 UTC, where the Discourse will begin accepting submissions for the contest.
Stage Three starts Tuesday, July 1st at 04:00 UTC; the submission period is closed and the entries are presented to the membership to be voted on. The election ends Tuesday, July 15th at 04:00 UTC.

If there's no clear majority had by any one entry, a two-day run-off election for the top two vote-getters will be held starting on July 15th and ending July 17th at 04:00 UTC.

The Prize 

The winner will have his/her deck created by the EPCC, and the designer will receive 36 bricks of their deck, shipped to them free of charge...! Bragging rights included of course!

This is the kind of contest where you can win without actually being the winner, just from the exposure that your design receives. Also, you might get an indication of the responses for that Kickstarter project you've been thinking of, or perhaps you'll catch the attention of a design house that's interested in your work!

Head on over to the Discouse and start your journey!

Revealed: Aquila Playing Cards and Kardify Projects

Kardify Projects is proud to announce a collaboration with Three of Clubs from Indonesia, for the release of Aquila Playing Cards on Kickstarter. Aquila is the result of months of effort, meticulous card design, refinement and planning of the collaboration. This will be the first for Kardify Projects. Our goal is to produce not only a quality product, but one that can be enjoyed by all Playing Card aficionados in a truly limited offering.

Aquila Playing Cards is inspired by Balinese mythology- exotic, elegant and beautiful. The Aquila designs encompass two decks of different custom Playing Cards, the Standard Edition (White) and Limited Edition (Brown). They are accentuated by exotic and elegant details throughout with an intricate borders on the back and beautiful background patterns on the face card.

Each of the court cards is custom and unique, which exemplify the uniqueness of the two decks. There are only 1,500 Limited Edition decks available and once these reward tiers are filled, they are sold out and never to be printed again. This meticulously designed deck of Playing Cards will be printed by the Legends Playing Card Company (LPCC), producers of the popular Legends and Exquisite brand of playing cards.

We are extremely excited and cannot wait to launch Aquila on Kickstarter on 23rd April (7am CDT).

Three of Clubs - Ade Suryana, Akmal Luthfi and Krisnapati Bayu
Kardify Projects - Anthony Ingrassia and Ivan Choe

Deck View: Exquisite (Blue) Playing Cards

Quality. Elegant. Classic.

From Expert Playing Card Company (EPCC), the Exquisite is a one of a kind deck inspired by the original from about 1895 or so and produced by the Union Playing Card Company of New York. The back design that Union used wasn’t as much fun so EPCC decided to replace it with a really beautiful back that had also originally come from the Art Nouveau period.

The blue (worker) edition of this deck is made of the original back design, not reversed- like the ultra rare red edition, printed in metallic blue and it also has a sideways tuck completely done in a beautiful blue foil.

The Exquisites represent a breakthrough in quality and card handling. It is printed on the same paper and coating as the Legends and by the same Taiwanese factory. It handles like a dream!

Available at JP Games. Use the code KARDIFY10 during check-out to get 10% off for orders over £50.

Review: Medallions Playing Cards

In between his busy airline day job and fatherhood, Joey Heininger runs an Australian based online playing card store, theflush. From this month, Joey will be a contributor on Kardify to provide us with playing card reviews. He will give us a run down on art, feel, and how usable the decks are in specific applications, and his own personal thoughts with a touch of Aussie humour.

It has been said that the “greatest playing cards” ever produced are Theory 11’s Monarchs, and I couldn’t agree more, they have style, they have flair and they lack that extremely annoying nasal voice, but much like Nanny Fine, they have had more outfits than one should own before making a trip to charity to donate one. They come in three basic colours Red, Blue, and White Silver, this is before you include the rare Gold version.

So how does one dress up their flagship deck and provide us with something new, all without losing greatness? They drop the suit and tie for something a little more casual, something like a pirate’s costume.

Does it work? 

If you like layered brown and gold, then yes, if you don’t then you have never had the pleasure of seeing my wife’s hair in the sun. Medallions are Theory11’s best deck on offer after Monarchs in its little red number. It has the same “Ultra-Lux” card stock for the tuck as the Red Monarchs… I don’t even know what Ultra-Lux is, but it sure does feel nice, and lasts a little longer in the pocket too.

The art, by French graphic designer JC Desevre is reminiscent of 18th century pirate booty, hence the name, the tuck flap has a key hole making the tuck look like a treasure chest, and the courts are standard with customised elements complementary to the overall design.

What I don’t like 

The white borders; while the deck has been printed with USPCC’s highest quality control and the boarders are thin, set against the brown and gold, the White borders make the deck look like someone dropped block of chocolate in a flurry of flour. The other element that I don’t like is their unwillingness to adopt a more customised look and print the black pips in a complementary brown, but hey for a deck so sophisticated in its presentation and design can forgive them.

What I do like

Everything else; as per usual Theory 11 has provided us with all the bells and whistles a collector could need and a magician could want, beautiful art, embossed tuck, the right mix of stock and finish, foil accents and to top it all off nicely, a seal, something lacking in both my family car’s motor and many Ellusionist tucks.

What are they good for? 

They’re good in just about all applications one would use a deck of cards. The white borders I complained about earlier is actually a blessing for some, it means they are a usable deck in magic, the boarders are thin too so they work well in XCM, you would be the talk of the table if you broke these bad boys out at poker and if you have a wobbly table you will have 56 little slivers of card and the box they came in to even it out.

The Medallions is easily one of my favourite decks and it is easy to see why it is one of our best sellers. This is a must have deck in your arsenal.


This review is written by Joey Heininger for kardify. No part of this review can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can check out Joey's Australian based online playing card store at theFlush.com.au

1-on-1: Lotrek

 
In the late 1800’s, French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - one of the most well-known painters of the Post-Impressionist period - produced some of the most elegant and provocative images of the Paris lifestyle of that era. His work has an unmistakable style all its own and the “Everyman” is probably most familiar with his works inspired by the French cabaret Moulin Rouge, which have been reproduced in poster and print editions for years.

Have you caught the connection? This month I had the opportunity to chat with Lotrek from Half Moon Playing Cards. In our early conversations, I just had to ask where the moniker came from, I was pretty sure that wasn’t his legal name, and he shared that it was in homage to the French Painter and for now he enjoys the mystery of having an "Alter Ego".

Lotrek hails from Greece, a country with a long artistic history, glorious past and a somewhat-troubled present. While you may not see his heritage in his early works, there is no mistaking that he draws on a European sense of artistic inspiration in his more recent designs. Lotrek has studied art and has worked for several years as a freelance illustrator and graphic artist.

In 2011, around the holiday season, he met Russ Stevens of RSVP Magic (Butterfly, Timeless, Dark Deco).

“I met Russ Stevens online in 2011 (it was Christmas time), when he was looking for an artist to design the "Timeless" deck and I was looking for alternatives to my freelance illustration work”

The work with RSVP immediately inspired Lotrek to such a high degree that he became obsessed with Playing Cards. That inspiration became evident to Russ Stevens, who - with some minor guidelines - gave Lotrek complete creative freedom with his work. Timeless was a very successful project and quickly became one of RSVP’s biggest sellers. His success with RSVP continued with the follow up to Timeless, Butterfly

“I found this theme strange for a deck of playing cards and finally I decided to make the courts as humans with Butterfly wings. This was an idea used by art nouveau artists, so the whole deck has this art nouveau feeling.”

Success didn’t go to his head and, much like the classic artists of eras long gone, Lotrek is driven by creativity above all else.

“My goals are rather personal and artistic rather than financial or commercial. I want to evolve as a designer with each new deck I produce.  I want to push my work a bit further every time I get my pencil to draw, even if it’s just for a pip.”

The most interesting thing I learned from our conversation is that Lotrek really doesn’t have a strong tie to Playing Cards. He’s not a magician, although he would love to learn, he’s not a collector in the sense that we might assume. He has decks he’s been given from fellow designers and a few he feels are important to him, but he is definitely not what we would think of as a card aficionado.

“…but I love playing cards as an object. I can perfectly understand someone’s obsession with cards. I’m obsessed with designing them.”

With the release of his third deck – Venexiana – in 2013, Lotrek took the next logical step in his design career and started Half Moon Playing Cards. Since then he has devoted himself to playing card design work and has just finished a very successful Kickstarter campaign of United Cardists’ Annual Deck, Grotesque, which was inspired by ancient Roman decorative art and has some very unique and intricate design elements.

2014 holds some great offerings by Lotrek and Half Moon Playing Cards. With a scheduled “Part 2” to the Venexiana deck and a new, yet top-secret project that will be announced sometime in September.

“…in September I’ll be launching a deck which I consider to be my most important (to me at least) until now.  It requires a lot of research and I’ve been working on the idea for almost two years. I cannot reveal more about it yet though.”

Like many, I can’t wait to see what Lotrek will have to offer next. For now, he was kind enough to answer a few final questions for us:

What inspires your style when you produce a deck (or any art for that matter)?
Difficult to answer. Basically the style of the era my deck is referred to. But also my personal view on it.

Having a few successful decks under your belt, does it get easier or harder with each new project?
It gets easier and also it gets harder. It’s easier because with each deck a larger audience is built, but it also gets harder because each time, I want to produce a better deck than the previous. I don’t want to disappoint people who support me and also I want to satisfy myself, which is –believe me- the most difficult. I know that some of my decks will be more successful than others (financially speaking) but I don’t care about that. I’m not greedy, the only field where I want more and more is the creative field.

When developing a concept, is it difficult to keep the functionality of a deck, while still realizing your vision, design and customization?
I’d say that this is the challenge. I don’t forget that these are meant to be used by people to play with. For me, playing cards are not a showcase for extravagant design. So this limitation makes the designing process more interesting. How will I come up with a new style for the pips and indices while at the same time they’ll be easy to read? That’s the game.

As an Illustrator, where do you see the Playing Card industry headed?
Truly, I cannot predict. One thing is certain, that more and more interesting designs and artists will show up. Bad news for collectors’ pockets but good news for collectors’ hearts!

As with everyone else who has been nice enough to share some of their stories, I want to thank Lotrek for his time and collaboration on this piece.  Lotrek, much like his namesake, has a very unique style that brings very intricate designs as well as an almost classic artistic style to his playing card projects. If Timeless or Butterfly is missing from your collection, I would highly recommend them. They are still available in the marketplace.


You can keep up to date with all the latest Half Moon Playing Card projects by visiting Lotrek on his Facebook Page or visit the Half Moon Playing Cards site.

This exclusive 1-on-1 is written by Anthony Ingrassia for kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author.  

Deck View: Magic-Con (2014) Playing Cards

Magic. Conference. Commemorative.

The fourth Magic-Con in San Diego, California is underway. Following tradition, each registered attendee received a commemorative Magic-Con deck of playing cards. The cards are inspired from the old Texan back design and printed using D&D's signature stock and finish.

Only 2,500 decks were printed and the majority will be given away and/or sold at the event.

This Deck View is contributed by @Charlie_L1f3, our regular Deck View guru. Check out his Instagram to see more of his awesome collection.

Revealed: LUXX Playing Cards Part I

Here's an exclusive first look of the LUXX deck from JP Playing Cards. This elegant deck was created by Randy Butterfield, designer of the successful White Ornate. In February, the LUXX backs were revealed to customers of JP Playing Cards and this has generated quite a buzz around the playing cards community.

Thanks to Paul Middleton, owner of JP Playing Cards, we are able to do a partial reveal of the tuck case. The first look above is a rendering of images provided to kardify.

When asked to describe the LUXX playing cards, Paul said,

"The LUXX cards will be elegant, intricate and beautiful whilst remaining practical and fun to use. I've been passionate from the start about seeing these cards be used and enjoyed and the best way we can do that is to make them affordable and accessible, but still with a luxury feel. "

Stay tuned for more preview coming up next!

For premium, limited edition and collectable playing cards visit JP Playing Cards - one of the fastest growing collectible playing card stores in the World. Also, to see more exclusives and interviews, please follow us Facebook.

Indiegogo: 7 Questions with the New Deck Order of the Cardistry of South East Asia Project

Cardistry is a breathtaking performing art form. The manipulation of playing cards with intent to display creativity and skill have captivated many for the past few years. You’ve probably seen a snippet of cardistry – a card flourish on youtube or even teaser for new playing cards.

Cardists (or “card artists”) are gradually becoming more and more advanced in their technique. Jaspas Deck is one of the masters who is constantly pushing the boundaries of this art. Recently announced as the finalist of the World Kardistry Championship, Jaspas and the New Deck Order have created the Cardistry of South East Asia DVD project on Indiegogo to share their passion for the art.

This project involves 10 Cardists across 5 different countries- the largest Cardistry project to-date! This project will be the precedent for further documentaries of Cardistry scenes around the world by New Deck Order. We had a quick chat with Loretta of the New Deck Order on the Cardistry of South East Asia (SEA) project, using Indiegogo, inspiration behind the SEA deck and the community support.

Can you tell us about New Deck Order and how did you guys come about? 
The New Deck Order was formed with the idea of bringing Cardists around the world together. The Cardistry community has always been small, but we are scattered all over the world and therefore it's hard for everyone to know each other personally. We hope to be able to make this community a tighter and more close-knit one.

Can you describe the Cardisty of South East Asia Project and why you’re passionate about it?
This project involves many Cardists from all over the region and is by far the biggest Cardistry project to be done. Considering our physical proximity from all the big names in Cardistry, this part of the world doesn't receive a lot of attention. There are so many Cardists here who deserve more exposure and we want to give them this opportunity to showcase to the world what Southeast Asia has to offer.




When did you first start thinking about using indiegogo for the project? What made you decide to take the plunge?
As there are lots of costs involved for this project, such as travel and accommodation to all the various countries and production costs for the cards, we just didn't have enough at the time to get it started. We also wanted more people to play a part in making this happen. As we're located in Singapore, we're not able to use Kickstarter. We chose flexible funding because we were going to go ahead with the project even if we were not fully funded.

There are a lot of interest in the SEA Deck. How did you come up with the idea and how much time did you spend working on the deck?
We wanted to make something different from regular cards, something simple but able to change the looks of moves. We decided on replacing the court cards with pips, which will provide a consistent look in displays, fans, etc. The conceptualization of the design took about a month, and the designing itself took about another month.

What is your favourite Perk in the project and why? 
The CoSEA Ultimate Package! It includes all the products that we've come up with for the project - the DVD, lecture notes, and playing cards. It is indeed the ultimate package for people who want to invest in this project!

After more than 20 days, the project is still not funded. What do you think of the support given by the cardistry community so far? Would you do anything different? 
It's understandable that the response by the community for this project is way less unenthusiastic as if it had been purely a deck of cards. We recognize that there are lots of people who would want the cards without having to buy a DVD along with it, but the primary focus of the project is the DVD and we wanted people to see it as such, and not a playing card project. If we had to change something about the project, it would be to give more time to market it to the community. We came up with this idea late last year and have to make the tour this summer when all the Cardists are available, or wait till next summer to do it. We only had a short time frame to churn everything out.

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks?
Our favourite playing card decks include old Studs, Aviators and Tally-Hos The DVD itself features moves from 8 Southeast Asian Cardists.

Thanks guys and all the best!

Don't miss out! This is a rare chance to know these cardistry masters who are constantly pushing the boundaries of this art, and gain insights from the creative minds of the hundreds of practitioners in the region. Also, Jaspas Deck will also be giving lectures in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Manila.

Pledge now to get the physical copy of the DVD. It includes an insert full of photography, comments and notes from the tour. The highly sought-after SEA deck is available at a higher perk.

Deck View: Deco Silver Playing Cards

Simple. Elegant. Bold.

Created by Paul Carpenter, Deco is the third deck from Encarded. Deco features elegant, hand-crafted details printed on Bee casino stock and housed in a beautiful foil and embossed tuck box.

Deco is designed and sold as a matched pair, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze deck and only 2,500 pairs will be printed by the US Playing Card Company. Deco Silver is the lighter deck of the set. The metallic silver, rich blue and white tones add shimmer and depth.

Available at JP Games. Use the code KARDIFY10 during check-out to get 10% off for orders over £50.

Analytics: Kickstarter March 2014

With the increased interest in crowd-funded playing card projects particularly on Kickstarter, we are publishing a monthly tracking report as part of our popular Analytics series. The goal is to give an analytical insight into the month-on-month performance of projects and how these numbers are tracking cumulatively year-to-date.

The number of funded projects slipped 17% in March as playing card backers turned cautions ahead of a few high profile launch, the Hive deck, Zenith, LUXX, Hot Cakes and Whispering Imps v2. However, the year-to-date numbers continue to surpass those from the same time last year. The chart below describes how this year is tracking against the numbers from 2013 as benchmark.

Playing Card Projects 

The number of unsuccessful projects rose 22% this month. We see this as a persistent trend for the next month or two as competition increase and hence more choices for backers.

Here is what the month looked like in numbers:

Projects launched in March are equally spread through out the month.

Meanwhile, a here is how projects performed over the month. The % of successful projects this month decreased 6% and as noted, an increase in the % of unsuccessful projects.

Funding

A total of $788k was raised by all projects in March. This is 17% higher than the prior month.

The White Ornate ($118k) designed by Randy Butterfield was the most funded this month. The unlocking of the stunning Black Obsidian deck stretched goal pushed the final funding over the $100k mark.

Here is a look at the top 5 most funded playing cards:

The top 5 successful playing cards projects for the month contributed 76% to the overall funding of successful projects!

Similar to last month, the average funding goal of successful project is $11.3k. This reduced the YTD average to $13.1k. We maintained that the average funding goal stabilize around the $15k mark.

Backers 

Approximately 18.1k backers were recorded across all projects in March. The average pledge per backer increased to $51 this month.

The following is a month-on-month comparison for 2014 with the 2013 curve used as benchmark.

Top 5 funded Projects by backer numbers below:

Launched Projects 

Here are the top 10 most funded projects launched in March:

As expected, Kings Wild's the Independence deck lead the chart by a huge margin. The project reached its $60k funding goal in just 10 hours. Also, the average spent per backer for the Independence is $84.8. Amazing!

The momentum seem to have stabilize this month and we expect the numbers to be consistent next month as well before things pick up during summer.


Data provider: