Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Felix Ha of PRESCRIPTION Playing Cards

PRESCRIPTION Playing Cards is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter with a goal of $5.6k. Already 318% funded, the fully custom-designed deck is inspired by prescription packaging labels and the medical industry. What we love about this deck is the design elements based on medical pill containers you might find in a pharmacy.

Also, there are many little elements of the playing card deck with little references to the art that any collector, cardist or magician will appreciate. Inside, the face cards have been made with orange and black custom pips as well as modified and recolored traditional courts to fit the theme. The back design contains many design elements related to medicine. It includes the bowl of Hygeia, some pills, and overall modern design to fit the theme. The eye-catching tuck box replicates a generic pill bottle from a pharmacy, with many similar details that one would normally see on the sticker design. It has warnings, a bar-code, ingredients, and all the important labels. Every deck comes with a custom metallic foil seal.

Last week, we had a quick chat with Felix Ha, founder of fh5ve (Instagram: @fh5ve), about the design, inspiration and design process behind RESCRIPTION Playing Cards.

For those of us who don’t know, can you tell us about yourself and how did fh5ve came to be?
I'm a 19-year-old Canadian in 2nd year studying Electrical Engineering at McMaster University. Despite studying something totally unrelated to art, me and graphic design go way back. Funny enough, the brand "fh5ve" actually came after I designed my first deck of cards, which took a while to get funded. I actually got inspired to start designing after I saw Chris Ramsay's Memento Mori deck since I've been watching him for quite some time before.

Can you describe PRESCRIPTION Playing Cards and why you’re passionate about it?
PRESCRIPTION Playing Cards is my 2nd deck after the IZO, and it is inspired by pill bottles and medicine. I'm super passionate about this project because I don't see too many differently designed decks other than foil, gold or geometric (not that they're bad by any means, I love T11 and cardistry decks). The main reason was that I wanted to make something that the community hasn't seen before and go the full length to make it amazing.

Walk us through the process you took to design the deck. How did you come out with the idea and how did you get to this finished product?
I came up with the idea when I was chatting with my cousin who's a pharmacist. I think I remember him saying something about the labels on bottles and packaging of medicine, and that's when it hit me that I haven't seen a deck based off of a pill bottle or medicine.

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck?
When I was coming up with ideas for the design of the deck, I realized that "dang, I can add so many easter eggs about magic and cardistry into the deck by changing up the direction, ingredients, warning labels and gaff cards". I think that the amount of uniqueness is what really sold it to the community for the unexpected success, despite having quite a small following.

We first noticed the deck on Instagram. What do you think of the playing card community in terms of the feedback and support that you’ve been getting so far?
The feedback has definitely been incredible from the community. I think mostly everyone likes the idea and theme, which is really awesome to hear. The playing card community is so tightly knit that it seems everyone already knows each other as family. That being said, I'd like to thank the community, backers and also unitedcardists.com for all the suggestions and criticism they gave to improve the deck.

IZO, PRESCRIPTION… what’s next? Are you planning to release more playing card decks in the future?
I have about four more ideas that are already in the works, and I will do my very best to make them a super memorable deck in the community. I just can't say anything concrete about the designs until they're fully fleshed out!

Finally, what are your favorite playing cards?
Theory 11 and Thirdway Industries decks are my favorites in terms of style. I also really like ANYONE's because of how minimal they are and the amazing cardists behind it. Unfortunately, I don't have a favorite deck just yet! ;)

Thank you for your time Felix and congratulations on hitting the funding goal quickly on Kickstarter.


PRESCRIPTION Playing Cards will be printed by the USPCC with Air-Cushion Finish. Pledge starts at $12 for a single deck on Kickstarter. Don't miss out!

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