Imperial Hotel Playing Cards by Art of Play

Frank Lloyd Wright is a famous American architect known for his organic architectural designs. While he has designed many buildings, none is as legendary as the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. Although the hotel was demolished the lobby and pool were reconstructed as part of museum artifacts at the Meiji Mura museum. 

To celebrate this iconic design, Art of Play created this deck in partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The Imperial Hotel Playing Cards are produced in celebration of the centennial anniversary and to preserve Wright’s design of the long-lost Imperial Hotel.

Meticulously Illustrated by Ethan Kowaleski in close collaboration with Brad Fulton and Dan & Dave Buck, the deck features a Mayan Revival design and it shows Lloyd’s passion for Japan. The back design showcases an array of geometrical shapes with a collective formation of lines, squares, and perfectly aligned patterns. It is as if we are looking at the ceiling of the hotel.

The numbered cards featured customized geometrical shaped pips, orderly aligned on the center. The Ace of Spades is an enlarged spade pip illustrated with the style of the constructive blocks complete with the Hotel Imperial logo and name. The name of the architect is placed below the pip. You can also notice the indices are designed to look like architectural letterings including its square guidelines. The other Aces featured enlarged pips made in geometric shapes. 

The courts featured royal figures illustrated to follow the Mayan Revival style of the hotel. Its geometrical shapes pay close resemblance to ancient Mayan architecture. The court cards also feature a stylized corner frame on the empty corner spaces.

The tuck box features a bottom-side opening with a die-cut window. The front side features excellent graphic artwork on the title and window frame following the Mayan Revival design complete with gold metallic foil and strategic embossing. The back side features a short narrative about the majestic hotel that used to stand in past Japan along with the info about the deck.

Both Jokers feature identical artwork of the hotel’s side view on top of irregularly shaped diamonds. There are two extra cards, one is the ad copy for Art of Play, and the other is a beautiful illustration of a poster featuring Hotel Imperial under the majestic Mt. Fuji. This poster card combined with the tuck box creates the deck’s beautiful look.

The deck is now available on Art of Play for $25. Portions of the purchase will be forwarded to Frank Llyod Wright Foundation to help them preserve the architect’s works.