Kardify Magazine Issue 1

KARDIFY.COM

issue no 1

magazine

june 2017

HIDDEN LEAVES PLAYING CARDS

MAGIC ORTHODOXY’S EDC

NEW DECK BY ANYONE WORLDWIDE

A look at the deck development of Mahdi

We have the EDC of Magic Orthodoxy, our

Anyone Worldwide unveiled a new deck, the

Gilberts upcoming deck of plaiyng cards.

favorite playing card reviewer on YouTube.

Checkerboard Playing Cards.

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CONTENTS

CHERRIES at @kardify

Memento Mori at @kardify

06 08 Hidden Leaves EDGE Playing Cards A look at the design development of Mahdi’s upcoming deck.

Bold, contemporary, and an eye-catching deck.

09 10 Casino Royale (Bright Card Radar: Red Edition) Stripe Playing Cards From Bomb Magic, the deck is an homage to

A deck inspired by stained glass, cardistry,

the classic Casino decks with a modern twist.

modern art, cubism, and architecture.

12 14 EDC: Magic Q&A: Annette Orthodocxy Abolins This month, we have the EDC of our favorite playing card reviewer on YouTube.

Designer of the fun and dynamic VIZAĜO Playing Cards currently funding on Kickstarter.

16 17 Gemini Terra Playing The Isometric No. 2 Cards Deck Two years in the making, this fascinating deck was designe by Lorenzo Gaggiotti.

The second released from Kenneth Aidan Foo featuring a contrasting red-gold colorway.

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CONTENTS

SHERLOCK on @kardify

VIRIDIAN on @kardify

18 19 Midgard Playing Funded: Jetsetter in Cards Resitricted Red Design Imperator’s hand-illustrated Norse themed deck.

All new colorway inspired from the most secret airline in the United States.

20 22 On Kickstarter: Hanami Anyone Worldwide’s Deck Checkerboard Deck Produced by IndianWolf Studios, this unique deck is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter.ersen.

Brand new deck by the new cardistry group headed by Tobias Levin and Nikolaj Pedersen.

24 26 Pantheon Playing Cardvolution 8th Cards Anniversary An individual deck featuring greek mythology by Thirdway Industries.

Cardvolution, a Singapore retailer has

celebrated its anniversary in style.

28 Dead Soul by TCC Playing Card Co. A dark macabre deck featuring 52 uniquely designed cards.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Ivan Choe Founder

first issue Welome to the inagural edition of the Kardify Magazine.

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e at Kardify values continuous improvement and to always create an inspiring place for collectors, creators, aspiring designers and of course, our loyal readers. As such, we are always finding new

ways to connect, collaborate and communicate, which is why we put together this magazine. By offering news and articles to help you stay on top of what designers and playing card companies are doing. The monthly magazine will be a compilation of selected articles we’ve published on our main site. Things are changing fast in the playing card industry, with brand new innovation in printing technology and new decks and crowdfunded projects released every month, we hope to keep you updated with the latest news and articles that are insightful, interesting and helpful to you. If something is coming down the pipeline we feel you should know, we’ll do our best to tell you and get you updated. If you have an idea for an article you would like us to pursue, do contact us on kardify.com. We hope you enjoy the read. g

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The Spades of Hidden Leaves by Mahdi Gilbert This is the second part of our look at the design development of Hidden Leaves Playing Cards, the upcoming deck by magician Mahdi Gilbert.

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idden Leaves blend Japanese and French aesthetics to create the style of this gorgeous deck, a spiritual homage to Le Samouraï, the 1967 French masterpiece by Jean-Pierre Melville. Mahdi made a conscious decision to restrict himself to only using red and black for the faces of the deck. According to Mahdi, “This allows me, I believe to create more visual impact by creating strong contrasts and empty spaces. Notice how they are not symmetrical or perfect. Notice the wholesomeness of the faces, it reminds me of a time in entertainment long gone when families and multiple generations would gather around and enjoy the same entertainment together in a group, something that very rarely happens today.” Stay tuned as we continue with deck development and reveal more of the Hidden Leaves Playing Cards. g

The King of Spades of Mahdi Gilbert’s Hidden Leaves Playing Cards

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I believe to create more visual impact by creating strong contrasts and empty spaces. Notice how they are not symmetrical or perfect.

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The dynamic colors of the eye-catching EDGE Playing Cards.

Card Flash: EDGE Playing Cards

Produced by TCC Playing Card Co., the vibrant EDGE Playing Cards are designed by Creative Mints. There are a number of things to like about this deck, firstly the bold colors are truly contemporary, and they create an eye-catching deck. The geometry of the design, which is consistent across the deck, complements the bold colors; from the card backs and ace of spades to the fully custom courts and jokers. All of these elements combined make for a versatile deck not just for poker nights, but for magic or cardistry performances. You can find EDGE at tccplayingcard.com along with their other deck designs. g

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Casino Royale (Bright Edition) Colors. Modern. Diamond. From Bomb Magic, Casino Royale Bright Edition is an homage to the classic Casino decks with a modern twist and presentation reflecting the companies philosophy.

Inspired by old casino deck and incorpotated with some modren design characteristics.

It is designed with traditional casino-styles and has a colorful back of fashion multi-colored diamond. It’s inspired by old casino deck and incorporated with some modern design characteristics. All aces and court cards are custom and designed from scratch. Printed in Taiwan, the casino stock on the “Royale” finish handles exceptionally well right out of the box. Available now from Bomb Magic. g Deck View of Bomb Magic’s Casino Royale Bright Edition Playing Cards.

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Card Radar: Omar Renfro’s Red Stripe Playing

Omar’s inspiration behind creating Red Stripe Playing Cards was to make a fully custom deck. He took what he knew from doing art and applied it to the other thing he loved, playing cards.

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reated by magician and cardist Omar Renfro and produced by Hanson Chien Production Company, the Red Stripe Playing Cards are inspired by stained glass, cardistry, modern art, cubism, and architecture. The

design comes from the concept of wanting a bold solid stripe in the middle to accent the dynamic color palette of the card back. The deck is fully customized from the geometric back design to the custom arrangement of the spot cards, right down to the custom court cards and jokers. Even the tuck interior is customized. The unique court cards are Omar’s abstract interpretations of each “classic” bicycle court card. The body of the court cards feature an original abstract line composition while the faces of each card were executed using a continuous line and cubism style to complete the design. Also available is the Hand Drawn Edition of the Red Stripe Playing Cards which features hand-illustrated artwork on each card of the deck. Omar did an amazing job making the colors look like the markers while maintaining the vibrancy of the colors on the standard deck. Both decks are printed by in Taiwan by Hanson Chien Production Company. Now available from OmarRenfro.com. g

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EDC: Magic Orthodoxy This month, we have the EDC of our favourite playing card reviewer on YouTube, Magic Orthodoxy. This month, we have the EDC of Magic Orthodoxy, our favorite playing card reviewer on YouTube. David has been a magician and card collector for over 20 years and created the YouTube channel back in 2013 when a friend asked him to review the Aether deck. He’s been reviewing decks ever since. David’s YouTube channel is designed to teach you about cards and card collecting all in glorious HD. When not reviewing decks, David is a full-time Church pastor. David’s gear: + Revolution playing cards from Murphy’s Magic & Abraham Garcia. + Butterfly playing cards from Ondřej Pšenička & Cartamundi Belgium. + Spiraled by Jimmy Strange. + Vernet Band Writer. + Red Fidget Spinner. + USB flash drive . + EM Pocket Charger and Pen by Mark Allen. + Yellow Sven Pad from Brett Barry. + A Bible. + Infinity Wallet by Peter Nardi and Alakazam. g

David’s EDC. You can find his Youtube channel at https:// www.youtube.com/user/ magicorthodoxy

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7 Questions with Annette abolins The fun and vibrant VIZAĜO Playing Cards are designed by Australian artist Annette Abolins. This fully custom illustrated deck explores faces in a truly colorful way.

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ust before the launch of the Kickstarter campaign (http://kck.st/2rfB1fa), we had a chance to talk to Annette about her design background, the inspiration, and design process behind VIZAĜO.

For those of us who don’t know, tell us a little about yourself? Greetings from Australia and thank you for your questions! I’m an artist on a curious journey, which to date has taken me on a winding path from traditional painting and drawing; to printmaking, photography, industrial ceramics, pottery, web & graphic design and digital art. In 2010, when I embarked on my first deck project (illustrating Nine Lives Tarot), I discovered a true passion for designing cards. There is something quite magical about ancient systems based on visual language and the endless well of inspiration they provide for artists. When I’m not telling stories through art or designing websites, soul is enriched by family & friends, cats, music and the ocean.

What do you love most about being a designer? And what are some favorite projects you’ve worked on? I love the journey involved in travelling from idea to finished design; some journeys are about discovery and inspiration, others more about problem-solving - though each project has something unique and inspiring to offer. One ceramics related project concluded with dinner in the Blue Hall in Stockholm (where the Nobel Prize

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Dinner is held each year), that was rather special :)

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There will be two colors available in the campaign, the Lumina (red) and the stretched goal, Lumino (blue) version. Both will be printed by the Legends Playing Card Co.

Can you describe the VIZAĜO Playing Cards? and why you’re passionate about it? VIZAĜO is a celebration of colour, people and faces. Faces have appeared in my work for decades - from drawings & paintings to whimsical faces on teapots, mugs and bowls. This is a joyful and fun deck, which I truly enjoyed creating the artwork for. VIZAĜO [Vi-za-joh] – is Face in Esperanto - and it seemed just right to source the name for this deck from a language originally inspired to connect humanity across borders.

What was your most brilliant breakthrough when designing the deck? That is a difficult question! In a sense I had a clear picture of this deck from the start, though there have been plenty of twists and turns along the way to bring each card to life. Developing the number cards was a breakthrough, as was the decision to add a second colour version. Together, the two decks reflect the colour palettes of the four suits, where Lumina (the red deck) incorporates the colours of hearts and diamonds, followed by Lumino (blue deck), which brings out colours from clubs and spades. Lumina and Lumino are a name-play on light vs dark, where both versions have identical card faces, giving card backs and tuck boxes their moment to shine...

From the project page, what are a few of your favorite reward levels and why? This project focusses very much on the deck itself, so a favourite reward level would be one which gives me at least a few decks of each version :)

Finally, what are your favorite playing cards? I am drawn to cards with stories, beautiful artwork and design - Three decks that I have been fortunate to discover recently are: ROME Anthony and Caesar: the artwork is gorgeous and Randy’s attention to every little detail is stunning! Gemini: Lorenzo has created a truly beautiful deck of cards; a real treasure! Arcana: Chris’ intricate illustrations connecting tarot and playing cards are just wonderful. :) g

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Gemini Terra Playing Cards Axes. Medieval. Calligraphic. Two years in the making, Gemini is a fascinating deck of playing cards designed by Lorenzo Gaggiotti of Stockholm17. The deck has been meticulously crafted to give it a classic medieval feel. The deck features aces that are depicted as axes and the royals of the court cards interact with their own pip, becoming part of the illustration. Also, the number pips are bold and BIG. The striking Gemini Terra tuck features copper and gold foil on thick black paper. The beautiful calligraphic text on the deck has been handcrafted by Karl O’brien from UK and it looks like an ancient manuscript. Printed by the Expert Playing Card Co, on casino grade paper stock with their Classic Finish coating. g

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Deck View of Gemini Terra Playing Cards by Stockholm17.

The deck has been meticulously crafted to give it a classic medieval feel.

The eye-catching fan spread of Isometric No.2 Playing Cards.

Isometric No.2 Playing Cards

If you missed out on the Kickstarter campaign, the Isometric No. 2 deck by Kenneth Aidan Foo is now available on New Deck Order. This is the second released by Kenneth and features a contrasting red-gold colorway. Also redesigned are the face cards. Each are now fully customized to fit the geometric theme from the pips to the minimalistic courts to the eyecatching corner brackets that make your fans look incredible. Available now for $18 from thenewdeckorder. com/iso2/ g

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Midgard Playing Cards Design Imperator’s Midgard Playing Cards is a Norse theme deck handdrawn by professional illustrator Patrick Leis and lead artist Nicolai Aaroe.

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he Danegeld (Black) and the Yggdrasil (Dark Red) Editions features fully custom pips, fonts, values, aces and courts with hand-illustrated legendary Vi-

king leaders of Scandinavia and deities of Norse mythology. Both tucks are embossed, hot-stamped with metal foil- silver foil on black tuck for the Danegeld Edition and gold foil on dark red tuck for the Yggdrasil Edition and custom numbered seal. Printed by NPCC on linen card stock, which handles reasonable well but requires a short break-in period. g

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Midgard Playing Cards by Design Imperator.

The Jetsetter Collection. (L to R), Luxury Edition, Altitude Blue and Restricted Red.

funded: Jetsetter Playing Cards in Resticted Red Jetsetter Playing Cards: Premier Edition is back this year with a brand new colorway – Restricted Red. Inspired from the most secret airline in the United States, the Kickstarter campaign was 182% funded. When asked, founder Paul Rucio has this to say about the campaign, “The level of support from backers is truly unmeasurable. It’s not just the money pledged but the messages received, the social media posts, and overall buzz around the project. Sometimes the support is from people who haven’t even backed the project and that doesn’t go unnoticed. There’s the backers that have been there for my original projects who have come aboard again and the backers who are coming aboard for the first time. The project would not be successful without either of them. I’m excited to deliver another deck around the globe.” Seeing the Premier Edition in Restricted Red get funded has really shown how Jetsetter Playing Cards has grown and continued to be a desired deck of playing cards - especially among multiple communities too. Congrats Paul! g

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Much of Antonietta’s work focuses on floral and figurative art so the concept of creating a floral series based on Hanafuda was naturally appealing to her.

The Hanami Deck by indianwolf studios Illustrated by artist Antonietta Fazio-Johnson and produced by IndianWolf Studios, Hanami Playing Cards are a unique deck currently seeking funds on Kickstarter.

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lustrated by artist Antonietta Fazio-Johnson and produced by IndianWolf Studios, Hanami Playing Cards is a unique deck of playing cards currently seeking funds on Kickstarter (http:// kck.st/2rQd5zE). Hanami is available in two formats, Hanafuda and Fusion.

Hanafuda are a floral-themed deck that is rich in symbolism and popular in Japan, Korea, and Hawaii. Hanafuda cards have 12 suits with each represented by a month of the year and each month is represented by a flower. Each month of the Hanami Hanafuda deck is designed to form a tetraptych. Since traditional Hanafuda cards lack pips and indices, the fusion deck was designed to indicate the flower, month, and type of each card. The combination of these indices with traditional Hanafuda imagery and standard poker indices are used to create a multipurpose deck that could play both Eastern and Western games. g

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Co-founder Tobias Levin with the Checkerboard Playing Cards

Checkerboard Playing Cards

Co-founder Nikolaj Pedersen.

Anyone Worldwide, headed by duo Tobias Levin and Nikolaj Pedersen, both recognized for their incredible cardistry skills, unveiled a new deck, the Checkerboard Playing Cards. After leaving Dealersgrip in March, Tobias and Nikolaj have been busy promoting their new brand, Anyone Worldwide (@anyoneworldwide). They have been teasing the deck since April as part of the promotion. Printed by the USPCC, the deck spots a chequered pattern back with a single distinct red square. The courts are standard but updated to include the chequered pattern into some of the dressing elements. Also, the same chequered pattern can be found on the pip cards and the Ace of Spades. g

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Printed by the United States Playing Card Co., the deck spots a chequred pattern back with a single distinct red square.

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Gold foil card backs and Queen of Hearts of Pantheon Playing Cards.

Pantheon Playing Cards An individual deck featuring greek mythology by Thirdway Industries.

... stunning gold foil on the card backs!

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ow in fulfillment, Pantheon Playing Cards by Thirdway Industries is an individual deck

featuring greek mythology focused on the Olympian Gods. Fully custom, the Pantheon tuck is embossed, double foil on the exterior and red foil interior on premium soft touch dark blue paper. The most stunning are the gold foil on card backs. Meticulously printed from Expert Playing Card Co with Classic Finish. If you missed out, you can find it on thirdwayindustries.com g

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Stunning Pantheon tuck box..

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CardvolUtion Celebrates 8th Anniversary in Style!

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ardvolution, a playing card retailer based in Singapore has celebrated its 8th anniversary in style: playing cards, magic and cardistry jam.

The anniversary event was bigger this year, with free drinks, mystery decks, shopping vouchers, contest and special VIP guests such as Oliver Søgård, Edo Huang from Indonesia, Kevin and Daren from the Virts, and Jaspas Deck! Cardvolution has cemented itself as one of the most popular card retailer in Singapore and the region. Founder Alan Teo has managed the company for the past eight years and said he was proud what the company has achieved so far and is appreative with the support that he’s been getting, “I am proud of what Cardvolution have achieved over the 8 years and the event was a success thanks to all that have supported us that day as well as over the past years. Also, a special thanks to Benjamin Loo, Leon Tai, Dylan Tay and Justin Sze for helping out with the event. The jam would not be possible without them.”

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Oliver signing the Stripe Playing Cards for the ATM cardistry contest.

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Oliver sharing ideas with Singaporean cardists.

I am proud of what Cardvolution have achieved over the 8 years and the event was a success thanks to all that have supported us...

Eighty cardists were lucky enough to reserve a spot to the Jam held at Fika Cafe on Beach Road, Singapore. The event started with some free and easy time where the cardists got to share ideas with the 5 VIP guests.This was followed by some fun and games where cardists had to battle it out to see who could execute the most number of ATMs without dropping cards as well as come up with a creative move utilizing a grip that Oliver showed on the spot. Winners of these 2 games walked away with a deck of Stripe playing cards signed by Oliver himself. The event ended with a Q&A panel headed by the 5 VIP speakers, discussing creativity, cardistry and more. g

Group photo of Cardvolution’s 8th Anniversary.

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Dead Soul by TCC Playing Card Co Dead Souls Playing Cards. Photography by Anthony Ingrassia.

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The back design of Dead Soul Playing Cards.

A dark macabre deck featuring 52 uniquely designed cards. Beautiful back design and custom courts! Now available from TCCPlayingCard.com, Dead Soul. A dark macabre deck featuring 52 uniquely designed cards. Beautiful back design and custom courts! Fantastic detail, intricate design and style to bring out your dark side. g

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