Kickstarter: Silk & Paper Cut Playing Cards by ARK Playing Cards

[EndersGame]

Silk & Paper Cut Playing Cards by ARK Playing Cards (Kickstarter)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cardcollection/silk-and-paper-cut-playing-cards-by-ark

Current funding level: already funded
Kickstarter ends: Tuesday, January 31, 2023



There's a lot of playing card projects on Kickstarter, but only the very best hit over $100,000 in funding.  With still almost two weeks of funding to go, the Silk & Paper Cut decks are already almost in that elite category. 

But it's not entirely surprising, because it was created by Danny from ARK Playing Cards.  Nearly each of his previous projects has reached a higher level of success than the previous one: Card College Playing Cards, Tempo Playing Cards, Kingdom & Kinghood Playing Cards, Azure Dragon & Time Machine Playing Cards, The Illusionist & After Sound Playing Cards, and their most recent release, Vermillion Bird & Black Tortoise Playing Cards.  Several of these are in the Top 10 most-funded decks of playing cards of all time.

The reason for this success lies in the amazing quality of the decks themselves.  ARK specializes in stunning decks that come with the pinnacle in luxury packaging, and lavish looks that are only possible with the very latest in printing technology.

With their current project, Silk & Paper Cut Playing Cards, ARK continues to stretch the boundaries of high quality luxury playing cards and packaging, with yet more amazing custom decks of playing cards.



TWO TYPES OF DECKS

The vast majority of ARK's projects consist of two different decks wrapped up in a single campaign, each of which is available in several different boxsets. This can make them a little confusing to those unfamiliar with ARK's approach.  With this campaign there are two main decks: Silk and Paper Cut (the latter is also described on the project page as Four Seasons).

1. Silk Playing Cards

The Silk boxsets are inspired by silk-related elements, and tells the story of the ancient Silk Road, which was one of the most important trade routes in Asia and Europe prior to maritime trade. 

But not only is the story of silk the thematic inspiration, but it has also shaped the design and visual aesthetics of the cards.  This starts with the tuck box, which is made in part from genuine silk fabric, which the project page describes as a first for the playing card industry.  It uses a folding design that tells something of the origins of the Silk Road.   

The cards also have elements from the ancient near east.  The faces have Chinese-style figures, and pay tribute to the merchants and other figures that populated the Silk Road.  They're printed with foils, in a way deliberately intended to capture something of the luxury and look of silk.

Here's some images showing the Classic Boxset, which comes with a blue deck and a red deck:



















2. Paper Cut (Four Seasons) Playing Cards

The Paper Cut boxsets are inspired by the art of Chinese-style paper cutting.  Paper has long been a common medium for printing,  but paper cutting has a more unique history and its own traditions.  This concept is applied to both the graphic design and the visual aesthetics of these decks.

This begins with the tuck box, which features intricate and exquisite paper carving with multiple layers, such has a card sleeve and foils, which are used to further enhance the unique luxury look of the packaging.  ARK has produced packaging with paper cutting before, such as with their Azure Dragon deck.  But they have used their prior experience to reach new heights of technical difficulty and artistic creativity with this new deck.  The Paper Cut deck has a cross double-folding structure (which gives the sense of flowers blooming when opened), and more layers and gluing points than ever before, and is accentuated with foils.

The reason for describing this with the alternate name "Four Seasons" is because each suit captures elements of a different season.  For example, the Aces: Spades (Spring/Orchid/Swallow), Hearts (Summer/Lotus/Kingfisher), Diamonds (Autumn/Chrysanthemum/Goose), Clubs (Winter/Plum Blossum/Magpie).    The traditional Chinese art of paper cutting has also been combined with the 12 Chinese zodiac signs on the court cards. 

Here's some images showing the Classic Boxset, which comes with a red deck and a green deck:

















FOUR TYPES OF BOXSETS

And for each of the two types of decks, there are options for several different boxsets, each with increasing levels of luxury packaging:

Silk Playing Cards:
● Classic Boxset (red & blue decks) - limited edition of 1,555
● Black Boxset (black & white decks) - limited edition of 888
● Wooden Boxset (gold & silver decks) - limited edition of 333
● Leather Boxset (orange deck) - limited edition of 555

Paper Cut (Four Seasons) Playing Cards:
● Classic Boxset (red & green decks) - limited edition of 1,555
● White Boxset (black & white decks) - limited edition of 888
● Wooden Boxset (gold & silver decks) - limited edition of 333
● Leather Boxset (blue deck) - limited edition of 555

1. Classic Boxsets

Already shown in the pictures above are the Classic Boxsets, and here are a few more image of those. 

For the Silk decks:







For the Paper Cuts decks:







Now let's briefly show a couple of shots of what the other boxsets looks like.

2. Black/White Boxsets

These boxsets consist of a black deck and a white deck.

For the Silk decks:







For the Paper Cuts decks:







3. Wooden Boxsets

These boxsets consist of a gold deck and a silver deck.

For the Silk decks:







For the Paper Cuts decks:







4. Leather Boxsets

For the Silk decks, there is a single orange deck in a boxset:







For the Paper Cuts decks, there is a single blue deck in a boxset:







Words really don't do justice to the magnificent beauty, and you really need to see some visuals to see how impressive this looks.  There are many more images on the project page.

Kickstarter link

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cardcollection/silk-and-paper-cut-playing-cards-by-ark