Description
– Check out the official trailer here
And YouTube review by TheCardists
– Available editions:
1. Artisan White Edition, 2019 tax stamp seal – $72
2. Artisan White Edition, 2021 tax stamp seal – $27
3. Artisan Black Edition, 2019 tax stamp seal – $72
4. Artisan Black Edition, 2021 tax stamp seal – $27
5. Artisan Gold Edition, 2019 tax stamp seal – $219
🌟 Luxury playing cards. Designed by Simon Frouws. Produced by theory11.
Illustrated by Simon Frouws in South Africa. The latest edition of their critically acclaimed Artisan Playing Cards: The White Edition.
🌟 The design is breathtaking, featuring elegant gold foil hot stamped onto ultra-lux white paper derived from sustainable forests. Pure, clean, and beautiful. “The combination of gold foil and white embossing is extraordinary.”
🌟 Artisans are featured in the May 2013 issue of Departures Magazine. David Copperfield called them “the best playing cards ever produced.” With this new White Edition, they unveil a perfect complement to the original Black Edition.
🌟 Artisan Playing Cards are produced at The United States Playing Card Company using FSC-certified papers derived from sustainable forests, vegetable-based inks and starch-based laminates. The result is a durable finish that respects the environment. Sealed with a red tax-stamp sticker seal marked with the month and year of print.
🌟 The specs:
Despite being distributed by a company that focuses on magic and performance, the description and the background given out about these cards focuses on “environmentally friendly” lingo. This is not a bad thing as Theory 11 does this with a lot of their decks that are quality performing products. We know one thing, these are the cards for the environmentally conscious magician or card player.
🌟 Most will wonder what the main differences are between the Black Edition Artisan and the White Edition Artisan. The obvious difference in these cards is the main color template – black and white. Beyond that, the White Edition cards use a metallic gold ink in their cards while the Black Edition uses more of a yellow gold.
🌟 The decks come with 56 cards. The two additional cards are an ad card and a double back. The Jokers are not differentiated at all with no reveal added anywhere on the decks. The overall design of the Artisan Playing Cards is impeccable. It is not too showy or glitzy, which is great because something over the top can tend to make the whole project look gaudy. And it is by far from a minimalist design. Both decks have an equal balance of style through the back design, face cards, and Jokers. The first editions of both the White and Black Edition Artisan Playing Cards come with a matte finish with gold (white) and gold/white embossing (black) on the tuck cases.
🌟 The duel-directional or two way back design features a white border on both decks with an overall design that is reminiscent of an American money note. Defined patterned borders, emblems and Latin phrases. The centerpiece of the back design is an intertwined G and A inside an emblem that I suppose stands for Artisan and Guild, which compliments the phrase “The Guild of Artisans.” I do not believe this is for any particular group but more of a general homage to all artists – magicians included.
🌟 In the photo above featuring the Ace of Spades there is an added design element that is included on both of these decks that display the Edition Number or the month the decks were printed. I like this element because it is an obvious way of letting the deck holder know what edition they have and it is an element that most playing cards don’t have. The design of the actual Ace of Spades takes the same elements of the back design inside a large spade. Design consistency is played out perfectly here.
🌟 The Joker features the “Jolly Joker” that appears to be juggling the four suits within a tight and circular emblem/logo. It is unfortunate the Jokers feature no reveal or any differentiation. It would have been cool to see more done with the “Jolly Joker” character. Instead of an emblem, one Joker could have been presented outside an emblem in a traditional pose similar to the Bicycle Standard 808 Joker. Given this deck is heavy on paying homage to design and artistry it is slightly disappointing they underutilized the second Joker
🌟 Face Cards all follow the Standard playing card design but integrate the deep reds, golds, black and white color palette used in the Joker cards above. Number cards are similar to a Standard deck as well but use deeper reds for the hearts and diamonds.
🌟 As far as performance goes they are not as slippery as the Performance Coating finish cards that Ellusionist features on their decks just to give a comparison However, they perform, fan, spread, shuffle and cut nicely. The only hang up is that the edges are not as smooth as I would have hoped for. This is specifically concerning the White Edition Artisan where I can see where the machine cut the cards down from sheets to decks. It is very minor but noticeable. As far as durability goes they will last as long as any Bicycle Standard deck.
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