Every once a while comes a deck of playing cards that stirs you to stand up and take notice. One such is “The Lepidopterist”, a strangely beautiful deck of playing cards with inspiration coming from two main sources. The first, being the Chrysiridia rhipheus which is better known as the Sunset Moth. It is a beautiful and brightly colored day-flying moth, found all throughout Madagascar. The second source of inspiration is the ornamental Art Nouveau era that flourished through Europe and the United States between 1890 and 1910.
Both are so unique and so beautiful. Art Nouveau brought an elegant, almost psychedelic, look to the end of the Victorian era and the Sunset Moth has such vibrant, iridescent colors, it almost doesn’t seem real. Their special appeal combined to inspire this project. According to designer Ethan Kowaleski,
I wanted to make a deck of cards that would represent the beautiful architecture of Art Nouveau conservatories and butterfly gardens.
The elegance and beauty of “The Lepidopterist” begin with the tuck box. Every detail was carefully crafted and strategically placed. The tuck box features colored and metallic foils, letterpressed and embossed.
Inside, the deck is semi-custom with special attention was given to the beautiful ace and joker cards. All were meticulously hand-illustrated to, not only go with the theme but elevate the deck as well.
The face cards are standard but come with rearranged pips and recolored courts to match the color palette of the deck. The intricate card backs are printed with metallic brass ink!
“The Lepidopterist” playing cards are available in three beautiful editions: the standard edition and two special editions that were created specifically for the Kickstarter release.
The standard edition tuck box features a green paper stock with black and off-white foils as well as embossing. The RELEASE edition features a green paper stock with black, off-white, and brass metallic foils as well as embossing. Limited to 1000 decks. Finally, the DELUXE edition is the most limited and features a burgundy paper stock with black, off-white, and holographic foils as well as embossing. Limited to 500 decks.
“The Lepidopterist” will be printed by the USPCC and pledge starts at $13 on Kickstarter. Check it out!
