In 2019 Jack Brutus Penny released the limited-edition art deck, Culturae Animalis in a project that helped endangered mountain gorillas, planted trees, and more. Today, Jack launched his second deck on Kickstarter! Sensu (扇子) is a gorgeous deck of luxury hand-drawn art themed around Japan and the Japanese folding fan.
Designed completely from scratch, Jack has created a unique way to marry narrative-driven artwork and the medium of playing cards. The innovative card back design creates canvas from the playing card border, taking one card as a closed 扇子, but when held together in an open fan, revealing an explosion of colorful images – a narratively driven nonsensical display of anthropomorphic animals, beasts from Japanese folklore, through the seasons and across the landscape.
The artwork is just gorgeous. The face cards and backs have elements in metallic ink to really catch the eye and the flawless and practical two-way design is so intricate you cleverly don’t even focus on the mirroring.
The unique pips are themed on the Japanese seasons, hearts are Spring, clubs and Summer, diamonds are Autumn and spades are Winter. When they fan together, they reveal the season in all its glory! Follow the link and support the project that also helps animal welfare. What can you identify here in Japanese Spring?
The deck also comes with beautiful simplistic aces and the fabulous jokers of Sensu art playing cards take direct inspiration from Japanese traditional hanafuda cards.
Sensu comes in two versions, the turquoise Winter Fan and the vermillion Spring Fan. There are integral differences between the two versions, from inserts to how they are even used. These playing cards take an original concept inspired by Japanese hanafuda for how to read the cards. Interesting.
The deck is packaged in gorgeous recyclable tuck boxes that come with a special washi-like textured feel and luxurious foiling. Themed around Japanese folklore and whimsical animals, this playing card deck will be a displayable treasure.
Printed by EPCC on classic stock with linen finish. Get this Japan-themed piece of art for your family. Pledge starts at $18 on Kickstarter and the deck is used to support animal welfare in various ways, including a portion of all proceeds used to rescue abandoned and displaced cats and dogs around Japan.
