Patternwork Playing Cards by Jack Brutus Penny

From nonsense writer and artist Jack Brutus Penny, winner of the 2024 52+Joker Artist of the Year, comes Patternwork. Patternwork is a deck of fully-custom art playing cards inspired by Renaissance tapestry (along with British textile designer William Morris designs) and Japanese fabric. Hand-drawn patterns like Chrysanthemums and Crickets and Dandelions and Dragonflies weave through whimsical court clothing.

Inside, courts depict Jack’s fantastic characters that thread through all of his projects, this time with elegant designs balancing function with storytelling. Card faces are foiled, with two unique designs, two unique backs and a set of custom and unique gilded and dyed edges with custom foiled sleeves.

Now funding on Kickstarter, two editions form the series: Dyed Patternwork and Gilded Patternwork. Each edition presented in three unique versions with custom tucks, laser-cut foiled sleeves, and patterned edges. Every deck includes 56 hand-illustrated cards, with four original jokers and fully customized courts and pips.

Dyed Patternwork bursts with color and life, its faces adorned in silver holographic cold foil. The artwork draws from the detailed textile work of William Morris, blending British craftsmanship with Japanese motifs of flora and insects, from chrysanthemums to crickets. Each carrying symbolic meaning.

Gilded Patternwork, by contrast, is an exercise in opulence. With golden cold-foil faces and luxurious gilded edges, it captures the radiance of traditional goldwork embroidery, known in medieval England as Opus Anglicanum. Each court card and motif glows with layered detail, turning every hand into a tapestry of light and line.

For collectors, the Limited Box Set pairs one of each deck with an exclusive 3D-engraved antique gold card, presented in a handcrafted sewing-box–inspired display case. The Petite Patternwork Set, a miniature edition measuring just 33.5 x 46mm, arrives in a carved wooden box crowned with its own engraved gold plate.

Only 550 decks of each version will ever be made, printed by King Star in collaboration with the artist. Pledge starts at $23 on Kickstarter.