Magic Tricks

I've loved making and flying paper planes since my childhood, although until now I've never previously thought of this as origami, but I suppose it is. This deck is inspired by this classic art of paper folding and by paper planes, with the front of the tuck box introducing us to our familiar looking paper glider.

But the real point of interest is the card back design, where the triangles that make up our paper plane are present in a spiral pattern. The bold blue circle in the middle is the main point of interest and grabs the eye, but upon closer examination you'll see that this is set on a backdrop that consists of tiled paper planes. Using a simple blue and white colour scheme helps emphasize the geometric patterns and the shapes. The overall design feels fresh and yet familiar.

The custom artwork on the faces of the cards continues the paper plane theme. The court cards are decked in plain red or black, depending on the suit, and are heavily stylized with line drawings, with the triangular folding pattern from our gliders being in evidence everywhere. The characters used for the Jokers have a similar design style. The origami feel is also evident on the number cards, with all the pips featuring a split design, and divided into triangular shapes, which gives the impression that they've been folded out of paper. All four Aces are over-sized and feature giant pips with lines that also suggest folding into quarters.

But perhaps the best secret is discovered when you take a closer look at the card backs: they're marked. Actually, it's hard to discover this secret, even if you know that you have to look for it. With the deck you get access to a video that explains the marking system, which is a coded system that the usual riffle test won't uncover, and yet is surprisingly easy to learn. You'll need a sharp eye, but fans of marked decks will appreciate having a system that won't quickly be discovered by mistake.