Published by Marianne Larsen on October 6th, 2024.
CIRQUE LUCIOLE WINS ‘DECK OF THE YEAR 2024’!
Cirque Luciole Playing Cards wins Deck of The Year 2024 in the annual 52 Plus Joker Diamond Awards!
Designed by Marianne Larsen, funded via Kickstarter and produced by Noir Arts in Ukraine 2024.
THANK YOU FOR THIS HONOR!
Trust me when I say, I never would have believed ever, that I should win my second Deck of The Year title. I’m over the moon and filled with gratitute. A Gigantic Thank You to everyone voting for Cirque Luciole as Deck of the Year 2024!
INTRODUCTION & IDEA
Cirque Luciole is the second volume in my Circus Playing Cards series and here I really wanted to create some unique decks with pantomime as the main feature and personal distinctiveness in other features such as holographic foil on the Luna Polaris tuck and the most beautiful shining stars on the Stella Nova tuck when lighted up with a black light. I’ve always been complete and utterly fascinated by the magic of Circus and couldn’t imagine a better theme for me to create my own stories upon.
LUNA POLARIS
The Luna Polaris tuck features an elegant circus presenter who, in spectaluar artwork, blends the lunar theme with the mystery of vintage circus. The star shaped hat, the ball in his hand and the moon itself, sets the tone for a show that will captivate its audience and bring you on a dreamy journey.
The gold foil is strategically embossed and blends with the printed art in a magnificent way with details highlighted in playful holographic foil to add unique hues from every angle.
The tuck interiors are completely covered with a holographic wallpaper that flirts with the light from any angle and continues the ‘bubbly theme’ of jugglers, which can also be seen on the tuck and card backs.
The fully custom pips and the 12 unique, one-way court characters of Luna Polaris give captivating performances using only props and gestures. Their facial expressions tell stories of psychological impact and meaningful, deep messages. They live for their stories and they dress to impress.
Buy the deck here – or as addon in the new Kickstarter project.
STELLA NOVA
The Stella Nova tuck blends the elegance of a starry sky with the opulent circus ornamentation, with two embossed gold foils. On the front, little pantomime artists and the label Est. 1920 can be spotted on closer inspection. This is the year representing the Cirque Luciole origin.
When exposed to blacklight, an extraordinary star pattern reveals itself on the blue, pearlescent stock in the most spectacular form.
Opening the tuck, a glorious crescendo jumps out in the form of holographic stars and stripes.
The bottom placed tuck seals features the individual numbering of each and every deck in the project.
The card back capsulates the mysterious theme of an elegant night sky in blue and golden ink, within a white clean border.
The fronts feature 12 unique pantomime artists who, in a classic two-way layout, perform enchanting storytelling without a single spoken word, using only their hands, facial expressions, gestures and musical instruments.
Buy the deck here – or as addon in the new Kickstarter project.
CIRQUE LUCIOLE GOLD COINS
The Cirque Luciole metal coins are designed in the theme of vintage pierrot and lunar mysticism to encapsulate the stars and dreams that come alive in the darkness.
They both have a glossy golden plating and oxidation to look a bit aged.
ARTWORK
It has been a very rewarding process working together on these playing cards with Martin Helgren and some other artists involved in the first part of this. Doing everything else by myself with good and constructive critisism from collegues in the business on the side.
FUNDING & PRODUCTION
Cirque Luciole Playing Cards are funded via Kickstarter and fulfilled for all backers of the project. Of the 3000 announced print run only 1200 have been produced of each edition, making the excisting decks considerably more valuable and scarce than officially known. Whether the remaining decks will ever be produced will depend on what the future holds. Remainders from the project are exclusively available in this online shop.
THANKS AGAIN!
My sincere gratitude towards each and everyone voting for Cirque Luciole, from my heart – Thank You!
Cheers, Marianne
Owner of Isolated Thunderstorm
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Cheers, Marianne
Isolated Thunderstorm