Hana Playing Cards (Sealed Silver/Gold Editions) by Steve Minty DH-8001

The Hana luxury playing cards is an original set of decks designed by Steve Minty. These decks are inspired by the unique elegance of traditional Japanese culture. Elements from aspects of textile, art, and social structures are incorporated into this deck along with my design sensibilities to make these different from what I have done before. As always, I work on projects that I have a connection to on a personal level. I knew since I first started designing playing cards that I wanted to work on a deck that revolved around Japanese culture. To do so, I traveled to Japan to research as well as gain some insight and inspiration. It was an unforgettable experience but I merely scratched the surface. In the span of 3 years, I spent countless hours on research, scoured through books ranging from Japanese society to samurai armor and even attended a few museum exhibits for the sake of this project.

Initially, I wanted to do something bold and very eye catching but I was not pleased with the looks I came up with as it was too garish. I took a step back and rethought my process on how to approach this project and through many drafts, I came up with what you see now. This deck is more art centric than the decks I have done previously. It draws upon the history of playing cards in Japan as well as the art that makes them special. Aspects of Feudal Japan, Hana Fuda, Kimonos, Ikebana, Ukiyo-e among others are incorporated into the decks. I hope they have been not been lost in translate but most importantly, I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.