Who are some awesome FEMALE designers I should know?

[BaconWise]

I was thinking about this the other day. I am newer to collecting so I still don't know all of the incredible designers out there. I assumed Jody was a woman, only because I know a few gals named Jody. No offense, fine sir, and I am super excited about Luminosity.
I was rattling off all of my favorite designers in my head and realized they are all dudes, as far as I know. I am intrigued by Shochu, the group creating the Dichotomia campaign on KS at the moment, but they are the only women I am aware of - and their are just getting started. I think Marianne with Isolated Thunderstorm/Design Imperator runs the business side. So, help me out:

Which female deck designers should I know?

EDIT: If you say Michelle Hartsoe, you are dead to me.

[Räpylätassu]

Karin Yan (Bona Fide Playing Cards)
Wylie Beckert

[Merlebird]

Glad to see this thread. Thanks for opening it, Bacon.

Sad to say I can think of one female designer (you know who I mean) who's skunked herself right out of the pride of place she would've once had on this list. Mercifully there are still a few others I can rattle off:

• Wylie Beckert
• Elettra Deganelo
• Mila Losenko
• Laura Verdin
• Karin Yan

There is also Immy Smith, who is nonbinary (they/them).

[BaconWise]

Sad to say I can think of one female designer (you know who I mean) who's skunked herself right out of the pride of place she would've once had on this list.

Does the name rhyme with Mancalia Wilma? LOL

Great list, by the way. I have some research to do

[BaconWise]

Karin Yan (Bona Fide Playing Cards)
Wylie Beckert

Thanks, Roope!

[PipChick]

A couple others that came to mind that haven't yet been mentioned :

• Veronika Nikolaeva
• Caitlin Keegan
• Ann Lobanova
• Michele Feltrin

And 2 others that official have yet to produce but are worth keeping an eye out for when their decks are finished are and ready are:

• Sofia Bolognesi with the Vivaldi deck she's doing with Passione
• Maria Fedoseeva with her 5th Kingdom semi-transformation deck

Also, this is an AWESOME thread to have as there's not nearly enough visibility of women in the industry/hobby - yay Bacon! lol

[hsbc]

I've thought about making a thread like this, very happy to see it!

[Azid]

Annette Abolins (Abolina Art) --> VIZAĜO Playing Cards, Nine Lives Playing Cards
Sarah Ferone --> Cocktail Hour Playing Cards

Can't wait to see something new from them.


Marilyn Tardif --> Handpainted watercolor deck (first project, should launch this year)

[Magic Tapp]

I think that there also a female designer behind the Fillide deck.

[rousselle]

Linnea Gits, who is half of the team at Uusi (with her husband, Peter Dunham). Most of Uusi's decks are a true collaborative effort, so Peter's work is in there, too, but still.

[Jock1971]

Renee Le Compte
Parrots Of The World & Strigiformes

Stacey Jay Kelly
Fishing For Compliments, Digital Petroglyphs , Maneki-Neko , Fold
also the 2017 & 2018 Worshipful Company of Makers of playing cards decks

[BaconWise]

Some fantastic decks I have wishlisted so far:

- Royal Optik
- Nouveau
- Pinocchio
- Wicked Kingdom
- Bohemia
- Illuminated
- The Arts

More to research - thank you for the great list, folks!

[Adonael]

All I can say is that I have no idea, I think of people as just people, not in terms of their sex or gender because there's nothing unique about either. Now if you were to tell me a deck of cards had been designed by a child prodigy, or a dolphin, hot damn!

Also, I had no idea the designer of Wicked Kingdom was female despite backing the project and following her work, we need more girls with 'masculine' names and more boys with 'feminine' names. It keeps things interesting as in Wylie's case and would certainly be healthier for society. If I see one more dude named John I'm gonna be sick!

[Outsider]

Far from active - indeed, no longer living - but spare a moment for Pamela Colman Smith, artist, illustrator, and occultist, and likely one of the earliest female card illustrators. She drew the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, the tarot that put tarot on the map. Unlike previous tarot decks, Ms Smith drew 78 unique illustrations making a tarot "transformation" deck, and she did so using a limited color palette due to printing limitations of the time, giving it the distinctive look the RWS deck is known for. Thanks to the rich illustrations, tarot became much more popular, since pips now had full illustrations rather than bland numbers that required consulting a book to get meaning from.

In thanks for her brilliant work, the deck was named for Arthur Waite, who commissioned it, and the Rider Company, which published it. Smith was apparently chopped liver despite drawing the whole thing.

[Smocito]

Natalia has also released some great decks.

But you should read the blacklist thread to make your own judgement.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Which female deck designers should I know?

EDIT: If you say Michelle Hartsoe, you are dead to me.

Natalia Silva.

[PipChick]

Which female deck designers should I know?

EDIT: If you say Michelle Hartsoe, you are dead to me.

Natalia Silva.

gtfo

[STLBluesNut]

If the Hartsoe decks weren't always $25, there might be a couple I'd pick up that weren't just photos with a photoshop filter.

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[theCapraAegagrus]

Which female deck designers should I know?

EDIT: If you say Michelle Hartsoe, you are dead to me.

Natalia Silva.

gtfo

To be fair, he didn't ask "Which reputable female deck designers should I know?"

[Merlebird]

I was trying to be discreet about mentioning She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but of course 2pc is out here saying the quiet parts loud again

Tarot design owes a great debt to Pamela Colman Smith, for sure, and it's a shame, if not particularly surprising, that it seems to have taken almost a century for her contribution to gain recognition. Even newer terms like "Rider-Waite-Smith" (often "RWS" for short) feel diminishing; shouldn't the artist get top billing instead of being tacked on like a sitcom guest star? As a sometimes-collector of tarot, though, I have to say the contemporary tarot scene seems to do a better job of achieving gender parity than does the current designer playing card market. It's much easier to work up a lengthy list of female tarot artists. I could only speculate as to why this might be, but my guess is it has something to do with the cultural perception that astrology and tarot are "girly" hobbies, while stage magic, cardistry and especially poker are seen as more "masculine," if not exactly "manly."

[rousselle]

Anne Stokes

[STLBluesNut]

Anne Stokes

Ooo, good one. I have like 3 of the decks designed with her work and didn't even think of her.

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[BaconWise]

Anne Stokes

Those are some great decks she has done. The tuck boxes are a bit underwhelming from the pictures. Do any of her decks (Steampunk Angels, Dark Hearts, Age of Dragons) have upgraded versions or does she only do the standard glossy Bicycle tuck box?

[hsbc]

Oh! If you include modern tarot and oracle decks you'll have no trouble finding female artists

[STLBluesNut]

Anne Stokes

Those are some great decks she has done. The tuck boxes are a bit underwhelming from the pictures. Do any of her decks (Steampunk Angels, Dark Hearts, Age of Dragons) have upgraded versions or does she only do the standard glossy Bicycle tuck box?

All that I have are standard bike glossy tucks and no special versions. But, with the exception of one, all can be gotten at a price that is a reflection of that. Less than $10 bucks, I think I got mine all around $8 or less with shipping. Pretty good for for USPCC decks with very good art, imo.

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[willroya]

Azured Ox (pseudonym) has designed several decks for me and she is working on all of the reproduction decks with me.