Kickstarter: La Mouche Playing Cards (Once Upon a Fly) by Elettra Deganellohttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elettrad/la-moucheA playful deck of playing cards narrating the fly's whimsical journeyProject ends: Thurs, 15th February, 2024
Elettra Deganello is one of my favourite playing card designers from recent years. She's a professional visual designer and illustrator from Italy, and has been contributing to the custom playing card industry since 2018 with some gorgeous and original designs, several of which have been nominated for and won awards. To learn more about her, see
this interview that I did with her about two years ago.
Her current project, just launched, is called
La Mouche Playing Cards, aka
Once Upon A Fly, since it is a whimsical deck that tells the story of a fly's journey. Two editions are being produced: La Mouche Blanche (standard) and La Mouche Noire (limited). The manufacturer of choice is Expert Playing Card Company, using their classic stock, in standard poker size.
Deganello has opted to use a classic French style for the pips, to fit well with the elegance and whimsy of the overall deck.
For me the highlight of this deck is in the number cards, which have a semi-transformation style. Transformation decks have a long history, and are the result of an artist creatively incorporating the pips into the artwork, as seen here.
If you look carefully you'll find our friend the fly (the
mouche) appearing regularly on these and the other cards in the deck.
Since playing cards are made of paper and originally had blank backs, they have a long history of being used for other purposes, such as reminder notes or invitations. Elettra offers a tribute to this history by incorporating examples of this on some of the number cards, e.g. the 2 of Hearts includes an invitation to a banquet, and the 4 of Diamonds a marriage announcement. Other cards pay homage to famous paintings (e.g. 2 of Spades), or include quotes, questions, or sayings (e.g. 10 of Hearts).
The court cards continue the overall light-hearted feel of the deck, and use French indices, i.e. r = roi (king), d = dame (queen), v = valet (jack).
All four aces picture a different idiom relating to our friend the fly, the English translation being:
● Ace of Hearts: "Make an elephant out of a fly" (similar to the expression "make a storm in a teacup")
● Ace of Clubs: "He wouldn?t hurt a fly"
● Ace of Diamonds: "One can hear a fly flying" (similar to the expression "you could hear a pin drop")
● Ace of Spades: "In a closed mouth, no fly enters" (similar to the expression "Mum?s the word" about confidentiality)
The back design features a borderless daisy pattern, chosen for elegance and simplicity. The limited La Mouche Noire uses the same daisy pattern, but sets this on a solid black.
The tuck box of the La Mouche Blanche edition has a long tongue flap and retro look that suits the style of the deck itself.
The La Mouche Noire edition (shown on the right below) is the limited edition. Its tuck box has the extra luxury of foil (white, red, and silver) and a numbered seal, and is inspired by vintage French posters. This deck comes with the extra bling of silver gilding on the cards.
I've followed Elettra's work for several years, and am a great admirer of the way she has a fresh approach to playing cards, and how she brings her expertise and experience to our classic deck to produce something original and unique, and in this case, playful and whimsical. Kudos to Elettra Deganello for another wonderful project of custom playing cards!
Project linkhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elettrad/la-mouche
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