A celebration and tribute to one of the oldest playing card systems still in use.
A distilled tradition and modular system of play.
Spanish-suited playing cards are among the oldest card design systems, dating back to the 14th century.
This edition reinterprets the tradition not through stylistic decoration, but through geometric reduction—distilling each suit into a fundamental visual unit that becomes the modular foundation of the entire deck.
A distilled tradition and modular system of play.
Spanish-suited playing cards are among the oldest card design systems, dating back to the 14th century.
This edition reinterprets the tradition not through stylistic decoration, but through geometric reduction—distilling each suit into fundamental visual units that become the modular foundations of the entire deck.
A recursive visual system where every element, from numbered cards to face cards, emerges from the same core geometry.
Designed by David Genco.
A recursive visual system where every element, from numbered cards to face cards, emerges from the same core geometry.
Designed by David Genco.
7
3
An enduring element of cultural identity.
Spanish cards date back to the 14th century, inspired by the Islamic world.
The cards spread during the colonial period, becoming main patterns in Europe and influencing the card games of Italy, Latin America, and small parts of North Africa or Southeast Asia.
A deck shaped by Iberian feudal structures.
By the 15th century, Spanish cards had taken on a standard set of four suits reflecting the economic, religious, military, and agrarian foundations of medieval Iberian society:
Trade, Wealth, Prosperity
War, power, Justice
Labor, Agriculture, resilience
Religion, Family, Alliance
A deck shaped by Iberian feudal structures.
By the 15th century, Spanish cards had taken on a standard set of four suits reflecting the economic, religious, military, and agrarian foundations of medieval Iberian society:
Labor Resilience Agriculture
Religion Family Alliance
War Power Justice
Trade Wealth Prosperity
Coin
Sword
Club
Cup
Sword
Cup
Club
Coin
Each suit includes numbered cards from 1 to 7.
48-card decks also include number 8 and 9.
Spanish-Italian decks are among the most widespread.
Face cards include: Sota, 8 Caballo, 9 Rey, 10
By principle of essential reduction rather than stylistic reinterpretation, this edition distills each suit into a fundamental module:
By principle of essential reduction rather than stylistic reinterpretation, this edition distills each suit into fundamental modules:
Oros, Coins Circles representing unity, abundance, and value.
Bastos, Clubs Obrounds for resilience and organic strength.
6
2
8
4
48-deck
Copas, Cups Semicircles evoking a vessel, an offering.
8
2
9
3
48-deck
Bases derive from the suit’s unit and orient the face cards.
Face cards are composites of the suits’ modular units.
A recursive visual dialogue where elements emerge from the same core geometries. Crowns symbolizing rule and hierarchy, horses embodying movement and action, androgynous figures representing duty and allegiance.
Briscola ( Spain, Italy ) Mus( Spain, Southern France ) Scopa ( Italy ) Chinchón ( Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay ) Ronda ( Tunisia ) Cuarenta ( Ecuador ) Escoba ( Spain, Latin America ) Pusoy Dos ( Philippines )
Games vary by country and region; they determine whether a 40-card or 48-card version is being used.
Il sette bello ( Scopa, Italy )
Le petit roi ( Mus, France )
La perra ( Chinchón, Latin America )
Designed by David Genco.
This project emerges from a vantage point of simultaneous intimacy and estrangement.
Born into Spanish and Italian heritage but raised beyond Mediterranean borders, these cards exist as familiar objects of cultural memory, yet reveal themselves as foreign systems available for critical analysis, deconstruction, and reassembly.
The puzzle of cultural assimilation finds expression in this design exercise.
