Design Crush: Sasuraibito
Image Shot by Kat Wright
I never got into playing card games as a kid. My friends collected pokemon cards, played Magic: The Gathering, all those fun nerdy collectible card games. I got into the esoteric.
I started collecting tarot decks. Not for gaming, but for making predictions; fortune-cookie style at first, but more reflective and meaningful as I got older and understood more of the psychological impact of mirror-work like card reading.
In any case, I’ve had a lot of tarot decks. The decks are always made up of 78 cards, major arcana and minor suits, and while the themes vary, individual cards have similar titles and meanings across the board, shown through imagery and iconography, to invoke certain reactions and inspire the querent to reflect on the emotions that those icons inspire.
Stasia Burrington’s deck, the sasuraibito tarot, is by far my favorite.
Image Credit: Stasia Burrington
“Sasuraibito” translates loosely to “wanderer” and Burrington’s deck is a languid journey through the many different faces and emotions of tarot. The wands suit, for example, illustrates aspects of the creative fire within each of us as it waxes and wanes, making it easy for the reader and/or querent to sense which cards indicate positive growth, creative blocks, confidence, or dedication. The deck utilizes a gorgeous color palette and a beautiful watercolor effect throughout. You can see more of the deck on Burrington’s website.
Image Credit: Stasia Burrington
I have a tarot deck project that I’ve been working on in my spare time for awhile as well, and I’m inspired by both the history of the tarot and more modern takes like Burringtons. The process has made me really examine the psychological aspects of iconography, and that research has aided my approach to design in less esoteric, more mainstream usages, as well. I find that my art and hobbies feed into each other, and I’m grateful to my younger self for her interest in a practice that would be become so enlightening to me, in a much more practical sense than anticipated!
