Our Artisan Tarot deck is a restored edition of the 1760 Nicolas Conver Major Arcana. We referred to various versions of the Nicolas Conver decks in the public domain. We were also influenced by modern restorations such as Dr. Yoav Ben-Dov’s CBD Tarot and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Tarot de Marseille.
Hungarian artist Krisztina Kondor meticulously restored the images from the original decks. Over 6 months, we went through countless revisions to ensure a faithful reproduction. All images were recreated with vector lines in Illustrator. This lets us create smooth, crisp lines to give the images a modern feel.
The deck includes French and English versions of the 22 Major Arcana, the two of Pentacles, and an information card. All decks come as a set with both French and English versions for a total of 47 cards.
What’s different about these Artisan Tarot cards?
Size and Corners
The original size of the cards is 11.9 x 6.2 cm (4.68 x 2.44 in). We expanded the cards to a standard tarot size of 12.06 x 6.98 cm (4.75 x 2.75 in). Instead of stretching the image, which would make it disproportionate, care was taken to create additional details to the right and left sides of the frames.
We’ve also rounded the square corners of the card stock for a more modern design. This is primarily for practical purposes as it will decrease the chances of the corners being caught on rough surfaces. This should increase the life expectancy of the cards.
Frames and Letters
The card frames around the images are uniform to keep the design modern. However, the height of the frames around the Roman numerals at the top and the words at the bottom match the originals. In the example below, the height of the frame around Judgement is larger than that of The Lover.
We determined that Superclarendon was the closest match to the hand lettering in the original Conver images. This font was then modified in the French version to make it appear handwritten. For the English version, we used Superclarendon without any modifications. We also maintained the position of the letters and lines as per the original design.
Colors
The colors were matched in Illustrator from the original images. The colors vary drastically image to image, so we tested various color combinations to find the best complimentary colors. The colors include light blue, dark blue, light green, dark green, yellow, red, light tan, dark tan, and black. The same eight colors were then used throughout the images.
Restoration
We tried to be as true to the original cards as possible; however, we have taken the liberty of correcting some irregularities. These corrections make the images feel complete and polished. Most corrections are small issues with hands, color bleed, and abnormal lines. You can see how we made the corrections below. Click here to read our full post on our restoration process.
Back Design
Our back design is a noticeable change from the original and is designed for the modern reader. It’s loosely based on a Tarot deck with Italian signs of Swiss manufacture from 1784. Our design features curvy lines, with the top and bottom being a mirror image. This means that when the cards are spread, there is no sign as to whether or not a card is reversed.
Quality
The cards are printed in the U.S.A. through Shuffled Ink. The images are printed on medium-weight 310 gsm casino-quality card stock with a linen finish, which allows the cards to glide smoothly against one another even after years of use.
Krisztin and I hope that you enjoy these cards as much as we enjoyed making them. We look forward to seeing them being used in your readings.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram @artisantarot.
