Nicole Lavelle

Designer
Artist
Writer
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About
Newsletter

nicolelavelle@gmail.com 

WILD CARDS are tools for imagining.

WILD CARDS are instruments for thinking, for feeling, for dreaming, for planning.

WILD CARDS are for making connections, getting un-stuck, and finding pleasure in the unexpected.

WILD CARDS is a game with no rules.


▲ ✐ ◑ ✞ ✪ ✿ ➭ ❄ ♪ ❖ ✆ ☾ ♢ ≈ ♥ ✂ ∞ ⚄





I was making a lot of games, tools, and card decks for my day job, complete with instructions, guides, and rules. I was curious what a deck would look like as a wild, unruly set of possibilities. 

The icons are pulled from twentieth-century grammar school workbooks, mostly French. The texts are extracted from lead and wood type specimen sheets from American type foundries operating in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The original prototype deck was 400+ cards, and was extensively play-tested by attendees of the 2018 World Wide West summit, hosted by This Will Take Time in Point Arena, California. The theme of the summit was ✱, the asterisk, meaning “what else?” and used as a “wildcard” character in programming. Eventually I edited the deck to a tidy 126 pieces and released it into the world. I receive great message s from teachers, students, artists, and writers, telling me how they’re using it in their creative practices. I hope to someday hear about WILD CARDS being used in conflict resolution, policy-making, or urban planning. Can you imagine?!

DETAILS:
  • 126 double-sided cards
  • 100% appropriated words and icons 
  • Smooth coating and textured linen finish
  • Risograph printed prompt sheet
  • Soft hand-dyed 100% cotton drawstring bag to keep it all safe

WILD CARDS are released periodically in small batches.
Please follow @nicolecameraphone and/or @wild__cards on Instagram to be notified of future drops! ☻