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 distills each suit into fundamental modules through reduction rather than stylistic reinterpretation.

A recursive visual system where every element, from numbered cards to face cards, emerges from the same core geometry.

Designed by David Genco.

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 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 pockets of North Africa and 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 of the four suits includes numbered cards 1 to 9.

8s and 9s can be removed
for 40-card play.

Spanish and Italian decks are among the most widespread regional patterns. Today they remain enduring elements of traditional gameplay and cultural identity.

Face cards include:
Sota, 10 or 8
Caballo, 11 or 9
Rey, 12 or 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.

7

3

8

10

48-card play

Base Deck

Espadas,
 Swords

Straight lines suggesting force, control, precision.

3

10

5

9

48-card play

Base Deck

Bastos, Clubs
Obrounds for resilience
and organic strength.

6

2

9

4

Base Deck

48-card play

Copas, Cups
Semicircles evoking a vessel, an offering.

8

2

9

3

48-card play

Base 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.

Games vary by country and region; they determine whether a 40-card or 48-card version is being used.

Brisca ( Spain )
Mus ( Basque Country )
Scopa ( Italy )
Chinchón ( Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Cape Verde )
Ronda ( Morocco )
Cuarenta ( Ecuador )
Sueca ( Portugal )
Cuajo ( Philippines )
Conquián ( Mexico )

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Il sette bello ( Scopa, Italy )

La perra ( Chinchón, Mexico )

Petit roi ( Mus, Basque Country )

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.

Illustrations: Neapolitan pattern based on Wikimedia Commons ( public domain )