In 2021 I was commissioned by Ravensburger Puzzles to create two distinct collages for the Eames Office, the folks who keep the spirit of 20th century design giants Ray & Charles Eames alive (the business being run by their grandchildren). The brief was to create two jigsaw puzzle designs illustrating the many ways to enjoy the wonderful ‘House of Cards’ deck of interlocking cards, the ‘toy’ created by the Eames in 1952 to spark ideas and creative play (two of my favourite things!), which is still manufactured by Ravensburger today. Each deck has 54 interlocking cards which depict, as Charles Eames said, ‘the good stuff’, nostalgic images from the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. Ravensburger Puzzles created two lovely 1500 piece jigsaw puzzles with my 3D collages, ‘House of Cards’ and ‘House of Cards Fantasy’, using lots of similar ephemera from the original 1952 card deck. One of the Eames’ grandsons even lent me his little red car for my ‘House of Cards Fantasy’ collage that Charles and Ray gave him decades ago.
‘House of Cards’ and ‘House of Cards Fantasy’, and are available online here and here, as well as through the Eames website here.
Alas, my name doesn’t appear on the final products, but I really DID create them, with many, many ideas and lots and lots of play.
Along with every other handmade element within these unique collages, one I particularly enjoyed making was a teeny paper kite to match the famous one by Charles Eames, which he made for the cover of Portfolio Magazine in 1950, that masterpiece of a graphic arts publication.
Here’s the toy car Charles sent his grandson, which the grandson graciously lent to me for my collage…
And I had to include Charles and Ray themselves, waving to us from the past from a Christmas card photograph of theirs, holding up a couple of ornaments. I can only hope they would take some pleasure in what I’ve created from their decks of cards…
Below, a short promotional video I helped create as this project unfolded, along with a short time-lapse video within it of the creation of my ‘House of Cards’ collage (around 1:15). Thank you Alisa Kerr of HiDef Productions for producing it.
And thank you Eames Office and Ravensburger Puzzles for creating two beautiful puzzles with me!
Ravensburger Eames 3 min Video from HIDEF Productions on Vimeo.