Cool Hunting

Las Vegas, a city that can be as lonely as it is lively, is accurately depicted in SFMOMA Architecture + Design Forum's newly commissioned design project, appropriately entitled Diaspora. A double deck of artfully designed playing cards, Diaspora is a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Cunningham and dynamic graphic designer Martin Venezky in conjunction with SFMOMA's recent exhibition, "Double Down: Two Visions of Vegas."

Telling the tale of a double movement—humans fleeing the city and animals taking over what remains—the limited edition cards feature curious graphic images and one or two corresponding sentences designed so that each hand dealt tells a different story.

The cards chart a unique moment of collaboration between Cunningham, author of "The Hours," and Venezky, author of "It Is Beautiful & Then Gone," because they did not know each other prior to beginning this project. However, their contributions weave together so seamlessly one might assume they are old pals.

The cards come encased in a black linen embossed box and is limited to an edition of 300. Available upon request for $88, the woman to contact is SFMOMA Architecture + Design Forum's Coordinator, Hayes Firestein at hfirestein [at] sfmoma [dot] org.