10 Amazing Sculptures Made of Playing Cards
See what one artist can do with the hand he was dealt
By Brynn Mannino
from WomansDay.com
Artist Bryan Berg is the only known person who makes a living by building playing card sculptures. Although he’s a Harvard-educated architect, Berg claims he learned all his techniques the old-fashioned way—through trial and error. "I never knew a career in card stacking was something that could exist,” Berg says. “Even after all these years, I'm still learning how to be better at what I do." Check out his life's work below.
Disney’s Cinderella Castle
In 2004, Berg created a 15-foot replica of Disney World's Cinderella Castle. Over the course of 30 days, he used 3,000 decks to build this Magical Kingdom of cards, which set the Guinness World Record for the World's Largest House of Freestanding Playing Cards. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
New York City Skyline
In February 2005, Berg joined forces with “Decked Out in Times Square,” an on-air tsunami relief fundraiser, for which he spent 10 days at the ABC Studios in New York’s Times Square to build this structure. The piece, which is made up of 178,000 cards, features landmarks including the Flatiron Building, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas
Though Berg doesn't typically use any "trickery" (adhesives), he did in 2006 to recreate this famous sign, which was commissioned by Loctite and displayed at the 2006 World Series of Poker. The materials he used include playing cards, dice, poker chips, wood and Loctite Control Gel Super Glue. The completed project weighed over 600 pounds. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
Rhode Island State House
In 2007, Berg—who was introduced to "cardstacking" by his grandfather—created this piece in three days using 22,000 cards (that’s more than 407 decks). Watch this video to see Berg build the structure in fast-forward. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
The Bravery
In 2007, Berg appeared with The Bravery in their music video for the song "Time Won't Let Me Go.” He built several freestanding elements of the "card world" featured in the clip. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
Dallas Art Museum
In 2007, using 1,000 decks of cards, Berg broke his own Guinness World Record for The World's Tallest 
Beijing Olympic Village
In 2008, Berg—who uses a strategic four-card cell structure he calls "grids" to arrange his cards—built a replica of the Beijing Olympic Village in 20 days using 140,000 playing cards. Watch Berg build the village replica. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
Keycard Hotel
In 2009, the
Lexus City
In 2009, Lexus commissioned Berg to build an "any-city skyline" on the roof and surrounding a running Lexus ES to demonstrate the smoothness of the new model's engine. Berg worked on the project for three weeks and used 64,800 cards. Watch the commercial. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
Venetian Macao
In 2010, this 33' x 10', 218,792-card replica of the Macao, China, luxury resort—which Berg built in 44 days—beat out his own Cinderella Castle as the World's Largest House of Freestanding Playing Cards. Photo courtesy of Cardstacker.com.
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