Press

The Polar Embassy Story:

Hello! I’m Jon, the creator of Club Tarot and founder of Polar Embassy, a publishing house for Indie Tarot and games.

 Jon Derman Harris at the Berlin Winter Qweer Market 2022

Club Tarot was originally a Christmas gift for my best friend, a lover of Tarot and Club Mate, the German cult-favorite soda. I played on the brand’s style to make a minimalist deck based on the Rider-Waite-Smith system, to answer the question: if the Club Mate mascot read Tarot, what deck would they use? I know from my own journey with the Tarot how overwhelming the beginning can be, so I wrote a companion guide to the deck with an introduction to the Tarot for complete beginners, and short insights behind each card.

Club Tarot spread out

My background as an industrial designer and my passion for circular design helped me focus on producing the most sustainable deck I could. I work with a family-owned printer in Austria that is certified to meet the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s Silver standards on material health, product circularity, clean air and climate protection, water and soil stewardship, and social fairness. They add green energy back to the Austrian grid, and over-offset the CO2 emissions from production by 10%. We use healthy, non-toxic inks and FSC-certified paper that can be completely and harmlessly composted at the product’s eventual end of life.

Publishing

While self-publishing Club Tarot, I have built up the infrastructure around it to design, produce, and fulfil Tarot decks and games. I’d like to grow Polar Embassy into a launchpad that can support other creators publish their work. If you have a deck or game at any stage to pitch, I would love to hear from you! I specifically invite trans* and non-binary Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to reach out to me at the form below.

 

Press

We're excited to have been covered by iHeartBerlin, and partnered with Melinda Cange and Fuck Lucky Go Happy.

Please feel free to use any of the product images on this page for press coverage.

 The Three of Swords card and several others on a white background

Contact form