The journey to create our unique handcrafted wooden playing card holders and paraphernalia began in October 2023, when the need to make playing games which require holding a hand of cards easier became apparent. For myself, who was starting to suffer nerve damage in my left hand; for my mother-in-law, who has rheumatoid arthritis; and for our son, who struggled to hold a larger number of cards for any length of time, making Uno quite unplayable.  

Not on our watch, we thought.  

We can fix this!

By Christmas 2023, our family and friends were delighted with their CardKitty gift sets. 

Fast forward to Easter 2024, when a sudden redundancy from a role of 15 years as a photography specialist meant that I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands!

I founded Garden55Crafts and spent the next few months on further prototyping, research and development based on feedback and play testing, to improve the ease of use and ergonomics of these early models. These evolved to become The CardKitty, the beautifully stylish, fully hardwood version you can buy now directly from our website.  The dimensions and design of the holder, and the number, angle and position of grooves, for best viewing and protection of cards within a compact footprint, have all been carefully considered and thoroughly tested to give the best possible experience.

Our customers are grateful for the inclusivity in play that our product enables.

• Numerous families where a child has a limb difference preventing them from traditional card holding, are enabled. With a full set of CardKitty characters around the table, everyone can play together with no differentiation.  
• Deaf customers using The CardKitty can sign freely during gameplay without having to put cards down to be able to communicate more effectively.  
• Players with dementia or other degenerative neurological conditions are able to use The CardKitty to better enable them to recall and manage their cards consistently throughout their gaming session.  
• ADHDers with object permanence issues have reported that they are now able to play complex strategy games more easily by having their hand of cards more visible to themselves and plan those counter-plays!  
• Games parties go better with snacks and drinks flowing freely, and those playing ‘table hungry’ games such as Wingspan or Ticket to Ride are equally delighted that The CardKitty can be placed neatly to the side of the game board.
• You don’t need a reason to have one other than the simple fact that they are a delight to use and look gorgeous on the table! 

It makes us swell with pride to hear that The CardKitty is a champion of 

Inclusive play for everyone 

We love to hear your stories and spot pictures of the CardKitty out in the wild. Tag us in any pics on Instagram to share the love!

We now make a whole modular nesting system for The CardKitty, meticulously designed and engineered to all nestle neatly together, making it The purrrrfect card game companion.  

THE CARDKITTY RANGE

The Original CardKitty playing card holder in 9 different Kitty Crew designs, 

The CardKitty treasure box for taking your custom decks on the road to your next games night, which includes an original Card Kitty as the lid. They also stack for those looking for a beautiful way to display and store their cards and decks.  

The CardKitty Dice tower carved from solid Ash and hinged for dice storage and to display the path.

and The CardKitty Cradle for holding 4 horizontal Card Kittys or 6 in an upright position for larger families/groups, whilst also doubling as a dice tray and companion to the dice tower.  

All of them comprise our Whole Kitty Caboodle (we can’t resist a pun! ) 

SUSTAINABILITY 

It is really important to us that the materials we use in The CardKitty are both stunningly beautiful and sustainably sourced. All our hardwoods are sourced from within the UK and as locally as practical. Our rough-sawn timber comes from British Hardwoods & our local timber merchants, and we are always keen to find local reclaimed timber for smaller projects.   

The oil and wax finishes used are plant-based, durable, pet and child safe and will stand the test of time and rigours of regular use.