First of all, happy birthday to Theory11 and a huge congratulation to all of its staffs! Very well deserved 13 years of hard work.
Weirdly enough, I discovered Theory11 on Amazon, yes the online shopping site, back in 2015. When I first learned about cardistry thru a promotional video by Virtuoso, the cardistry team, I immediately went on to Amazon to shop for some cheap playing cards to give cardistry a try. To my surprise, I did not expect that there would be so many designs to choose from, let alone how beautifully designed each one were. Next thing I know was that I had a bunch of cards sitting in my cart already, that's when I knew I would be buying way too much and had slim down back to a couple of decks. One card company that kept popping up in the bulk of cards that I was choosing from was Theory11, that's when I decided to look it up and see what they really have in store. And the rest is history.
I feel like it would be such an easy and cop-out answer if I were to just pick a playing card to be my favorite item ever released by Theory11. Theory11 definitely deserves more recognition than just their amazing playing cards. With that being said, my absolute favorite release has to be the Contraband Book Lamp. I got this book lamp just last year and it has since been my favorite conversation piece whenever I have family and friends over. From the first glance, the book lamp itself is very elegant, intriguing, and beautifully crafted already, but beyond that I just love the fact that each book lamp is handmade and one-of-a-kind, I feel safe knowing that no one else would have the exact same lamp as mine and vice versa! Moreover, the book lamp overall is very well-made and not cheaply slapped together. The secret compartment fits very nicely to the theme "Contraband." Once again, Theory11 proves to me that they really think outside (or inside in this case) the box and not pump out products just to flood their store.
My favorite reaction I have gotten so far for the book lamp is, "whoa! This actually turns on?"
Attached is the photo of my Contraband Book Lamp, I definitely recommend picking one up!
p.s. And happy Labor Day, everyone!