LaBelle Cards did not come by way of someone who does art and decided to make some cards.  They came by way of a boy named Jean LaBelle.  Someone who grew up as the son of an artist, and as a child, became fascinated with playing cards, card games, and magic.  Still, it would take a lifetime to come to where he is today... a realization of, LaBelle Cards. At the age of 6, Jean would marvel at both art and the fun card games that he would watch being played in his house by his artist father and friends.  Jean went on to study magic and he grew to greatly appreciate the wonders and magic of the cards.  At the age of 12, he put on magic shows around his town.  Jean went on to work with many forms of art including graphic arts as well as music.  However, throughout Jean's life, he carried a continuing dream of creating playing card designs of his own.

Jean's father, Will, was a dedicated artist who came from a family heritage of art.  He instilled in Jean a great appreciation of artistic expression.  Yet, when Jean was but 15 years old, his father died.  This was a difficult time for both Jean and his brother, Andre, as their mother had also passed away 5 years earlier.  The following years then proved to be troubling and difficult. However, in the years before Will's passing, Jean had spent many great times with his father.  During one evening, there was a strange and unexplainable occurrence.  Jean tells the tale... "One day, when I was at the age of 13, my father and I were looking at an old art painting which had been painted by my grandfather, who had died before I was born.  While we studied the painting, something strange occurred.  The painting had been removed from a wall in our living room and taken into the kitchen to see under a better lighting.  My father was speaking much of my grandfather and of his ways of painting.  When my father and I returned to replace the painting... there on the wall, precisely where the painting had been hanging, was an eerie glow of light.  The light was in the exact size and shape of the painting and it seemed to have a soft and shadowy movement within it.  My father and I both immediately saw the light and became suddenly startled.  My father, for a brief moment, raised the painting up to the light to confirm it's similarity in size and when he removed it.  The light was gone.  We were never able to explain how this could have occurred and to this day it is a mystery." Will went on to become deeply interested in the mysteries of afterlife.  He often discussed the thoughts with Jean... "My father looked beyond religion alone and into all areas of the afterlife mystery including mediums, psychics, and fortune tellers.  He realized the many falsities that existed in each and all of these areas.  Amid it all are many questioned truths which then entwine with untruths and together create a vague sense of mystery.  Once my father told me that the only way he will know for sure is when he himself passes on.  He said that when that time comes, he will do all that he can to let me know of his existence.  At that time, I told my father how much this was so similar to the famous magician, Houdini, who in the 1920's had similarly pondered such questions and also spoke of the same promise to his wife, Bess.  Less than 2 years later, my father died.  For so many years, I have wondered about his promise... but, any answers are mysteriously inconclusive... however certain moments in my life have given me questions and wonder to it.  And to this day the mystery of it is always on my mind.

As the years passed... I continued to carry with me my dreams of creating playing card designs.  One day, some years ago, an Aunt of mine gave me an old drawing tablet which had belonged to my father in 1947.  In it I found incredible drawings.  I marveled at them as each artistic stroke seemed to hold an awesome emotion.  It was at this time that something came to me... I realized an inspiration to my first card design... one which would stem from the many mysteries and magic I have pondered so many years.  I would also use one of the drawings from my father's old sketch book as a model... for the most magical card in the deck... the Ace of Spades." Jean spent many more years slowly learning the computer graphic skills which would carry his hand art into a precise and crisp line art.  This first deck design would be named... The Mystic.  "I wanted the art to have a simple beauty and not be overdone," says Jean. "I also wanted to pay tribute to the famous cards designs of generations and therefore follow certain traditions in style.  Additionally, I wanted the images to have an elegant but simple beauty.  But above all, in each detail and tiny line... even if it is unseen or subtle... there would a little bit of wonder.  A wonder that I know, certainly exists in all our lives." ~*