28-year-old Tokyo cardist Tomoya Maekawa has launched a new personal YouTube channel where he demonstrates his performances, shares tips and tutorials for aspiring cardists, and provides insights into his creative process. In addition to showcasing and teaching his moves, he aims to build a community around his passion by providing a sincere look into his cardistry life.
He has been mastering his craft since the fourth grade, ever since he encountered Dan and Dave’s infamous “The System” DVD, which introduced many of us cardists to the art form. Tomoya describes his taste and style in cardistry along the following lines: “I enjoy simple and clean movements in cardistry. It’s like the feeling of casually handling cards while having breakfast in the morning, with elegance and ease.” Over the years, he has built a reputation in the community. He made various appearances, including with ANYONE WORLDWIDE and FONTAINE. One of his most notable moments was his cardistry performance on the Japanese television show Goddess’ Eyes「女神の眼力」on TBS.
The talented artist is not only passionate about spreading cardistry but also deeply committed to making meaningful contributions to the community at large. Recently, he has been busy packing and shipping cards to fans around the world, teaching a young student cardistry, all at the same time while revamping his brand, Welcome Back1, to better reflect his artistic vision and dedication to the craft. He originally founded Welcome Back in 2017, and the brand has undergone a major transformation recently. He currently manages the brand with the support of his colleagues Kiichi Mikami and Takeshi Taniguchi / Ars. Their latest release is now available for pre-order: See The Original Logo Playing Cards by Welcome Back.
The first video on his YouTube channel is named “A pleasant day Cardistry” and delivers the exact vibe you’d expect from the title. The video includes a tutorial for one of his one-handed moves.2 He has also posted other videos focusing on his recent deck release. We’re looking forward to all the masterful content he’ll be producing on his new channel. You should subscribe if you’re also excited to see how he evolves as a creator. We wish him the best of luck as it grows, as his passion and dedication are sure to inspire many.
- “Welcome” to Cardistry. “Back” to the basic. ↩︎
- For more tutorials, you can visit his Instagram. Here’s a link to a tutorial for his favorite combo move, “UNI FAN COMBO,” shared about a year ago. ↩︎
Cardistry News 