Electronic Press Kit · 2026

TIAN RUI · GRAVITY CONSTRUCTS

A professional card stacker building house-of-cards structures and playing-card sculptures — no glue, no tape, no hidden supports — live, in public, in front of thousands.

7WORLD RECORDS

CARDS · BLOCKSBALANCE STRUCTURES · ANY MATERIAL

About

Tian Rui, based in Qingdao, China, is the world's leading card stacking artist in Asia — a full-time card stacker whose freestanding playing-card structures and block sculptures have been built live on stage, in malls and on television. His constructions — up to 5 metres and spanning 3 metres — stand on nothing but friction and gravity, built over days in full public view, collapsing and rising again.

He began stacking cards in 2015 as rehabilitation after an injury ended a decade-long magic career. Eleven years later the practice has produced seven Guinness World Records, a feature in The Guardian, commissions for national television, luxury malls and automotive brands — and a live act that turns structural engineering into public theatre.

Precarious balance — the core skill

Not a structure that sits safely, but one pushed to its limit: the centre of gravity already outside the footprint, overhanging, resting on a single point, and still standing. KAPLA is used for large-span work — columns, arches, vaults, colonnades; Jenga for stacking and load challenges (3,149 blocks on one, 918 giant blocks). Every piece leaves the venue as it arrived: no glue, no fixings, no marks.

What can be commissioned

Brands & agencies — product stability films, one-take ideas, launch installations — including a giant spiral champagne tower for AWE, China's appliance expo, the largest of its kind in the country. Automotive, appliances, precision instruments: a structure that does not move is the fastest way to say the product does not either.

Malls, retail & museums — atrium builds from a few days to several months, landmark replicas, seasonal installation, opening events. The piece gains height while people shop; they come back to see how far it has got.

Schools & science centres — Jenga and KAPLA workshops, STEAM programmes, after-school clubs, teacher training. Friction, load paths and centre of gravity, taught by building.

Corporate teams — a whole company building one tower, annual-event installations, co-designed materials (stone, recycled plastic, custom card backs).

Film, TV & set dressing — large physical backgrounds built to camera, scenic construction, documentaries and commercials. Also the national TV drama Our Ten Years: technical adviser, and the card sequences for its 5G-scientist episode were designed, built and shot by him.

Festivals, biennials & museums — durational performance, residencies, temporary installation, design weeks. The opening shows a skeleton, not a finished object; the ending is handed to the audience.

Workshop formats

Taster — 40 min — a whole class starts at once; everyone finishes their own first tower. Ages 5+.

Workshop — 90–120 min — teams compete on height and span; the physics is explained while it stands.

Term programme — 12–16 sessions — single towers, then bridges, domes and arches; ends in one collaborative piece.

Museum / science centre — exhibit, programme, interpretation text and visitor route, matched to the exhibition calendar.

Teacher training — one session plus lesson plans and a materials list, so the venue can run it alone afterwards.

Guinness World Records — all verified

2025	Tallest house of cards — 2.91 m, 34 levels (Qingdao)
2025	Tallest house of cards in 8 hours — 62 levels
2025	Tallest house of cards in 1 hour — 32 levels
2025	Most Jenga blocks stacked on one vertical block — 3,149 (Jenga Giant)
2025	Most Jenga Giant blocks stacked on one block — 918
2022	Tallest house of cards in 12 hours — 3.37 m / 50 levels
2022	Tallest house of cards in 1 hour — 2.17 m

Press

The Guardian (UK) — 2023 "Experience: I built a house of cards 50 storeys high" — full-length feature, photographed by The Guardian. UPI (US) — 2022 & 2025 Two wire-service features on his record builds, syndicated worldwide. Guinness World Records — 2025 Official GWR feature from London HQ on the 3,149-block Jenga record.

Selected commissions & live work

Great Wall of cards — large-scale build — Great Wall of playing cards — large-scale public build

Card dome structure — Dome structure — friction-only, no fixings

Card arena — Colosseum build — public atrium commission

Tall card tower — Single-column tower — record format

Building process close-up — The build itself is the show — audiences watch for hours

Replica architecture in cards: Forbidden City Hall of Supreme Harmony · Temple of Heaven · Big Ben (10,000 cards / 18 h) · Parthenon (12,000 cards) · Hagia Sophia · Eiffel Tower · 12,000-card Frozen castle (40 h).
Brand & TV work: CCTV-1 "Impossible Challenge" × Haier · Avatr Technology · Midea × Zhihu Lab · Hisense Plaza (eight Paris landmarks rebuilt in eight days; Olympic art exhibition) · integrated-resort and retail clients in Macau and mainland China (2024–2026).

Videos

Live build footage and stage structures: tianruicards.com/video · Chinese version with brand case studies: tianruicards.com

Technical rider — simple by design

Space: flat area approx. 3 × 3 m (tallest builds need 5 m headroom — confirm ceiling height)

Provided by artist: all materials, tools of the trade, public liability mindset, safety protocol from 7 record verifications

Venue provides: one table, one ladder, standard cleaning access

Power / sound: none required — fully silent act, no amplification needed

Formats: multi-day durational build · 2–4 h street/stage act · hands-on family workshops · brand activations

Travel: passport-ready; structures travel as flat stock (approx. 300 kg for largest)

Booking & programming

Festivals · science centres & museums · shopping malls · resort & casino entertainment · brand events · television

Tian Rui · Gravity Constructs

+86 132 1245 2222 (phone / WeChat) · [email protected] · Qingdao, China — available worldwide

Email Tian Rui