UPCOMING EVENTS & MARKETS
VIP EXCLUSIVE PRE-BLACK FRIDAY SALE - SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR NEWSLETTER TO GET THE INVITE
BLACK FRIDAY SALE - STARTS THURSDAY 11/25 @8PM AND ALL DAY FRIDAY 11/26
FAD MARKET'S HOLIDAY POP-UP - EMPIRE STORES - DUMBO BROOKLYN - DEC 17TH & 18TH
Meet the Founder
Puzzle Culture was created by Dawn Walsh, an avid puzzler, lover of all things geek/nerd culture, as well as a fan of subscription boxes. Dawn felt she could combine the best of what she loved about those things into one experience. Once she started putting together her first box she realized she had so many ideas to elevate the experience around puzzling culture and build a diverse and open community of puzzlers.
Dawn is a native New Yorker and proud Latina with roots from Puerto Rico. She has over 20 years of experience in retail planning working for major department stores. After losing her job during the pandemic she decided it was time to follow her dream and start her own business.
"I knew I wanted to create a business that was built on community, camaraderie and fun. Using artwork from independent artists was the most important thing. I wanted to bring puzzles and art together in a new way."
As a person with anxiety, Dawn can relate to her customers looking for an activity that will help them relax and unwind. She understand the many benefits that come with puzzling as a hobby and she wants to provide an amazing experience with every box.
Learn more about our boxesFeatures and articles spotlighting our founder:
Go Solo - Entrepreneur Stories - Interview with Dawn Walsh
At Home Places, Holiday 2021 - Article written by Dawn, Dining Room Table Art; Puzzles Gain Popularity During the Pandemic
The Latinista as a spotlight member
Sticker Giant in their Customer Stories
Why puzzles?
We know puzzles can bring us together, either in real life around our tables or on social media as we share our puzzling journeys from opening the box to the satisfaction of placing the last piece. We hope we can make the puzzling experience just a little more special by creating exciting, new puzzles from amazing artwork that we know our audience will love. We want to bring those puzzles to life away from the puzzle pieces with the special items we curate for each box. Puzzles can be for anyone and everyone!
Creating a culture...
We take pride in being a Latina owned and run business. We strive to provide a gender neutral puzzle experience with both the artwork and the gifts we curate. Highlighting independent artists and using small business vendors is super important to us and we know it's important to our customers. Providing a new platform for artists and giving customers a new perspective in the puzzle genre is why we are here. We want everyone to be able to enjoy our boxes and we want everyone to share their experience with us. Culture starts with the community, and we know how wonderful the puzzle community is.
Join us on Instagram and Facebook @puzzleculturebox to join in the puzzle community and conversation
Tips for Puzzling
SORT YOUR PIECES
- separating the edges is a good first start
- sort the rest of the pieces by color to make it easier to find patterns
PUT THE EDGE PIECES TOGETHER FIRST
- helps you understand the size of the finished puzzle
- helps you match up the picture from the box
WORK ON ONE COLOR AT A TIME
- look for the easy to identify details like eyes, spots and outlines of the images
- start with smaller images/characters to get things going
Puzzles take time and patience
Step away for a while if you are having a hard time finding matches
Sometimes you just need fresh eyes
Have fun and happy puzzling!!
Choosing a puzzle
How do you know if a puzzle is right for you?
There are many ways and reasons to choose a puzzle but sometimes it can be hard to decide or you may not be sure if it will be too difficult or too easy for your skill level. Here's some suggestions on choosing the right puzzle.
1. You love the artwork - this is the easiest and most common way someone chooses a puzzle. The artwork just speaks to you and sometimes that is more than enough of a reason to get the puzzle!
2. Piece count - 300, 500, 1000, 2000 or more. There are so many different piece counts out there. If you are a beginner, or want a more leisurely puzzle experience, try to stick to 300 to 500 piece puzzles, these won't overwhelm you, but will still give you a challenge, especially depending on the artwork. 1000 piece puzzles can be fine for a beginner but are best for mid-level and experienced puzzlers. 2000 and above can get very difficult and can also be tedious so you need to be committed to the time and energy it will take to piece these together.
3. Difficulty factor of the image - an image that has lots of easy to discern details, sections and colors can make putting it together much easier than one that is a swirl of colors or non-distinct. Repeating patterns can start get more challenging. Mystery puzzle pose a whole different challenge since you won't have an image to reference. Gradients, monochromatic images and solid colors puzzles are most challenging.
In the end, choosing a puzzle usually come down to whether it's one you actually want to take the time to put together or not. Do you it to be a fun and relaxing experience, then choose and easier puzzle. Do you want to really give your brain a challenge, then choose a tough image. If you're unsure about a puzzle, look it up on social media and see what others are saying about. Did they have fun or was it so hard they almost didn't finish it?
Whatever you choose, have fun and happy puzzling!
