We’ve had our eye on Le Puzz for a while now, and it’s one of those brands that instantly makes you smile. The self-proclaimed “Wonderfully Whimsical Weirdo Wigsaw Wuzzle Wumpany” has built a world that’s equal parts nostalgia, design experiment and joyful chaos. Founded by Michael Hunter and Alistair Matthews, Le Puzz takes everything you love about old-school puzzles (think thick card, vintage typography, and quirky details) and gives it a playful, modern twist.
What started during lockdown as a fun side project between two creatives with a shared love of puzzles has grown into something much bigger. Each design feels like a little world of its own, filled with humour, personality and a love of imperfection. We caught up with Michael to talk about the spark that started it all, how parenthood feeds into his sense of play, and why Le Puzz continues to celebrate the wonderfully weird side of creativity.
Le Puzz began for the love of jigsaws. What inspired you to turn that love into a business?
Le Puzz was born out of the pandemic. At some point in 2019, Alistair and I briefly chatted about making a puzzle using one of her images, but by mid-2020, deep in lockdown, we decided to take that idea and turn it into something bigger. We had both been collecting puzzles off-and-on from eBay for a while, and like so many people at that time, we were doing quite a lot of puzzles in our downtime.
We both realised how much we enjoyed the quality and content of vintage puzzles, and we felt like we could add something special to the present-day puzzle market. At that point we just started making a huge list of ideas that would eventually become the bones of Le Puzz — extra thick sturdy cardboard, colorful backing on the pieces, random cut die lines, silly copy, fun packaging that was overloaded with easter eggs and images that call back some of that wild and weird art direction that we love from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Before we knew it, we had a full-blown business idea on our hands.
Were puzzles part of your childhoods growing up? Any standout memories of puzzling as a kid or were you more into other kinds of play and creativity?
Yes! My family always had a puzzle out during the holidays, especially at Christmas and on family vacations. I remember sitting with my grandma at the puzzle table with the TV on in the background, feeling lucky if I found even one piece that fit. On family vacations there was always someone who would secretly stay up later than everyone else to finish whatever section they were hyper-focused on. However, finishing the puzzle after midnight by yourself was strictly prohibited!
I also distinctly remember setting up a huge pile of stuffed animals in my room as a kid and making my mom take a photo of me in the middle of them, I specifically asked her to make that image into a jigsaw puzzle, this had to be like 1988 … zazzle would not even be an idea for another decade so I don’t really know what I imagined she would do, but she obliged in taking the photo anyway!
Le Puzz has a playful, almost mischievous personality. How do you keep that sense of wonder alive when designing?
Thank you, yeah, we try to keep it fun and silly with everything we do. We are lucky to be our own bosses, and sometimes the work is just sitting around, coming up with funny ideas that make us laugh. One of us might say something or reference something that sends us down a rabbit hole; more often than not, someone is shouting, “Oh my god, write that down!” Our ‘HEADS‘ puzzle was one example of this. My pitch was, “lots of things that are ‘heads’ or reference heads, stacked on a riser like a little crowd. It just made me laugh, and I wouldn’t give up on the idea. Is it a best-seller? No. But we love it! Another was a back-of-the-box game for the back of our “Big Sammy” puzzle. I was lying on the couch in our studio “brainstorming” and I was like, this is so dumb … but, “what if we made a game where you toss a piece of American Cheese at the box, I think the cheese would stick to the box”. Turns out it worked really well, and I spent the next week writing an absurdly long list of rules for it.
Alistair is also an obsessive collector, so a lot of our ideas come straight from those collections. Even though lockdown is thankfully a distant memory, we have not stopped collecting vintage puzzles; the collection literally towers over us in our studio. There are so many fun vintage puzzle motifs like “pile of fruit” or “anthropomorphic animal”, and we love coming up with our own versions of them. A few of our puzzles, like our latest release Too-Da-Loo (which we made in collaboration with the toilet paper brand Who Gives a Crap, are nearly a shot-for-shot remake of a puzzle we are obsessed with from 1983 called “Bathroom Sweet Bathroom”. For that one, we even tracked down some iconic yellow curlers featured front and centre on the original.
Our readers are creatively minded people raising curious kids. How do you see puzzles fitting into a creative home?
Puzzles are essential! We especially love those vintage foam Lauri puzzles. Part of what we love about puzzles is their connection to mental health and general well-being — puzzles are good for you! This does not just apply to older folks; puzzles are so good for developing minds. Kids love solving problems, being given a job, solving mysteries and putting things together. Puzzles combine all of these elements, so kids naturally gravitate to them.
“Puzzles are a game with no written rules, but everyone knows intuitively how to play, which makes them perfect for kids of all ages.”
Le Puzz makes a round, solid red mini-puzzle called “Flat Apple”, and at one of our trade show exhibits, we had it out on display in pieces. One of our retailers was chatting with us in the booth, and we turned around to find that her 7-year-old had totally finished the puzzle! Flat Apple is not exactly for kids or beginners (even though it’s only 81 pieces); it’s solid red and took me over an hour to do the first time I tried it. We were all shocked. Kids will really surprise you sometimes if given the chance. Another friend of mine has a 4-year-old that she said does our ‘Peace Frogs’ puzzle over and over and over again, and she even requested to sleep with the box. I would recommend keeping a range of puzzles around, and maybe ones that you won’t mind the pieces going missing from. The thrift store is a great resource for this. Mini puzzles are also a great place to start.
Looking back, is there anything from your own childhood whether it was a mentor, toy, or experience that played a huge role in shaping your creativity? Do you try to bring any of that into your own parenting?
My sisters (Kat and Sis) were a huge influence on me creatively, and both of them are inspirational as parents as well. All of my nieces and nephews are just amazing, creative and unique people. Kat introduced me to everything cool, like music and art. She took me to folk art festivals as a kid, where I got to meet Howard Finster when I was 13 or so. Sis encouraged me to go to art school and not waste my time slogging through a bunch of liberal arts classes. I definitely would not be who I am without their unique perspectives and influence.
As a parent in New York, there are so many ways to expose your kids to art and creativity, and I try to centre that as much as possible. I keep an eye out for art shows that I think my 6-year-old would like, and that I want to see. Recent examples of this were: Laura Owens at Matthew Marks, Ulala Imai Karma, Josh Smith at Decade and the Luna Luna Exhibit at The Shed. Sometimes it sparks an art project idea, but it’s also just fun to talk to your kid about art — how it makes them feel or what it reminds them of.
I was also definitely influenced creatively by skateboarding magazines, specifically Ed Templeton and Toy Machine ads. There were always little hidden drawings and moments in their packaging, I remember specifically opening up the VHS tape box from ‘Welcome to Hell’ and one of the little tabs had a hidden monster drawn on it, that surprise and attention to detail somehow really stuck in my brain, that reference was definitely at top of mind when we started to think about what we wanted Le Puzz to be. Keeping that kind of surprise and spontaneity centred in my life as a dad is definitely aspirational, but I do love setting out into the city with some snacks, a water bottle, a wish and a prayer and just seeing where the day takes us. Is dérive parenting the new gentle parenting?
You both attended art school in Chicago, how does your creativity center around your everyday life and parenting journey?
In art school I was mostly focused on painting and definitely did not think that co-owning / running a jigsaw puzzle company was in my cards I think one thing that’s useful about an art school education is it really prepares you for creative, outside the box problem solving which can be super helpful wether you’re collaborating to create a new line of new jigsaw puzzles or attempting to bring a 6-year olds cardboard box vision to life, it’s all part of the same process.
What lessons have you learned (or are still learning) from your son that have impacted your approach to creativity and business?
It’s ok to get it wrong. As a parent, I’m always apologising and starting over. I think that was one of the biggest things I did not expect when I became a parent: how much I would learn about myself. It’s the constant internal conflict, the intersection of the path that I’m conditioned to take and the path that’s an opportunity to heal generational trauma.
That’s just the work of being a parent though isn’t it. It’s constant and relentless, like, why am I being tested in the middle of a sidewalk on a random Tuesday? But here we are. When running a small business, it’s all about constantly learning, failing and trying again. There’s also a good amount of customer service, and we try our best to be thoughtful, patient and kind with all of our customer communications. You just never know what kind of day someone is having on the other end of that email, and a random small act of kindness will go a long way. I think this all touches on radical acceptance, which I wish I could say I was good at, but again, I aspire to!
Are there any books, activities, or resources you recommend for parents aiming to inspire imagination in their kids?
Any creative parent knows the power of the perfect cardboard box to spark an entire afternoon of imaginative play. But besides that I would recommend: activity kits from MAJO ideas and Kiwi Co.; I love the iSpy books but there’s another series from the 90s called Look-A-Likes by artist Joan Steiner, the worlds she created are mind blowing; I love the “Lost” series of books by B. B. Cronin and also the book In Town All Year Round by Rotaut Susanne Berner. As far as puzzles for kids go, you can’t beat Nolja.
Without giving too much away, what’s on the table for Le Puzz in the next year? Any new themes or surprises you’re excited about?
We have so much fun stuff in the works for next year. We have a bunch of really fun collaborations with artists coming up. We’re travelling to LA in February to shoot a puzzle on location, which is a first for us. I can’t quite reveal what that collaboration is, but it’s an iconic LA institution, and we are so lucky that they are opening their doors and archives for us to photograph. We are also releasing a really fun deck of playing cards in the spring, which we collaborated on with four different illustrators. We also have a few new merch items coming soon … possibly our first t-shirt!?
