Brother and sister, William and Ericka are the brains behind Puzzle of Color. Puzzle of Color is a lovely business that support and highlight the work of amazing artists of colors, that make puzzles so beautiful that they are worth framing.
1.Prior to Puzzle of Color, you
have been doing puzzles. What were your favourite Jigsaw Puzzles?
Ericka - My favorite was the puzzle that started it all! The
first puzzle that I remember doing was a 300 piece puzzle of a family
celebrating Kwanzaa. We did that puzzle every year for a few years before
moving on to more complex puzzles.
William - I like the Starry Night photomosaic puzzle. We avoided
it for years because it looked so hard. So, when we finally did it, it was a
huge accomplishment.
2.When and where did you
start Puzzle of Color?
Ericka - I came up with the idea a year ago when I was pregnant
with my daughter and looking for a puzzle to model my nursery around. I did not
find anything that I liked, but William has an artist friend (Kwanzaa Edwards)
that our family loves and thought it would be so cool if one of her pieces was
a puzzle. So, one day after church, I mentioned the idea to William and we got
to work planning how we could make it a business and showcase other artists of
color.
3.What are some of the educational
benefits of Puzzle of Color?
Puzzles have good mental
benefits. They help with spatial reasoning, problem solving, and help to fire
off the neurons in your brain, so it keeps you sharp. One of the big reasons
that we started doing puzzles in the first place is that our mom wanted to keep
our minds engaged during the winter and summer breaks from school.
4.What is it like going into
business with your sibling?
William - It's been great. I have created several businesses
over the years because entrepreneurship is a passion of mine, but Ericka has
helped me to get out of the idea phase and set deadlines so that we can move
forward and get the products out there. We have also had our share of bumps
along the way, so it's been good to have someone that knows you really well to
get through it and bounce ideas off of to problem solve.
Ericka - Yeah, I think our skills really complement each other
for making this business work well. Plus, we have always been close, but this
has helped us learn things about each other that we never knew. Like I knew
that William was a graphic designer, but never saw him doing the work before.
It's awesome to see him in his element!
Haute by Bryant Small
Do What Makes You Happy by
Black Boy Joy by
Strength by
To Be Loved by
Priceless by
Out of my Soul by
Comfort and Joy by Paul kellum
6.You have chosen incredible artists, all the jigsaw puzzles are beautiful. I won’t mention my preferred one, it’s just would not be fair. How do you select your artists?
William - We follow a lot of art hashtags on Instagram and are
constantly messaging back and forth when we see a piece that we love. So, from
there, we go to that artists page to get an idea for their overall portfolio.
We look for an elevated quality and unique details to have interesting puzzle
pieces. It needs to be clear what is
being depicted even in tiny pieces.
7.I find it relaxing to do a
jigsaw puzzle, but it takes me ages. What would you say is the best way to
start?
Ericka - As much as we love puzzles, I wouldn’t necessarily say
that we are experts at putting them together, we kind of do it more as a hobby.
But I think the universal starting point is just to flip all of the pieces over
and find the edges!
8.How have things been for
you during these months of lockdown?
Ericka - Its been busy! I have a baby at home, work full time,
and am running this business which takes a lot to get off the ground. But back
to the sibling question, its been great doing it together. We both work from
home in out day jobs so the only time we get to hang out with other people is
usually when we meet to do work for Puzzles of Color. We are fortunate to live
close to each other, so we can’t see out extended family as much, but we get to
go to our parents and both of our in-laws are local as well.
9.What jigsaw puzzle sizes do
you offer?
William - So far, we offer 500 and 100 piece puzzles. They are frameable sizes so that you can preserve the puzzles
if you want to put them on the wall. They’re art so why not?!
10.How long will it take for
a puzzle to ship?
William - We have just closed presales and started live sales, so
puzzles will ship within 1-2 days of an order being placed.
11.People can order directly
from your website. What is the latest day they should order if they want it by
Christmas?
Ericka - If you want a puzzle by Christmas, you will need to
order by the 19th in the US. International orders will take a bit longer, so it
depends on where you are located but those shipments usually take 5 days. Of
course, with the pandemic, there are quite a bit of delays so plan ahead!
Contact to order your art puzzle
https://www.instagram.com/puzzlesofcolor
https://www.facebook.com/puzzlesofcolor
https://twitter.com/puzzlesofcolor/
https://www.puzzlesofcolor.com
Vanity Afro, 13/12/2020
