Boxes and Booze 6/20/20 Boxes and Booze 6/20/20

Clutch Box

There’s a fantastic origin story behind this award winning puzzle maker (it's appropriate that he has an origin story, given his almost supernatural abilities).

Boxes and Booze 4/18/20 Boxes and Booze 4/18/20

Spheres

“I have hardly anything in common with myself and should stand very quietly in a corner, content that I can breathe.” ― Franz Kafka

Boxes and Booze 2/22/20 Boxes and Booze 2/22/20

The Fairy’s Door

We are here to celebrate the original fairy door this time, finally, the one that inspired the rest. Mike Toulouzas is a highly talented woodworker from Greece whose hobby has earned him tremendous accolades in the puzzle world.

Boxes and Booze 12/14/19 Boxes and Booze 12/14/19

Moulin Rouge

With a stroke of his pencil and paintbrush, the famous French painter Toulouse-Lautrec released his art on the world so that it might live. His philosophy might also give insight into the driving force behind the desire to solve a puzzle box – as an inherent act of life itself, perhaps.

Boxes and Booze 11/23/19 Boxes and Booze 11/23/19

Kakoi

Japanese puzzle box artist Shiro Tajima has been inspired by the Japanese Zodiac to create a whole series of animal themed boxes over the years, and more recently, by the Japanese language itself.

Boxes and Booze 8/24/19 Boxes and Booze 8/24/19

Slammed Car

Slammed Car, designed by Junichi Yananose (Juno) and produced by his puzzle company Pluredro (Juno and his wife Yukari) in Queensland Australia, is their latest and greatest sequential discovery puzzle, and one of the best new puzzles in the world.

Boxes and Booze 7/6/19 Boxes and Booze 7/6/19

Plugged Well

“My formula for success? Rise early, work late, strike oil.” - John Paul Getty

Boxes and Booze 8/4/17 Boxes and Booze 8/4/17

Louvre

Brain Young, that is, aka Mr. Puzzle, the brilliant, baffling and inimitable puzzle producer from Queensland.

Boxes and Booze 11/26/16 Boxes and Booze 11/26/16

Open for Business

The “Open for Business” box was created by Peter Wiltshire, a cinematographer who resides in Canada. Usually busy directing the shots with his massive cameras and video equipment, Peter occasionally turns his considerable talents to woodworking.

Boxes and Booze 10/15/16 Boxes and Booze 10/15/16

Salt and Pepper Shakers

The deviously puzzling Sandfield brothers, Robert and Norman, designed their Salt and Pepper Shakers to exchange at IPP 22 held in Antwerp in 2002.

Boxes and Booze 9/24/16 Boxes and Booze 9/24/16

ReBanded Dovetail

The Sandfield’s ReBanded Dovetail was their IPP 32 exchange puzzle in 2012. Designed by Robert and Kathleen and crafted by Kathleen from light baltic birch plywood, walnut and lacewood, these little boxes feature a double dovetail on the ends and are wrapped tightly with double bands of shimmering lacewood.

Boxes and Booze 8/6/16 Boxes and Booze 8/6/16

SMS Telephone Box

Brian is at it again with the “SMS Telephone” puzzle. I thought I would feature it this week in honor of that gathering I mentioned. You know, those “interesting, polite pals” of mine. It seems like as good a time as any to mention it, since it’s an “impossible, painful piece”.

Boxes and Booze 1/16/16 Boxes and Booze 1/16/16

Matchbox

Let's take a little excursion off the beaten path this time. In fact, it will be more like ducking under the roped off barrier and wandering in the off-limits area where we aren't necessarily supposed to go, only to find something very interesting.

A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles