Women's History Month: Jiggy Puzzles features, supports female artists
Kaylin Marcotte first came to love puzzles as a child, but it was while working at a startup in 2015 that she returned to her old love.
And five years later, Jiggy Puzzles is supporting female artists and providing, as they say, puzzles worth framing.
"I kind of rediscovered puzzles as my nightly unwind," Marcotte said. "And I was doing them every night to get away from technology."
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She appreciated the calmness the puzzles gave her but yearned for more than the selection on the market.
"I just kept thinking, why do these all look the same?" she said. "They all kind of look outdated."
That's how she gave birth to Jiggy in 2019. The female founded company, with all females on staff, began just months before COVID-19 -- which happened to be perfect timing.
"People were at home looking for activities, stressed, looking for stress relief," Marcotte said. "I had months of inventory that I sold out of in weeks, so we rushed back into production."
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They had to be inventive, running into supply chain issues like so many businesses. But Marcotte knew how to put the pandemic pieces together.
"I had an idea, and I got blank white puzzles made so the pieces were cut but there was no image painted on top," she said. "We disturbed those to our artist, who hand painted and hand drew directly on to these white puzzles and created a one of a kind art on a puzzle."
She raised money for city pandemic relied and also for artists who were without any outlet as galleries and exhibits were closed -- even running a second fundraiser with celebrity paintings.
Marcotte says she thrives off of lifting up women with her puzzles.
"Each one is by a female artist," she said. "We do profit sharing with them, so they receive a percentage of every sale directly."
And hopes she can provide others with the same lessons, that putting the pieces together teaches her every day.
"Patience and delayed gratification, and zoom in and see the details," she said. "But don't forget to zoom out and see the big picture.
For more information, visit JiggyPuzzles.com.
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