Genoa couple launches puzzle company celebrating Michigan
GENOA TWP. — When Jenny and Clark Rasmussen needed to entertain themselves during pandemic lockdowns, they rediscovered their love for assembling jigsaw puzzles.
A few years later, the Genoa Township couple has launched So Puzzled Puzzle Co. — a new line of puzzles with Michigan locations and photographers, authors and local businesses.
Their first run includes four puzzles available at sopuzzled.com and at 2 Dandelions Bookshop in downtown Brighton. They recently delivered a shipment to Wharton Gifts at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts in East Lansing. They've also contacted independent bookstores and toy shops and donated to libraries in Howell and Brighton.
They plan to produce more designs that celebrate the state once they get the home-based business off the ground.
Clark said, when he was a kid, his family often had a puzzle going. The family still jokes about how he always insisted on placing the final piece.
"In the fall of 2020, Jenny had gotten me puzzles for my birthday and we just blew through them," he said. "We just started collecting more."
In 2021, the duo started blogging about puzzles. Clark, already an experienced blogger, said Jenny's posts are "more colorful" while he gets "analytical."
"We dreamed about doing our own puzzles," Jenny said.
The couple said they sought out puzzles with Michigan themes. They found one that incorrectly identified a Thunder Bay, Ontario, sign as being from Michigan and concluded the state should be better represented in the puzzle world.
"There’s so much more than the main things that come out of the state," Jenny said. "We wanted to elevate Michigan artists, authors and places."
One of their first puzzles features a photograph of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge between Hancock and Houghton, taken by their friend and local area photographer Kati Hook.
Another puzzle entitled "Oh My Cookies!" features cookies from Marion Township-based Cakes By Lynn on a towel from Brighton's Culture Beer and Cheese.
They were inspired to make another puzzle featuring novels by Josh Malerman, a New York Times bestselling author from Michigan who is known for writing "Bird Box," which was adapted into a Netflix film.
The fourth puzzle features a photograph of the St. Joseph North Pier, a place the couple enjoys visiting.
A launch party for So Puzzled is set for 4:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at Brewery Becker, 500 W. Main St. in Brighton.
— Contact reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Genoa couple launches puzzle company celebrating Michigan
