To Puzzle is To Create

An analogy for contemplation.

When writing about our January 2026 music curation for CP Radio, I compared one possible purpose of the music to that of a corner puzzle piece. While I am no expert, and barely a puzzler even on occasion, I have been researching the act of puzzling and have discovered several relevant applications between the best practices in puzzling and the way projects, assignments - our work - can be pursued. So, I would like to dive deeper into puzzles, specifically the process of piecing one together, and its parallels to the way we may go about our lives.

There are levels of expertise to every discipline and hobby, no matter how small or unassuming - this is no secret - and puzzles are a fantastic example of this. Known to many as a captivating, meditative means of passing time where one’s brain quiets as it is immersed in a sea of geometrically aligned cardboard cutouts, puzzling is also a hobby with highly optimized processes and strategy. A puzzle’s inception is first catalyzed by dumping hundreds, sometimes thousands, of disorganized shapes into a massive pile on top of a preferably clean and expansive area of flat space. It can feel daunting, overwhelming even, to visualize how this grand mountain of colors, curves, and edges could ever be pieced together to create the final image on the box. This feeling of intimidation is akin to what I experienced when receiving an essay assignment with no prompt for the first time in school, or to facing a problem in our business with a clear resolution, but with an incredibly vague set of solutions to get there.

The pieces in our puzzle - our talented family of Tibi Close Friends artists

The next step in our puzzle process is to set up and sort, flip all pieces right side up, give yourself an opportunity to view the full scope of the challenge at hand, every single piece. Taking in the good, the bad, and the ugly. In life this would be analogous to the accumulation of everything at one’s disposal that will be needed to get over the finish line - all the numbers, all the data, all the research. Everything. Once we have an understanding of the full data set, all of the pieces in the puzzle, we can begin to organize by grouping straight edged pieces, colors, and patterns all the while noting the problem children, the easy fixes, the issues for later, and those for the present. In business, this may take form as kinks in the supply chain which could be resolved by eliminating the cumbersome middleman, or as technical design mishaps whose solution lies in the sourcing of a new manufacturer, which will rely first on building new production relationships - problems with some solutions now, and some that will come later.

The frame, literally.

Now that we have a coherent grasp on the pieces at our disposal, we can start to build the frame, the boundary within which all our subsequent work will reside. This is the structure, the true outline that will inform where our solutions are placed, and when to tackle them. This is also the most attainable first action as boarder pieces are more easily identifiable because of their uniquely straight edges, unlike the irregularly shaped common pieces. Building the frame declutters our work station, informs every successive move we make, and is naturally the reference point for all decisions: the dos and the don’ts - will it fit within the frame? Yes, okay let’s do it. No, okay move on. In some ways the frame is representative of our principles that we check and balance our goals and decisions against, for without it we would be lost. Of course, one could build a puzzle without first completing the frame, but it would be much harder and far more stressful an experience, similar to life without principles.

The actual shoot, the middle of the puzzle

Now that our frame is complete, we can get into the fun stuff, the meat in the middle that will ultimately make the project whole. Larger, more identifiable sections first, then the smaller, more manageable ones. In a campaign, this is the part where we get to take the photos that will make up the final editorial asset folder. We’ve built the set, determined the lighting and creative direction, and now we shoot, tackling the important scenes first, and allowing creativity to brew in between the lines. Without having built our frame first - a clear creative direction, voice, and artistic reference - we would be shooting blindly, which is great for street photography, but not for the complex puzzle that is a luxury creative campaign at large.

The complete puzzle - the final images, selected, edited, and connected.

Finally, we arrive to the last steps, connecting the large and separated sections of our puzzle to each other as we add the finishing touches to the areas still missing a piece or two. This is the editing process in post, the salt and garnish on the entrée sitting in the window at the chef’s pass, the aggregation of subtotals in the expense report. I could go on here, for a while, but out of respect for all of our time, I’ll close with an important note on the “frame”. This article originated with learning about the frame building process. It is the pivotal first step, and the principles under which all of our puzzles operate. Without it, a puzzle is a pile of misaligned shapes and colors that have the potential to be great, but will unlikely reach it. The frame is not always fun to complete, but it is necessary. It lays the anchor so that we can jump and begin to swim without our boat sailing away. There is a frame in everything, though it may not always be obviously apparent, that once is found, from which all shall flow.