For years, Jasen Robillard and his wife, Heather, sat at their dining room table, completing beautiful jigsaw puzzles together. “It gave us an excuse to hang out, which, given how busy our lives are, we kind of need that reason to just not be busy,” he says. But high-end jigsaw puzzles are somewhat scarce in Canada and can be expensive to import, so Robillard decided to start making his own in 2017 in his Dalhousie basement.
With Canadian-made art printed on six-millimetre-thick wood and laser-cut into unique, thematic pieces, StumpCraft’s name reflects the difficult, yet enjoyable nature of the puzzles.
After selling nearly 2,500 puzzles made and packaged from his home, Robillard decided to establish a small factory shop in southeast Calgary in 2021. Today, people across the globe enjoy doing StumpCraft’s colourful and whimsical puzzles as a relaxing solo activity or for cherished time with loved ones.
“This ability to draw people together is a rare thing, and that’s one of the things that I appreciate the most about the work that we do,” says Robillard.
Bay D2, 6115 3 St. S.E., 825-540-4670, stumpcraft.com, @stumpcraft