Happily Puzzles are jigsaws made to make you smile. Combining high colour contrasts, award-winning illustrators, and a collage style, Happily Puzzles not only look awesome, but also provide an appropriate brain workout with an element of zen.
Happily was founded by Simon Avery, a Graphic Design graduate who went on to work for Esquire Magazine as a designer. 25 years on, and Simon has developed a love for branding and typography though his career working on books, branding, and everything in between. Today, he runs Happily, as well as doing the odd freelance design project.
“I’ve always thought I had a product in me somewhere, and when Covid struck, it felt like a good time to give it a go,” says Simon. He played around with art prints and wall planners for a while, before deciding on puzzles. He continues; “It’s been quite the rollercoaster, two brand name changes, and my kids were getting lost amongst the 6,000 puzzles stored in our house for a while (thankfully I have a fulfilment house now), factory change, a narrowly avoided legal issue with a Radio One DJ… But it’s looking like it’s been worth all the sleepless nights.” Happily Puzzles now have over 300 stockists globally, 13 designs, and lots of really exciting plans for the future.
Collaborating with award-winning illustrators and designers is key to Happily. Simon tells us; “I’m always on the look out for new illustrators (Insta/Blogs/Shops), I can just tell what will make a great puzzle”. As the business is still relatively new, he mainly licences existing artwork, but has produced a couple of designs from scratch. Ideas and inspiration for the puzzles can come from anywhere, from a piece of graffiti to a random object. Simon comments; “I have a few ‘rules’ for Happily artwork, it’s always collage style, lots of different elements, and it’s got to have typography (I love putting together text on a puzzle – probably because I’m a graphic designer).”
Thus far, Happily have collaborated with a multitude of illustrators. One artist that stands out for Simon is Georgia Bacon, who he started working with really early on in the process. Her Saucy puzzle was an instant hit with all of their customers, and she went on to produce another design, Beats. which was picked up by Oliver Bonas and is now in their stores UK-wide.
Sustainability is also at the heart of Happily’s ethos. In order to make their environmental impact as small as possible, they only use sustainably sourced paper, 100% recycled board and vegetable-based ink. Plus, for every puzzle sold, they plant a tree.
Happily are currently working on more 1000 piece puzzles with more amazing illustrators, plus some brand new projects in the pipeline, including a collaboration with People of Print!
www.happilypuzzles.com
@happilypuzzles
amazon.co.uk/happily
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