Boutique toy maker eeBoo expands adult jigsaw puzzle line with 'Votes for Women' salute to s
eeBoo puzzles, including its "Votes for Women--Leaders of the Suffrage Movement" adult puzzle, on display at NY NOW
Boutique toy manufacturer eeBoo has specialized in the children’s market for 24 years, but has found that its adult jigsaw puzzle line, introduced three years ago, has done so well that it has now created a new Piece & Love adult jigsaw puzzle division.
As company founder Mia Galison notes in eeBoo’s Piece & Love Spring 2019 catalog, putting together a jigsaw puzzle achieves mindfulness--“the insight that there is actually nothing we should be doing besides enjoying time spent with the people that we love, or alone, engaging in simple pleasures that don’t require a machine.”
At last week’s winter NY NOW home/lifestyle/gift market trade show at New York’s Javits Center, the centerpiece of eeBoo’s Piece & Love display was Votes for Women--Leaders of the Suffrage Movement. Due next month, the 500-piece round puzzle honors the 2020 centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment and women’s voting rights efforts with over 40 illustrations of women—and one man, Frederick Douglass—who were important figures in the suffrage movement. The puzzle comes with an informational poster, and a new companion product, a set of corresponding informational flash cards, is also available.
The Votes for Women puzzle follows the success of last year’s Women’s March! 500-piece round puzzle, which celebrated the one-year anniversary of the historic Women’s March on Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2017—the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The puzzle featured a colorful depiction of marchers and their protest signs from illustrator Jennifer Orkin Lewis, and was bordered by a quote from Gloria Steinem: “We are linked, we are not ranked, and this is a day that will change us forever because we are together, each of us individually and collectively will never be the same again.”
A portion of the proceeds from sales last October of the Women March! puzzles was donated to the RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) anti-sexual violence organization. With the release of Votes for Women, eeBoo is encouraging customers to register to vote and exercise the right those pictured in the puzzle fought so hard for.
“One small way we do this is by including a link to register in our email signature and in our marketing content,” said the company’s Samantha Bodamer.
Bodamer singled out another title that was showcased in eeBoo’s Piece & Love collection at NY NOW: Curiosity Cabinet of Facts. The 1000-piece puzzle was adapted from small collectible cigarette cards that were included in cigarette packs from 1875 to the 1940s and featured pictures of actresses, athletes, and other pop culture figures, or other artwork like scientific drawings, instructional diagrams and fun facts.
“Mia goes to fleas markets and found some!” said Bodamer, who noted that in 2016, a cigarette card of baseball legend Honus Wagner sold for $3.12 million.
With 11 new puzzles shipping now for spring and 10 more due for summer, eeBoo’s Piece & Love division will have 50 titles. The company name, incidentally, represents the phonetic spelling of hibou, the French word for owl. Galison thought it would be a playful word for families to say.