Natural Puzzle

The Natural Puzzle is a challenging wooden jigsaw puzzle with no image to guide assembly. Each is one of a kind, so you will receive a puzzle similar but not identical to the one pictured. N-E-R-V-O-U-S System's goal was to marry the artistry of traditional, hand-crafted jigsaw puzzles with the possibilities of new technologies. Custom software simulates crystal growth to create an organic interlocking pattern. Their laser cutter translates this into a unique set of plywood pieces. These blank, image-less puzzles are extra challenging to assemble and also highlight the natural beauty of the wood.

To create the organic shape of the pieces, they designed a system based the simulation of dendritic solidification, a crystal growth process similar to the formation of snowflakes that occurs in supercooled solutions of certain metallic alloys. By varying the parameter space, it can produce a variety of cut styles. This series comes with a selection of figural pieces with the theme "Microscopic Life." Each puzzle is a veritable petri dish, teeming with special pieces resembling algae, diatoms, radiolarians, and other minuscule creatures.