Some wins happen fast. This one took two London tradeshows, a stack of follow up emails, a lot of patience, and one very good day in our inbox.
We're PieceHouse, a jigsaw puzzle brand out of New Zealand, and we want to tell you the story of how we've been working to bring our artist designed puzzles to the UK, even though we can't quite tell you everything yet.
How a New Zealand puzzle brand ended up in London
A couple of years ago we packed up our jigsaw puzzles and took them to London for the first time. Two tradeshows, two chances to stand in front of UK buyers and say "this is what we make, and here's why our puzzles are a bit different."
Every puzzle we make starts with a New Zealand artist. That's always been the heart of PieceHouse, artist designed jigsaw puzzles that feel more like a piece of art for your table and eventually your wall if you choose to frame your masterpiece. Standing in a London hall telling that story to strangers is a very particular kind of nerve wracking.
If you've ever done a tradeshow you'll know the feeling. Long days on your feet, the same thirty second pitch on repeat, and that particular kind of tired that only comes from smiling at strangers for eight hours straight. But you also get the good bits. The moment someone picks up a puzzle box, turns it over, and actually stops.
The proposals, the samples, and the long wait
Getting a buyer's attention at a tradeshow is one thing. Getting them to actually reply to your emails afterwards is another game entirely.
We sent a proposal. We waited. We sent a gentle nudge. We waited some more. We went back for the second tradeshow, said hello again, reminded them who we were. We sent samples, because nothing says "we mean it" quite like a physical puzzle landing on someone's desk.
Wholesale is a slow game and nobody warns you quite how slow. But we kept showing up, kept believing our puzzles were good enough to earn a spot on a UK shelf.
The email
And then, out of nowhere on a completely ordinary day, there it was. An email that started the way you hope they'll start, and by the time we got to the bottom of it we were both a bit stunned.
Our dream UK retailer said yes.
We're not ready to say who just yet. There's a bit of quiet behind the scenes work still to do before we can properly shout about it. But we wanted to share the shape of the story, because it's proof that the slow, unglamorous work of tradeshows and follow ups and samples in the post actually pays off.
Watch this space. It's coming.
Shop New Zealand jigsaw puzzles now, UK delivery available
You don't have to wait for a shop shelf to get your hands on a PieceHouse puzzle. Our full range, including 1000 piece and 500 piece jigsaw puzzles and our hexagonal designs, ships direct from within the UK to your doorstep. Shop the collection and be part of the story before everyone else catches on.
