“After my first year, I knew I wasn’t going to be a lawyer,” he says. Instead, he studied political science and art history at Stanford, and taught math and history before attending law school at CU Boulder. When Wirth went off to college, puzzles were not at the top of his mind. On family vacations to Crested Butte, he and Kelsey would stay up half the night competing with their parents to see who could finish a puzzle first. “My mom held them back from us because she knew they were fragile and valuable,” he says. “He would sometimes choose to stay inside and read these thick instruction manuals instead of coming out to play with me,” Kelsey says.īut it wasn’t until he was a teenager that Wirth first got a glimpse of his mother’s Falls Puzzles. He would spend hours sitting on the concrete floor of his parents’ basement playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends. As a child, Wirth gravitated toward games-solitaire, Stratego, chess-the more complex the better. “Growing up with a father in a position like that serves as inspiration to become your own person,” Kelsey says. Those who know Wirth never envisioned he would follow in his parents’ footsteps. “And it just wasn’t that enticing to me.” Chris Wirth and Jeff Eldridge in the early days of Liberty Puzzles. “I saw that world up close and personal,” he says. from the University of Colorado Boulder, Wirth had the credentials to do just about anything, including following his father into politics. A Stanford University graduate with a J.D./M.B.A. His younger sister, Kelsey, is the co-founder of Align Technology, the maker of Invisalign. His mother, Wren, is the president of the Winslow Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funds environmental causes. Wirth is an odd candidate for a puzzle maker. Now amid the coronavirus pandemic, Wirth is tapping into an increasingly receptive audience searching for screen-free, at-home activities to reconnect families and friends. As Liberty Puzzles grows, so does Wirth’s social messaging. Over the last 15-plus years, he has helped the company transform from a two-man outfit into one of the foremost puzzle makers in the country, using laser-cutting technology to create high-quality, modestly priced wooden jigsaws. Wirth, 53, started Liberty Puzzles with family friend Jeff Eldridge in Boulder in 2005. “I said out loud, ‘You know I bet if I could make and sell these for $100, there’d be a market for them,’” he recalls. On a trip to Puerto Vallarta in 2003, that would change. The antique jigsaws would come out on family vacations but disappear in the hustle of everyday life. For years, he rarely touched the wooden edges of his mother’s prized Falls Puzzles, which were hand-cut during the 1930s. Sign up today!Ĭhris Wirth’s puzzle-making journey may look familiar to those who have returned to puzzling during the pandemic. Just share on social using #glowforge so we can applaud your creation.The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. Want to show the Glowforge community what you’re creating? We’d love to see. Now print and puzzle! With Puzzle Maker, you can go from idea to finished puzzle in minutes. Drag your puzzle into place on your material and if you’d like, resize it.If you turn this option on, the workspace will keep both the artwork and the puzzle design. This setting is off by default, and your artwork will be replaced by the puzzle. Turn the Keep Original Artwork setting on or off.If you turn this option on, a frame and back will be created for your puzzle. Set how many pieces you want your puzzle to be by changing the value of rows and columns you want.On the toolbar that appears on the right, click the Puzzle Maker.In the workspace, click the artwork to select it.On the Dashboard, open the design you want to use.For best results, we recommend Proofgrade materials such as Plywood, Hardwood, Draft Board or Acrylic. Place the material you want to use on the printer bed of your Glowforge.Whatever design you chose, Puzzle Maker turns your design into an activity that anyone can enjoy. Create puzzles out of engraved photos, or challenge yourself to create an original design. When you use Puzzle Maker, exclusive to Glowforge Premium, you can easily turn any piece of art into a puzzle with just a few clicks. Want to create your own rainy day activity? With Puzzle Maker, it only takes a few minutes from start to finish.
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