Bazaars, Bombay locals, dancers, dreams: How does one make 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles? Ask Surabhi Banerjee

 

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Since she opened shop in 2020, when the pandemic had just hit, the architect had started to think about her next steps — a process that emerged in tandem with her anxiety and increasing fatigue with screens. That journey led her to solving jigsaw puzzles. “It was almost impossible to worry about anything else when I was lost in a puzzle. When doing a particularly garish and uninspiring puzzle, though, I realised that too often, the artwork gets in the way of its meditative qualities,” she says. 

This marked the beginning of the architect’s longest problem yet: figuring out how to make her art solvable.

The frenzied energy of a Mumbai local, memorialised in a puzzle. (Credit: Artist)

Piecing things together

Banerjee has worked on several projects, and not just private commissions — her art is on Hershey’s chocolate bar wrappers, KFC buckets, MUBI and film festival posters, Naturals ice cream cups, album covers and more. So one might think, glancing at her website, that she’s eased into it. 

But the “hair-rising gargantuan”-ness that she so treasured in the solving process only seemed to intensify when she first set out to get her own puzzle made. “It was one of the hardest things I had taken on in my life… there are multiple fronts that one has to be careful about.”

‘Attakatha’ by Surabhi Banerjee. The puzzle showcases the folk music and dance of Kerala. (Credit: Artist)

“A lot of mass manufacturing jigsaw puzzle companies I spoke to, in the beginning, said it was impossible to get these made the way I wanted to and in the quality I wanted them in,” Banerjee recollects.

“In the end, I found someone who had never worked with puzzles before… There is the dye that needs to be made, the puzzle board of just the right thickness and density that needs to be finalised, the print quality and lamination that might come off if not stuck properly, the cutting of the pieces with equal pressure, so that they are seamless,” she lists off the top of her head. “Fortunately, he did a marvellous job and working with him was the right decision, considering that I was a tough quality control pesterer,” she says. She recalls “swallowing bucketfuls of stress and anxiety”, learning that “nerves are part of the process”, and the warmth of the support of her early followers. To those starting out,  the artist advises, “Find the right people to help you — even if it takes a year.”

 

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From social media polls for followers to tell her what they want to see, to her focus on “culturally rich backdrops” in puzzles, so that they are enjoyable solves, jigsaw puzzles have clearly never been just a solitary activity for Banerjee. No figure in her art is “alone” or steals focus — they are all, always, in conversation with each other — even as objects.

“Before I start sketching, I spend some time formulating the narrative behind the artwork and collecting images. Most of the time, I have precedents in mind: a beautifully designed interior from a magazine, or animal drawings in an old science book… I seemed to always start with an interesting space and then work out how to fill it, who would occupy the space and how.  It is like imagining the personal interiors of each of my characters.” 

For the first time in a while, this author doesn’t mind a sensory overload. 

This story is by Express Puzzles & Games, our hub for brainteasers. We invite you to explore our crosswords, quizzes and thoughtful themed games here.