Puzzle Over a Conversation Starter from this Nashville-based Company

True South Puzzle Company seeks out independent illustrators for the designs it prints on its jigsaw puzzles.

Despite the prevalence of computer and electronic games in recent years, solving old fashioned jigsaw puzzles has remained a fun, family-favorite activity.

The jigsaw puzzle market in the United States is expected to produce more than $1 billion in revenue in 2025. It is estimated that 48% of Americans purchase from three to six puzzles every year.

If you are a fervent dissectologist (a lover of jigsaw puzzles), the Alliance for American Manufacturing 2025 Made in America Holiday Gift guide highlights a Nashville jigsaw puzzle company that emphasizes scenes of the American South.

True South Puzzle Company offers 105 different puzzles, most of which celebrate many of America’s renowned outdoor locations. It is a woman-owned small business that sells most of its 500-piece puzzles for an affordable $27.95.

Susan Taylor launched True South Puzzles in 2013 after working on a puzzle during a vacation in which foul weather kept her indoors.

“We went on vacation, and the weather wasn’t great, so we bought a puzzle and worked it, and it wasn’t great either,” said company founder and owner Taylor. “I ran a picture framing shop for 35 years and I saw a lot of art and what folks were doing. Because of what I had seen coming through my store, I knew there were so many better ways to do this and I just started playing with it and saw how the industry worked.

“I finally came up with some designs and literally the first order that came in went into a storage unit like you would go and rent anywhere. I would sell them on my days off out of the back of my SUV to local small merchants. That’s how we got started.”

An inauspicious beginning for sure but as of today, True South has sold more than 90,000 of its puzzles this year.

The puzzles, which include designs such as national parks, holidays, American pastimes and adventures, and animals, birds and insects, are manufactured in Indiana. The design images are printed on blue board, a thick stock compressed board for easy, sturdy maneuvering.

“We use a slightly thicker board and some of these imported puzzles use a really thin stock that doesn’t get cut accurately,” said Taylor. “They’re not fun to work. If you use thicker stock like we do and get a good die on it and cut it properly, you get a nice click when you lock the piece in.”

The designs on each puzzle are created by artists and graphic designers across the United States.

“I hire independent illustrators so I spend a lot of time stalking Instagram, Etsy and Pinterest and when I find an artist I like and think that person would be perfect to illustrate an idea, I reach out to them and ask if they are interested,” said Taylor. “We support artists 100%. They are always independent. We pay them a certain amount for each design and we leave the rights to the design with that artist, which means I can only use that design on a jigsaw puzzle. We are trying to help them make more money and not take advantage of them.

“I’ve worked with artists all over the country and I’ve never met most of them. I wish I had that talent and creativity, but I don’t. I’m lucky that I know how to find people that do.”

The design photo is printed at the factory and glued to a thick blue board. The puzzle pieces are cut using a die that is being constantly replaced to preserve a fine, clean cut.

“The factory literally has a die that looks like a giant cookie cutter that you would use for a Christmas tree shaped cookie, but this is a giant metal die that is designed with all of the piece shapes in it,” said Taylor. “The people in the factory are literally picking up the puzzle one at a time just like you would put a pizza in the oven and slinging it in that machine. It’s stamping the puzzle out one at a time under tremendous force.

“The dies are changed. They are using the best, sharpest die they have on hand and they are wearing them out and replacing them constantly. When we run an order of puzzles, I’m ordering 10,000 at a time. If I order the same thing in two months, they are probably going to use a different die and it’s going to have a different cut.”

The images are printed on a matte finish so as to not cause eye trouble when staring at glossy puzzle pieces. The finished puzzles are 18- by 24-inches, which is a standard size suitable for easy framing. True South does offer a handful of larger 750-piece puzzles, which are 12- by 36 inches. The larger puzzles are to accommodate an image that is vertical in nature, such as the popular Appalachian Trail puzzle.

Other top sellers are the National Parks series and the Christmas-themed puzzles, one of which includes images of many classic Christmas movie sites.

“It’s a fictional map that includes the sites of Christmas movies, everything from ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ up to ‘Home for the Holidays’ and some of the more current ones,” said Taylor. “What’s fun about that is getting different generations around the table talking about their favorite Christmas movies. Kids have never heard of ‘Christmas in Connecticut’ or ‘White Christmas.’ They don’t even know what you are talking about.

“There are some movies that adults have never seen. ‘Die Hard’ is on there, which is a running joke because there is a constant struggle of is or is that not a Christmas movie (editor’s note: it is). It comes up every Christmas. In my mind it is a Christmas movie. People love to argue about it.

“That kind of encompasses what we are trying to do is make these family friendly and get people around the table talking about what they like and what they don’t like and remembering what they don’t remember. That’s part of the goal. A lot of these images are to start conversations.”

True South Puzzles donates revenue to many Nashville area charities and organizations including those supporting musical education programs for kids, the local animal shelter, national parks and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

True South Puzzles are sold at smaller mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar stores across the country. L.L. Bean and Barne’s & Noble carry a small selection of True North Puzzles. You won’t find the puzzles on Amazon, but you can shop from the company website at www.truesouthpuzzlecompany.com.