Puzzle artisan finds a perfect fit

John Madden is living the dream. He spends most days doing what he enjoys -- making puzzles that become collector items or family heirlooms.

Running Par Puzzle Co. Ltd. from the basement workshop of his Coram home is a second career of sorts for Madden. He was a professional paperhanger for 36 years before retiring his brushes and rollers four years ago, at age 55.

The Long Island puzzle designer, who turns 59 today, patiently stands for hours at a scroll saw, cutting hundreds of abstract shapes and figural silhouettes out of wood, one by one, to create some of the most highly sought after -- and expensive -- jigsaw puzzles.

"I enjoy being creative," says Madden. "It's only since I retired that I have a lot more time to focus on it. I can be a lot more creative now because I have a lot more time to design and put more work into it than I did when I was still working."

Madden was introduced to the craft while growing up in East Meadow. He was friends with the two oldest sons of Arthur Gallagher, who had worked under the tutelage of Par Puzzle Co.'s original owners, Francis Ware and John Henriques. They launched the Manhattan company in 1932, producing hand-cut, custom-made, wooden creations that they sold, or rented to enthusiasts who couldn't afford them. Their clients included some of the wealthiest business tycoons and Hollywood celebrities.

After Henriques died and Ware retired, Gallagher took over the business and relocated it in the 1970s to Massapequa. His three sons had no interest in carrying on the Par tradition, but Madden, who liked working with wood, did.

Gallagher was reluctant at first to share trade secrets with Madden, by then a full-time paperhanger, but eventually relented. "He saw that I had the ability to put the prints on the wood with such ease. That was how it started. I just kept coming more and more [to Gallagher's workshop], and he eventually taught me more and more."

After Gallagher died, Madden took over the company with help from Gallagher's widow, Peggy, who gave him everything that was left -- from the wood and prints to Par's client list and trademark silhouettes. "He deserved it. He enjoyed doing it," she says. "He does a beautiful job. I'm proud of him."

Picking up where his predecessor left off, Madden ran the puzzle company for 30 years out of his home in Wantagh before moving four years ago to Coram to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren.

Madden strives to maintain the same one-of-a-kind quality and craftsmanship practiced by his mentor. "It's very easy to make a difficult puzzle. Making a difficult puzzle is not as important as making an intricate, intriguing puzzle," he says. "You want the puzzle to be interesting, not just monotonous and tedious. You want to keep the puzzler's interest, but at the same time you don't want people to become frustrated or bored."

Madden cuts very much in the same style as his predecessors, says Anne D. Williams, an author of three books about puzzles, including "The Jigsaw Puzzle: Piecing Together A History," (Berkley Books, 2004). "I think anybody who enjoys puzzles will enjoy a Par puzzle. The craftsmanship, the artistry, the attractiveness of the images and the personalization -- that really makes them highly desirable."

Keeping with tradition, each of the interlocking pieces is hand cut from a mahogany veneer-backed, four-ply sheet of wood. The puzzles are known for their irregular edges and intricate figural silhouettes. Madden estimates he has more than 700 silhouettes in his collection, which come in myriad shapes, from animals to ballerinas to sailboats. Almost every puzzle contains a puzzle that forms its own image within the puzzle -- "a little gift" so the puzzlers feel they are making progress, Madden says. And in each Par puzzle is at least one sea horse, the company's mascot.

Madden has created jigsaw puzzles from Par's vast collection of old movie, theater and circus posters, along with vintage art prints amassed over the years. He also contracts with artists to use their works. In addition, customers commission him to make puzzles out of photographs or art prints they own. The puzzles have 500, 750 or 1,000 pieces and sell for $2.50 to $3 per piece. For an added cost, he can personalize them with names, monograms, messages or dates to honor special occasions.

Many of his customers order online (parpuzzles.com). The puzzles are shipped in Par's plain black box, with only a title and the time it should take an experienced puzzler to solve it. There is no description or picture of the finished image. "I love the fact that the people don't have any idea what it's going to be," Madden says.

"The name Par came about from the game of golf. As you will have par for a certain hole on a golf course, you have a par time for a puzzle," Madden explains. "This was established from the original owners of Par Puzzles. They were avid jigsaw puzzle assemblers as well as very good. So based on the subject and amount of pieces involved they would establish a par time. This was the amount of time they felt a good puzzler would need to complete a Par Puzzle."

That's part of the puzzle's allure, says self-described "puzzle nut" and Par client Barbara Mason, 67, of upstate Holland. "I like the challenge, and I like the fact I don't have a picture," she explains. "When you don't have a picture, it increases that [challenge]. And then, when it all gets together, it's, like, 'Wow! That's what it was!'"

Mason's husband has gifted her with 19 Par puzzles. The smallest are 300 to 400 pieces, and the largest is a 2,500-piece creation that's more than 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. She likes to work on them alone and during "Par Puzzle weekends" with her girlfriends. One of her favorites is a reproduction of "The Kiss," a painting by her favorite artist, Gustav Klimt; another, a scene with ladies wearing big hats and seated at a table, is titled "Fine Dine."

While an Internet search will yield the names of several companies in the country that make hand-cut, wooden jigsaw puzzles, including Stave and ELMS, as far as Mason is concerned Madden is a rock star in the puzzle-making world. "I sing his praise all the time. I so admire his talent. It's just unbelievable," she says.

Spring and summer months are slow for this puzzle man, but work shifts into high gear come early October, as holiday orders from some of his 400 clients start pouring in. "Come Christmas, I'm just overwhelmed," Madden says. "I could work from 8 [a.m.] to 8 [p.m.], seven days a week. I'm always working on puzzles, but in December I'm working nonstop."

Madden's son Justin, 30, who spent a year as his apprentice, also picked up the puzzle-making bug, but adds a modern spin. "I do more on the craft level," the elder Madden says. "He's doing more art-type puzzles and trying to show them in galleries and trying to bring in new people and new ideas."

But Madden is content turning out traditional wooden treasures. "That's the thing that I enjoy most," he says, "the fact that I can still stump the people and make something that's totally unique and one of a kind."