Lee Krasnow began designing and manufacturing puzzles as a hobby when he was 11 years old, and has been doing it professionally under the Pacific Puzzleworks brand name since 2001. Several of Lee’s original puzzle designs have received prominent awards in international design competitions, and his work has been on display in art galleries & museums, featured in books & magazines, used as props for TV & movie production, etc.

In addition to manufacturing puzzles at his own facility in Portland Oregon, Lee has worked as a CNC Machinist at Diamond Tool & Die in Oakland California for 5 years, and was Artist in Residence at Autodesk’s Pier 9 Workshop in San Francisco for 2 years. Lee’s preferred mediums are wood, metal, and plastic, which he works with a mixture of manufacturing methods that combine traditonal workshop machinery with CAD/CAM, laser cutting, 3D printing, and custom built robotic automation systems. Lee’s passions include multi-axis CNC machining, workholding design, sailing, snowboarding, backpacking, rock climbing, archery, playing music (cello, banjo, guitar, piano), singing, dancing, reading, writing, and pondering the meaning of life.

Artist’s Statement

I find great beauty in mimicking the perfection of mathematics to the degree that it is attainable in this imperfect world, not only as a testament to the elegance of the underlying geometry, but also from the pleasure of playing with a precision mechanical device.