Boxes and Booze 3/26/22 Boxes and Booze 3/26/22

The Fisherman’s Wish

Japanese Karakuri Creation Group artist Yoh Kakuda weaves magical tales in wood. Each wonderful creation tells a story, but some are simply more magical.

Boxes and Booze 2/12/22 Boxes and Booze 2/12/22

Love Arrow

“Love is a misunderstanding between two fools.” —Oscar Wilde

Boxes and Booze 12/25/21 Boxes and Booze 12/25/21

one, two, TREE

I’m celebrating the season this year with a perfect puzzle box from Japanese Karakuri Group artist Yasuaki Kikuchi.

Boxes and Booze 11/13/21 Boxes and Booze 11/13/21

Lighthouse Keeper

I have a fascination with lighthouses, and I’m not alone. There is something evocative about them, the lonely sentinel keeping watch, keeping an eye on the sea and offering a guiding light to the lost or weary traveler. The lighthouse guards us well, but, who guards the lighthouse?

Boxes and Booze 11/6/21 Boxes and Booze 11/6/21

Aquatic Bird Haniwa

Throughout the history of humankind we have been tied to the past, lavishly celebrating life with the ceremony of death and memory.

Boxes and Booze 10/2/21 Boxes and Booze 10/2/21

Apple

The image of an arrow through an apple, or any other manner of small object, is ubiquitous now and can be found everywhere – like here, in this wonderful puzzle box by Japanese master craftsman Akio Kamei.

Boxes and Booze 7/17/21 Boxes and Booze 7/17/21

Tornado

Master craftsman Akio Kamei, the founder of the Karakuri Creation Group of Japanese artisans, is famous for his ability to create pieces that tell a story. His work is prized for its novelty, beauty and ingenuity. It’s no wonder that he has been a source of inspiration and admiration for American artist Kagen Sound, whose own work is highly prized for similar reasons.

Steven Canfield 6/12/21 Steven Canfield 6/12/21

Surprising Drawer

So how does one create something actually surprising in a puzzling object? A set of drawers, for example. What is surprising about that? A plain set of three drawers, like this one, beautifully crafted and ordinary. No one would think twice about them, except for the fact that they come from the Karakuri Creation Group of puzzle box artisans.

Boxes and Booze 5/29/21 Boxes and Booze 5/29/21

Flaskolation

Japanese Karakuri Creation Group artist Yasuaki Kikuchi has been thinking about life in the pandemic for a while, and wanted his new creation to express his observations, his frustration, his belief in science, and his ultimate hope.

Boxes and Booze 4/3/21 Boxes and Booze 4/3/21

Something or Nothing

Popular opinions about the possibility of alien life suggests that our mysterious Universe-mates are either omniscient and wise, intent on contacting us to provide enlightenment, or just the opposite, hostile and violent, hell bent on killing us and taking our planet for their own.

Boxes and Booze 3/20/21 Boxes and Booze 3/20/21

Spring Camera

Hideaki Kawashima, a member of the Karakuri Creation Group of puzzle box artists located in Hakone, Japan, loves cameras. He is an accomplished amateur photographer, and has a fondness for vintage film cameras. He has even let his passion influence a few of his puzzle box designs.

Boxes and Booze 1/2/21 Boxes and Booze 1/2/21

A Long Wait

It is not the premise that reality

Is solid. It may be a shade that traverses

A dust, a force that traverses a shade.

- Wallace Stevens

Boxes and Booze 12/26/20 Boxes and Booze 12/26/20

Cheshire Cat

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where –" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

Boxes and Booze 10/24/20 Boxes and Booze 10/24/20

Apricot II

Should the east winds blow,

Carry to me the fragrance

Of apricot bloom;

And though your master is gone,

Never forget the springtime.

- Sugawara no Michizane

Boxes and Booze 9/5/20 Boxes and Booze 9/5/20

Siesta

There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled – Ovid

Boxes and Booze 5/16/20 Boxes and Booze 5/16/20

Coffee Cup

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Boxes and Booze 4/4/20 Boxes and Booze 4/4/20

Ursa Major

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

― Philip Pullman

Boxes and Booze 3/28/20 Boxes and Booze 3/28/20

Skunk Attack!

“Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.” - Henry David Thoreau

Boxes and Booze 3/21/20 Boxes and Booze 3/21/20

Zipp Chack

First you forget names, then you forget faces. Next you forget to pull your zipper up and finally, you forget to pull it down. – George Burns

Boxes and Booze 2/14/20 Boxes and Booze 2/14/20

Trunk

The trunk references a well-loved movie series known affectionately as “Tora-san”, about a kind-hearted vagabond who returns home to find his sister. He is a complete fool, and very unlucky in love.

A spirited journey through the world of collectible artisan puzzles