Our Story

Kris Hale, Founder of Dope Pieces Puzzle Company

 

Kris Hale is the founder of Dope Pieces Puzzle Company, a brand that celebrates and affirms diversity through art and puzzles. She has been an avid puzzler since she was five years old, with many friends and relatives sharing in her love for this pastime. However, there was always one issue - finding images that reflected diverse experiences and cultures proved to be quite difficult.

As Kris continued working on puzzles, her love for art grew. While appreciating all forms of art around her, it became apparent that there was very little representations or inclusion within the puzzle industry despite consumers spending millions each year. Based on this realization she decided to use puzzles as a vehicle to connect artists that needed more visibility for their work to the puzzling community who craved more representative puzzles, thus Dope Pieces Puzzle Company was born.

 Hale hopes the company will play an integral role in the New Black Renaissance that is being driven by an intentional cultural shift. A shift that is steeped in economic empowerment through conscious consumerism, and driven by a new mandate that says, “We will be visible and will support brands that affirm and feature our full existence.”

 The mission for Dope Pieces Puzzle Company is to produce puzzles that are visually stimulating, unique, beautiful, and culturally inclusive.  We will showcase the work of talented Artists of Color that positively represent the Black and Brown diaspora.

 

"I was 17 when I fell in love with art, I remember where I was standing the moment, I understood that it was more than colors that created a pretty picture. It was thoughts, and feelings and it told a story. I love the emotion and stories held in each and every piece. Dope Pieces is the story of us. Beautiful, Black and Brown US. Our images, our culture across the diaspora, and our stories and the things that make us special and beautiful. I do not just sell puzzles; I sell art that tells the story of us. I just do it piece by piece."    

 - Kris Hale, founder of Dope Pieces Puzzle Company