Hi and thanks for stopping by!

My name is Clare and I'm a work from home Mum. I have 2 children, Abbie aged 5 and Liam who just turned 1. I live in a little Victorian country town called Allansford - at the end of the Great Ocean Road.

I hand craft personalised wooden name puzzles, custom made to order, using the finest raw materials available.  I started this business in September 2010, after over 10 years of working  in Quality Assurance both here in Australia and overseas.

While living in England, back in June 2009, my partner, 4 year old daughter and I discovered our son to be would be born with a major congenital heart defect, or most commonly known as a CHD.  1 in 6 children are born with a CHD. Our son, Liam, has Tetralogy of Fallot, which consists of 4 different defects within his heart. 

We decided that in order to give Liam the best chance of survival, we had to move back to Australia, before he was born. We made this decision, so that his surgery could be performed at the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital right here in Victoria, Australia.

Liam was born October 26 2009, and had his open heart surgery on February 18 at 3 & a half months of age.   He is now a happy healthy little boy. Liam will require more surgeries as he gets older, but his operation at 3 months of age saved his life - and changed our lives for the better.

Because of Liam, Platypus Puzzles was born. Once we moved back to Australia to have Liam, I knew I would need a career change in order to be flexible with Liam’s many ongoing appointments and surgeries.

Having an older child, and friends & family with children, I was a regular customer of Green Manor Toys, who among other things made beautifully crafted personalised wooden name puzzles. Sadly due to an illness, Green Manor Toys closed its doors.  Unable to find similar quality wooden name puzzles that were affordable, I soon realised Green Manor Toys closure left a large gap in the market for fine wooden personalised name puzzles.

I spent the next 7 months learning the process, completing Small Business Management and sourcing the finest raw materials, ready to open for business in September 2010.