Ever since meeting in design school over a decade ago Nate and Damein have collaborated in one way or another. Pushing ideas back and forth, constantly refining them until they are just right. For the last 12 years it has always been a 2 man team.

Nate McCracken

Nate is the creative powerhouse and mechanical mastermind behind Curio's designs. He is constantly dissecting mechanisms and rethinking interactions in unexpected and incredible ways. Ever since his first design with Craighill, the Jack Puzzle, in 2017 Nate has been obsessed with mechanical puzzles and puzzle design. 

Damein Williams

While Nate has the the ideas, Damein brings them to life. Damein handles the technical side of things. Helping refine the details of each design, build prototypes, and work with factories to source and manufacture the designs.

Long ago, Nate made an iPhone note called “what makes a good puzzle.” This was after working on the Jack Puzzle and Venn Puzzle at Craighill. At the time, we were just starting to work on the Tetra puzzle.

That note listed ten fundamentals of good puzzle design and helped make the Tetra puzzle great (in our opinion). The list defines shape,
difficulty, story and many other concepts. It’s gone through some edits and we’ve found ways to bend some rules and break others. We still largely follow the same guidance on every puzzle we design.