Forced to shut because of coronavirus, gallery owner turns photographs into ultimate lockdown activity

Between the bushfire smoke which confined Canberrans to their homes in December and January, and the coronavirus which forced them to return there in March and April, the foot traffic past his Kingston art gallery has fallen off a cliff.

But when the virus forced the gallery to shut altogether, the former military officer found a way to turn the government-mandated restrictions on social gatherings to his advantage. He turned his photographs into the ultimate lockdown activity - jigsaw puzzles.

"We don't want to be a passenger in this. We were thinking what can we do to get through to the other side and what would also be helpful and beneficial to people," Mr Leggo said.

The timing couldn't have been better. Their product launch came just hours before Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared jigsaw puzzles "absolutely essential items".

Mr Leggo sent Mr Morrison's office a puzzle by way of thanks for the endorsement. "We haven't heard back," Mr Leggo said.

But the response from customers has been massive. By far the most popular puzzle has been Sacrifice, based on Mr Leggo's shot of the Australian War Memorial.

"I'm not sure whether that's because of Anzac Day or because people think it's a challenging puzzle," Mr Leggo said.

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However there have been hiccups. Because the product had to launch so quickly, there was no time to build up stocks. As a result, there's been delays in getting orders out to customers of three weeks or more.

"The supplier in regional Victoria had over a year's worth of puzzle orders within two weeks," Mr Leggo said. "It hasn't slowed down for them. So the factory is massively under the pump but it's also had to deal with things like physical distancing."

However Mr Leggo deliberately chose to go Australian-made.

"There are some cheap puzzles you can get out there and we were adamant that whatever we did was a premium quality product. We wanted to be sure the puzzles reflected the quality of our other products and we think in the current environment people appreciate Australian-made," he said.

The gallery has now reopened after the restrictions on non-essential retail were lifted on Friday.

And while the profit margins on the puzzles are slim, Mr Leggo said he's looking to expand the collection.

"We aren't making a lot of money but something's better than nothing. The positive thing for us is people who haven't been clients before have become clients. The puzzles have exposed us to a far greater audience," Mr Leggo.