Laser-Cut Puzzle: A Tessellated World Map Inspired by Our Origins

For our BIOE 555 laser-cutting assignment, our team wanted to create something that felt personal while still drawing from the generative-design inspiration of Nervous System. After brainstorming , we landed on a concept that combined both a world map puzzle, with each of our home countries (Nigeria, the Philippines, and India) turned into personalized, standout puzzle pieces.

Design Concept

We were inspired by the idea of tessellations. World maps are naturally segmented into shapes that interlock, and we pushed this idea further by stylizing the continents and country borders so that the edges resembled repeating geometries. Instead of traditional jigsaw “tabs” and “slots,” we customized tessellated forms repeating angles with individual pieces that alternate between planes and boats.

With this world map we included each of our personalized pieces of our countries of origin. We exaggerated their shapes, changing around the country placement, and merged them with the shapes of the puzzle pieces so that Nigeria, the Philippines, and India would visually pop without breaking the overall cohesion of the tessellation pattern.

From Digital Design to Laser Cutting

We started by finding a texturally diverse image of a world map and edited the color scheme to be black and white, increasing the contrast between the light and dark areas (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Image of world map

Once the main geometry was set, we subdivided the continents into puzzle-sized regions that felt balanced but still irregular—another nod to the dendritic, generatively inspired cuts used by Nervous System.

Creating the Puzzle Geometry in Adobe Illustrator

One of the most important parts of this project was designing the actual puzzle pieces. We didn’t rely on an automatic puzzle generator. Instead, we crafted our own geometry by adapting an existing tessellation pattern. We found an image of a tessellated puzzle whose pieces took the shape of small fish and a boat (Fig. 2). We imported this reference into Adobe Illustrator and lowered the opacity so we could build on top of it.

Using Illustrator’s Pen Tool, we traced each fish-shaped piece, but instead of simply copying the structure, we treated it as the base geometry for our custom plane piece. Because tessellations rely on repeated patterns with smoothly interlocking boundaries, this tracing step helped us maintain this characteristic.

To personalize the tessellation style, we modified the traced shapes to resemble planes instead of fish. This involved reshaping the “head” of each fish into a plane nose and cockpit curve, extending certain edges into wing-like angles, and creating tail sections that still maintained tessellation continuity.

Fig 2. Image from Brown University Math department showing an example of tessellation pattern with fish and boat

Tessellated puzzle pieces with the overlay of individual countries

Once the plane-shaped tessellation unit was finalized, we cloned and arranged it across the outline of our world map. We Laid out repeated plane/boat-shaped pieces in a grid and clipped them using the continent outlines so each piece fit naturally within the borders.

Laser Cutting & Post-Processing

Before we cut anything, we ran a small calibration test. To do so we created a 1” × 1” square with an engraved center to dial in our settings. Through a few quick iterations, we checked depth, speed, and burn quality until we found the engraving parameters that produced clean, crisp lines without excessive charring (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Epilog Fusion Pro settings for engraved image on wood

Finished Engraving of World Map Image on Wood

This test saved us from over-engraving the actual map later. Because alignment was critical, we engraved the world map outline first before cutting any pieces. Once the engraving finished, we placed the puzzle-piece .ai file on top of it in the Laser Print Job interface, lining up the plane-shaped tessellations with the map boundaries. This part took several attempts because the laser’s trace preview can shift slightly; we had to nudge the placement repeatedly, watching the printer’s head movement as it traced over our reference marks.

Figure 4. Full Puzzle post laser cutting of individual pieces

After a few micro-adjustments, everything aligned and matched the engraved continents. Once the alignment was perfect, we ran the vector cut. The plane-shaped tessellation meant every boundary had to be extremely precise and no kerf adjustment was needed because of the already established small kerf of the laser.

Transferring the Puzzle Without Losing the Arrangement

Because the puzzle was cut directly inside the laser bed, we needed a method that preserved the entire layout when removing it one by one from the laser bed (Fig. 5 ). Here’s how we handled it:

We covered the entire puzzle surface in painter’s tape, pressing it down so that every piece adhered.
We gently slid a sheet of laminated paper underneath to keep the puzzle from shifting as it lifted.
This allowed us to transfer the full cut puzzle as one single unit, maintaining the exact arrangement.

Figure 5. Using non-residue tape to transfer the entire puzzle from the laser bed to the table

Figure 5. Using non-residue tape to move the entire puzzle from the laser bed to the desk in one piece. — Sliding the laminate paper under the puzzle to ensure no pieces are left behind.

However, the painter’s tape was now covering the front of the puzzle, so once we had it safely on the desk, we:

Flipped the whole assembly over
Taped the back side for stability
Removed the original front-facing tape so the engraved map reappeared

This gave us a fully intact puzzle with the correct orientation and the engraved continents visible on top.

Challenges & What We Learned

Irregular shapes such as countries can have both large and small pieces so it is important to ensure that the small pieces are not so small that they are then difficult to handle.
Designing tessellations manually is surprisingly fun, you get to think like a mathematician and an artist at the same time.

Cost Analysis

Item / Component	Description	Quantity / Time	Unit Cost ($)	Total Cost ($)
3 mm Plywood Sheet	Material used for puzzle pieces	1 sheet	10	10
Painter’s Tape / Transfer Materials	Used to hold and lift pieces	1 set	5	5
Material Subtotal				15
Laser Engraving Time	Map engraving	0.25 hours	50	12.5
Laser Cutting Time	Puzzle piece cutting	0.50 hours	50	25
Machine Subtotal		0.75 hours		37.5
Design & File Preparation	Illustrator/editing time	3 hours	30	90
Setup + Test Cut	Machine alignment & calibration	0.5 hours	30	15
Transfer + Finishing Work	Removing, cleaning, sorting pieces	1 hour	30	30
Labor Subtotal		4.5 hours		135
Misc. / Scrap / Re-cut Buffer	Extra material allowance	Flat	10	10
Total Estimated Cost				197.5

Final Thoughts

This project ended up being more meaningful than we expected. Instead of creating a purely abstract generative puzzle, we made something that reflects where we come from and how our paths converged in this course. By blending tessellation-inspired geometry with personal cultural mapping, our puzzle became a small, laser-cut version of our team identity.

Cleaned up station

Team: Derin, Isa, and Mouna