The Sundial Group

Blending technology, art, and experience.

History

The Sundial Group, LLC was founded in 1991 by principals Chris Immel and Mikal Hart. The company was created on the principle of blending technology, art, and experience.

In 2008-9, Mikal invented and built the first Reverse Geocache Puzzle™ (an early version of the Quest Box™) as a wedding present for his longtime friend. Chris and his bride Christèle spent the next 10 months trying to solve it.

Foundation in Poetry

The Sundial Group borrows its name from a poem by the French surrealist Robert Desnos, which ends

I have dreamed of you so much,
have walked so much, talked so much,
slept so much with your phantom,
that perhaps the only thing left for me
is to become a phantom among phantoms,
a shadow a hundred times more shadow than the shadow
that moves and goes on moving, brightly,
over the sundial of your life.

Our Logo

Our logo is an imagining of the Desnos poem by the brilliant Seattle artist and illustrator Mike Curato.  The unattainable young lady, bathed in sunshine and casting shadow, has unwittingly become the gnomon of her own life-sundial, perched forever on and in the mind of her admirer.  The image invokes romance, time, yearning, intimacy, and the weight of ages.