Hi, I’m Dana. I devised the idea to create illuminated laser-cut lamps during a period of creative stagnancy. I wasn’t sure what to do with my life, and my chosen path did not pan out. I wanted to prove I could make something beautiful and challenging, so I created Fire Lamp, the first in the Elemental Lamp series. Before starting Steel Cut Arts, I kept trying to fit into safe and comfortable roles. I believed everything would fall into place if I could get the right job.

Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we just keep hitting dead ends.

I kept being told that I needed more training, so I got more training. Then I was told I needed experience because, apparently, taking classes at a school where you have to interact with people of different backgrounds is a much different dynamic than interacting with people in an office. I began to feel like the Griswald family when they got stuck in that roundabout in European Vacation, except the attraction wasn’t Big Ben, but my hopes and dreams passing me by.

I didn’t know what I would do or what would come of my future. Eventually, my husband said, “Why don’t you do what you want to do?” At first, I had a hard time accepting this because I felt that I had to be able to stand on my own two feet without anyone’s support. However, the universe or whatever powers more significant than myself had other plans, so here I am.