How We Got Here

DNR Signature Designs started with one simple conversation: we needed a hobby.

For Danielle, being creative wasn’t anything new. She had always been crafty growing up and loved making things with her hands. She began experimenting with chalk painting, then moved into vinyl T-shirts, tumblers, and other ways of turning an idea into something real.

Ryan’s creative side started a little differently. He picked up wood burning—pyrography—and after completing a few projects, quickly started thinking, “What else can I do?” Wood burning led to frosting mugs, woodworking, and eventually laser engraving.

The Hotel Room That Changed Everything

Our first laser wasn’t exactly a carefully planned business investment.

While traveling home from Pennsylvania, we stopped for the night at a hotel in South Carolina. We were pretty disappointed with the room, and Ryan ended up staying awake most of the night. Somewhere during that long night, he decided—on a whim—to buy our first laser machine.

A few days later, it showed up.

That machine changed everything.

The laser opened doors we hadn’t even considered. Suddenly, we could take the ideas in our heads and create things we couldn’t make before. As our skills grew and people became interested in buying what we were creating, we realized something:

If we were going to sell this stuff, we needed to start a business.

So we did.

DNR Signature Designs was born.

Whatever You Dream Up, We’ll Figure It Out

One of our first regular customers was a business in Jacksonville that ordered custom cake toppers. Some of the requests were pretty bizarre, but that became part of the fun. They came to us with an idea, and we figured out how to make it happen.

The customer was extremely happy with our work. Our products helped increase their sales, they became a repeat customer, and we built a relationship based on being able to deliver quality products within the turnaround time they needed.

And when we say deliver, sometimes we mean that literally.

There were times we drove about two hours to Jacksonville to personally deliver a $30 cake topper because our customer needed it.

Was driving two hours for a $30 order crazy?

Probably.

But they were our regular customer, we made a commitment, and we were going to make sure their order arrived on time.

That willingness to make it happen became part of who we are.

From One Laser to a Growing Business

Eventually, we outgrew our first laser.

We invested in a much larger 150-watt laser machine, which allowed us to cut thicker wood, work with more materials, take on larger projects, and create even better products.

Business was booming.

What had started as two people looking for a hobby had become a full-fledged business.

And through all of it, we had some very important people helping us along the way.

Our Q&A Department

Our parents were a huge part of our creative journey.

We jokingly called them our “Q&A Department.”

Whenever we made something new, they were the people we could show it to, ask what they thought, and count on for an opinion.

And we made them a lot of things.

Christmas ornaments. Cutting boards. T-shirts. Car window stickers. Vinyl decals. Wooden clocks. Personalized gifts. And probably more things than we could ever remember.

Many of the things we learned to make became gifts for the people we loved most.

Then life changed.

Ryan lost his dad in January 2023.

Danielle lost her dad in November 2023.

Then, in March 2025, Danielle lost her mom.

In a little more than two years, our Q&A Department was gone.

When Creating Became Personal

After losing our parents, making things didn’t feel the same.

So much of what we had created over the years was connected to them. But eventually, our grief also began influencing what we created.

We made wooden angel Christmas memorial ornaments for Danielle’s dad, just as we had done in remembrance of Ryan’s dad. Later, we made memorial pieces for Danielle’s mom as well.

Those projects opened our eyes to an entirely different side of what we could do.

We realized that when someone loses a person they love, sometimes they need something special to remember them by—and sometimes they need it quickly.

That’s where “we’ll make it happen” took on a completely different meaning.

Memorial creations became an important part of DNR Signature Designs. Our memorial lanterns in particular have become some of our most meaningful creations.

Knowing that something made in our shop could bring even a little comfort to another family made the work incredibly personal.

But there was another side to it.

When We Almost Walked Away

Making memorials while dealing with our own losses became difficult.

Grief caught up with both of us. Depression set in, our desire to create faded, and something that had once brought us so much enjoyment became hard to return to.

There was a point when Ryan wasn’t sure he wanted to do this anymore.

Then he thought about his dad.

Whenever his dad would call and ask what he was doing, Ryan might tell him about whatever project he was working on.

His dad would say:

“Ryan, what are you doing? Building your arts and crafts?”

Ryan could only laugh.

To Dad, it was still his son’s little arts-and-crafts hobby.

Meanwhile, that “hobby” had grown into a full-fledged business with professional equipment, customers, repeat orders, and more possibilities than either of us had imagined when we started.

Remembering those conversations helped put everything back into perspective.

More Than Arts & Crafts

Maybe Dad wasn’t completely wrong.

Underneath the lasers, heat presses, vinyl, wood, tumblers, shirts, orders, equipment, and business name, we’re still the same two people who started creating because we wanted something enjoyable to do.

The difference is that now our creations become part of other people’s stories too.

Some celebrate birthdays, weddings, businesses, teams, careers, accomplishments, and everyday moments.

Others honor someone who is no longer here.

Some are serious.

Some are sentimental.

And some ideas are so unusual that our first reaction is, “How in the world are we going to make that?”

Then we figure it out.

Because that’s what DNR Signature Designs has always done.

We take an idea and find a way to make it real.

Through the successes, the losses, the strange requests, the late nights, the equipment upgrades, the two-hour deliveries, and everything still ahead of us, the heart of this business remains the same:

We make things that mean something to people.

DNR Signature Designs
Custom. Creative. Made for You.