How We Got Here

Our Story

How DNR Signature Designs Began

DNR Signature Designs grew from something we’ve always shared: a love of creating and figuring out how to turn an idea into something real.

For Danielle, creativity has always come naturally. Growing up, she loved making things with her hands. Over the years, that creativity expanded into chalk painting, vinyl T-shirts, tumblers, personalized gifts, and just about anything else she could find a way to customize.

Ryan’s creative journey started a little differently.

He began with wood burning, or pyrography. After completing a few projects, it didn’t take long before one question started popping into his head:

“What else can I make?”

Wood burning led to frosting mugs. Then came woodworking. And eventually, Ryan discovered laser engraving.

That’s when things really started getting interesting.

The Hotel Room That Changed Everything

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

We were traveling home from Pennsylvania and stopped overnight at a hotel in South Carolina. Ryan couldn’t sleep, so he started researching laser machines.

Somewhere during that long night, he made a decision:

He was buying a laser.

A few days later, one showed up.

And that machine changed everything.

Suddenly, we could create things we hadn’t been able to make before. We experimented with new materials, learned new techniques, made mistakes, figured things out, and kept pushing ourselves to see what else we could create.

Before long, people started asking if they could buy what we were making.

That’s when we realized it was time to make things official.

DNR Signature Designs was born.

Bring Us the Idea. We’ll Take It From There.

One of our earliest regular customers was a business in Jacksonville that needed custom cake toppers.

But they didn’t necessarily come to us with a finished design or tell us exactly what the topper should look like.

They would tell us what they needed it for, and then give us the creative freedom to take it from there.

We designed the topper.

Then they designed the cake around what we created.

That relationship was special to us because our work wasn’t simply the finishing touch on someone else’s design. What we created actually became part of the inspiration for the finished cake.

We would make something, send it to them, and then get to see how they took our creation and built an entire cake around it.

They loved what we created, their customers loved the finished products, and they continued coming back to us.

That experience helped shape something that is still at the heart of DNR Signature Designs today:

You don’t always have to know exactly what you want.

Sometimes you just have an occasion.

A theme.

A person.

A business.

A memory.

Or an idea that’s still floating around in your head.

Bring us the starting point.

We’ll take it from there.

And when timing mattered, we made sure we came through. There were times we personally drove nearly two hours to Jacksonville because an order needed to be there and we had committed to getting it there.

That’s the kind of relationship we want to have with our customers.

Not simply:

“Tell us exactly what to make.”

But:

“Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish. Let’s see what we can create.”

Sometimes our customers bring us the vision.

Sometimes they just bring us the reason.

Either way, we’ll figure out how to make something special.

From Our First Laser to Something Much Bigger

Eventually, we outgrew our first laser.

So, naturally, we went bigger.

We invested in a much larger 150-watt laser machine, opening the door to thicker materials, larger projects, more detailed creations, and possibilities that simply weren’t available to us before.

And we didn’t stop with lasers.

As DNR grew, so did our equipment, techniques, products, and capabilities.

Today, what we can create extends far beyond where we started. From laser engraving and woodworking to custom apparel, DTF printing, sublimation, personalized gifts, business products, memorial pieces, and more, we’re constantly learning something new.

But while DNR was growing, there were a few people behind the scenes who played a much bigger role than they probably ever realized.

Our Q&A Department

Our parents became what we jokingly called our “Q&A Department.”

Whenever we made something new, they were often the first people we showed.

“What do you think?”

Sometimes we wanted advice.

Sometimes we wanted an opinion.

And sometimes we probably already knew we liked it and just wanted them to tell us they liked it too.

They also became the recipients of a whole lot of our creations.

Christmas ornaments, cutting boards, T-shirts, car-window stickers, vinyl decals, wooden clocks, personalized gifts—and probably more things than any of us could ever remember.

If we learned how to make something new, there was a pretty good chance one of our parents was getting one.

At the time, they were gifts.

Today, many of them are memories.

Ryan lost his dad in January 2023.

Danielle lost her dad in November 2023.

Then, in March 2025, Danielle lost her mom.

In just over two years, our Q&A Department was gone.

When Creating Took On a Different Meaning

Losing our parents changed the meaning behind some of the things 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 created memorial pieces honoring Danielle’s mom.

Those projects showed us another side of DNR Signature Designs.

We realized personalization isn’t always about putting someone’s name on something.

Sometimes it’s about preserving a memory.

Sometimes it’s about honoring a life.

Sometimes it’s about having something in your home that reminds you of a person you never want to forget.

And sometimes it’s simply about creating something that says:

They were here. They were loved. They still matter.

That changed the way we looked at memorial creations.

Our memorial lanterns, in particular, have become some of the most meaningful pieces we make.

When someone asks us to create a memorial piece, we understand they aren’t simply ordering another personalized product.

They’re trusting us with the memory of someone they love.

We understand what that means because we’ve been on the other side of that loss ourselves.

And we don’t take that trust lightly.

Dad’s “Arts and Crafts”

There’s one memory that still makes us laugh.

Whenever Ryan’s dad would call and ask what he was doing, Ryan might tell him about whatever project he happened to be working on.

His dad would respond:

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

Ryan would laugh.

It apparently didn’t matter how sophisticated the equipment became or how complicated the projects were.

To Dad, Ryan was still down there doing his arts and crafts.

Meanwhile, those “arts and crafts” kept getting bigger.

The equipment became more advanced.

The projects became more ambitious.

Customers became repeat customers.

Our capabilities continued expanding.

And DNR Signature Designs continued growing.

Maybe Dad wasn’t completely wrong, though.

We still create things with our hands.

We still experiment.

We still get excited when something we imagined finally becomes something we can hold.

And we still occasionally stand in front of a project, look at each other, and wonder:

“How in the world are we going to make this?”

Then we figure it out.

The arts and crafts just got a whole lot more serious.

What DNR Signature Designs Means Today

Today, DNR Signature Designs creates personalized products for all kinds of people and moments.

Birthdays.

Weddings.

Businesses.

Teams.

Careers.

Accomplishments.

Celebrations.

Memorials.

Gifts.

Inside jokes.

And sometimes simply because somebody has an idea they really want to see come to life.

Some creations are sentimental.

Some are serious.

Some are funny.

And some requests make us look at each other and say:

“Okay…how are we going to pull this one off?”

Those are often some of the most fun.

Because DNR has never been about simply putting a design on a product and sending it out the door.

We want to know what you’re trying to create.

We want to understand what you’re trying to accomplish.

And if you don’t know exactly what the finished product should look like yet?

That’s okay, too.

You don’t have to walk through our door—or send us a message—with everything figured out.

Bring us the idea.

Bring us the occasion.

Bring us the person.

Bring us the story.

Bring us the reason.

We’ll help figure out the rest.

Your Idea. Your Story. Made Personal.

Through the unusual requests, late nights, new equipment, road trips, successes, losses, lessons learned, and everything still ahead of us, the heart of DNR Signature Designs remains the same.

We’re still Danielle and Ryan.

We’re still creating.

We’re still learning.

We’re still trying things we’ve never done before.

And we still love that moment when something that started as an idea finally becomes real.

Because behind every custom creation is something.

A person.
A memory.
A celebration.
A business.
A team.
An accomplishment.
A story.

And that’s the part that matters most to us.

You bring us the idea. We’ll figure out how to make it real.

At DNR Signature Designs, we don’t just make personalized products.

We make things that mean something.

And after everything we’ve created side by side over the years, there’s one other thing we’ve figured out:

People who craft together, stay together. 😂❤️

— Danielle & Ryan
DNR Signature Designs

Custom. Creative. Made for You.