We Quit Our Day Jobs To Make Unique Laser Engraved Art

my husband and I both quit our secure day jobs in the VFX industry to pursue our dreams of creating unique laser engraved pieces of art.

I was a freelance 3D animator in New York, about 2yrs ago the industry had a bit of a lull. I was in a unique position, my husband was working full time, so we were okay on money, but I still felt like I should be contributing. In my search for work I came across the art of a friend of mine, and thought it was absolutely stunning.

He had started his own laser engraving company, and was doing quite well. I asked if he needed any help with his business, he said yes as a matter of fact. From there he took me under his wing and taught me quite a lot, from working the laser, to cutting wood, to general business practice. I even started doing custom work for his business, I new this was it! this is what I want to do. After a year of working under my friend, he decided he was going to move across country…I was happy for him but sad for me.

What am I going to do now…I approached my husband and asked him what he thought about buying our own laser. He was hesitant, and rightfully so, they are not exactly what you would call cheap. In the end we decided to go for it. He loved it, loved learning about it, he had a wonder in his eyes that I haven’t seen in so long. He would stay up late after working 16 hour days just to create, and learn. We started small, I think we still are pretty small actually, but we started going to small conventions, and flea markets to see how our stuff would sell. It was like breathing new life into us, we were so unsure, but the more conventions we went to, the better we started doing, and the more we started getting recognition.

After this one convention we did so amazingly well, my husband said he wanted to quit his job to do this full time. I was scared, but I new if we really are going to make this work, we have to be in it 100%. So he quit, and we are broke, but we are happier then we’ve ever been. I feel like this is just the beginning, and we have so many ideas, and so much passion that I am not at all worried about our future, which is a strange thing to say when the steady paychecks stop coming in. We love what we do, and I hope it shows, we are SpitfireLabs. And this is just the beginning!

More info: spitfirelabs.nyc

We Quit Our Day Jobs To Make Unique Laser Engraved Art