We were lucky to catch up with Danny Salzhandler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danny, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

In 1994 my wife Norma and I moved from Dallas to Cardiff By-The Sea, California. Norma had a job offer so I closed my conveyor company, packed up my welder and began sculpting terrariums and vivariums, art that contains life within. A gallery in the Gas Lamp district in San Diego accepted a small sculpture that included two Madagascar Golden Mantella frogs and I made my first sale. I was happy someone liked it enough make a purchase.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born in Houston in 1950. Like most kids I was very interested in snakes and frogs. I spent lots of time flipping rocks looking for what was underneath. In the mid-60’s as a teenager I volunteered at the Houston Zoo and worked in the reptile house. My first real life heroes were the zookeepers who worked with some pretty dangerous critters. Eventually, In 1968 I started working at the then very small Waco Zoo. It was a one-man reptile house and I learned a lot about presenting animals to the public in a natural exhibit that respected the occupants within. I was drafted in 1969 and was shipped overseas where I saw the natural habitat for many of the species I was familiar with at the zoo. After returning from the army and working again at the Houston Zoo as a keeper in the bird department, the tropical rainforest inspired me to later create sculptures that would enhance a more natural design of terrarium and vivarium. I met Norma in Dallas in 1973 and started a small company designing and installing conveyor systems. Lots of welding and fabricating. It wasn’t until we moved to Cardiff that I began creating sculpted terrariums and vivariums. Combining sculpture with plants, pumps, and lights in order to take proper care of the life within has been quite a learning process that is ongoing. In 2004 a customer decided they wanted steel animals instead of real and I sculpted stainless steel dolphins and a 5-ton steel mammoth for their namesake, which led me in a different direction.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After sculpting dolphins at two locations, the same customer then asked if I could create a 30-foot wooly mammoth. They had changed their minds from earlier wanting a 15-foot stainless steel and glass diamond shaped vivarium with desert lizards to wanting their namesake, the mammoth. Without giving it much thought I said “yes”. They gave me a 6 inch plastic Colombian mammoth they bought at a museum store and said that’s what they wanted. Lots of rain and mud in winter and blistering heat in summer together with pretty primitive tools created problems and setbacks that made me think I had taken on something I couldn’t do. Plus it required a daily drive to and from San Juan Capistrano. While the dolphins were a challenge because they were figurative, not just shapes and balance, the mammoth had a lot more body parts. However, the trust the customer had in me is what gave me the spirit to persevere. They gave me two good helpers and in 10 months their building was completed, and the 5-ton mammoth was finished on time, and they had a great grand opening. They even wanted a smaller mammoth in a second building across the parking lot.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I closed my construction company and moved to California, I didn’t know what would be next There are a lot of horses in the area we moved to so I capitalized on that and started making horseshoe hat racks. A neighbor asked if I could weld a handrail to his house made out of 1-1/4″ pipe. He gave me the leftover pipe and that became my first sculpted vivarium that I called biosculptures. My experience with reptiles and later on with steel and welding combined to send me in a new direction and create something I had thought about for years.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dannysalzhandler.com
• Other: email: [email protected]