Hello new friend, thanks for stopping by! My name is Candice and I’m a creative here in the Midwest, Iowa. My story as an artist became a happy “accident” and it has been a winding road ever since!

As a child I was always creative, always drawing and scribbling. Little did I know it would come in handy later in life! After finishing college and taking a job in corporate America, I felt that tugging back to the creative parts of myself and after purchasing my first home for my daughter and myself, I decided to take matters in my own hands. I watched a few videos on YouTube on how to hang up curtains with drywall anchors and after one trip to Home Depot to buy my first drill and putting that knowledge to use, I was hooked! I was hanging up anything I could find! I began spending hours on Pinterest and social media learning everything I could on how I might accomplish all the designs I had spilling out of my head and began sketching like crazy! It was then that I decided to leave corporate America and change career paths to work in sales for an Interior Design firm that seemed to fit more in line with my passion. Colors, textiles, and design. SAY WHAT?! Yes, everyone thought I had lost my mind. A single mother working for a solid company with amazing benefits to leave for a completely new industry and career path? CRAZY! I just knew that I had to leave and while it was the scariest move of my life, it has been the most rewarding decision I have ever made.

From that point on I began immersing myself into the design world learning from those around me about color theory, thinking outside the box, and bringing a customer’s vision to life. This began the “itch” that has never quit and before you know it I picked up a miter saw and started making designs on my own from scratch. As an independent and free-spirited person, I cannot tell you how much confidence and joy it brought into my life to take design into my own hands with woodworking. I looked for anything that I could fix, upcycle, or turn into a new design and I quickly became known in the office as “that girl” that would take anything headed for the trash (yes, I was pulling things back out of our firms dumpster). Discontinued fabrics, bases to chairs that needed new tops, scratched and dented home accents; ANYTHING! This is where “Remnant Design” was born, my hobby turned side business in my local town where I was able to gain traction by showing my work through local markets. This became my new creative outlet as well as a way for me to continue putting my daughter through school with a private education. It was through these pivotal moments that my daughter and I began showing my work together at markets, hauling in the middle of the night to set up, and taking product shots in my living room on my little android phone to market with. We used whatever we had available! My daughter was a God-send to help me get my start, I just couldn’t have done it without her. We were in it together just the two of us and it taught her a valuable hands-on lesson about putting your hands to something and going after what you want. It brought us closer together than ever. It also may have contributed to her strong aversion for fabric stores and lumber supply yards!!

Since then, Remnant Design has morphed into “Candice Luter ART + HOME” where new emerging designs have the opportunity to have their own voice. I've since stopped doing markets to spend more quality time at home with my daughter and Etsy was the perfect avenue to do just that while still marketing my work. I get the opportunity to go beyond the walls of my hometown to reach other designers, beautiful homes, and commercial spaces to bring a little of me into a new space. Having my work out there as an extension of myself has been such an honor and it is truly a blessing to interact with so many different people from different walks of life. Continuing to grow my brand on Etsy has stretched me both personally and professionally and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

As I still continue to “dream up” new designs I also make sure to take time mentoring with a local design college, serve as a panelist for an entrepreneurship series at our local university, and in addition work to support and promote local artists and makers in the area. My goal as I continue to grow is to find new avenues to help promote other talented people in our area and find ways for them to use their voice and stretch their skills as I have had the opportunity to do. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll have my own retail space to bring all of these dreams together to have a design hub to give back to so many people who helped me get started from a dumpster to a dream. The design road less traveled…thanks for joining me on my journey.