Daniel Proulx, Creator of The Wizard's Vault

Where It Began

As a child, I spent countless hours daydreaming about imaginary worlds, sketching monsters, inventing magical items, and playing D&D with friends. That passion never left me, and it’s what inspired me to become an artist.

My creative path was also shaped by the places I travelled and the cultures I encountered. One of the biggest influences came from the years I spent living and working in Japan, where I managed an English school. I became fascinated by the attention to detail I saw in art, design, packaging, and everyday objects. That appreciation for craftsmanship has stayed with me ever since.

2008: The Leap

In 2008, I was working in finance when I was told that the creative business I wanted to build would never work. Two days later, I quit to become a full-time artist.

My wife Catherine had recently learned wire wrapping, and her coworkers began asking to buy the jewelry she brought to work. We opened an Etsy shop called Catherinette Rings, and before long orders were coming in almost every day.

Becoming a Steampunk Artist

I began developing my own work, combining wire, gemstones, mechanical elements, and taxidermy glass eyes into a distinctive Steampunk style. I started with jewelry, but my practice quickly evolved into sculpture. The glass eyes became my signature, a defining feature of my work that remains instantly recognizable.

Just a year after I left my job, my Steampunk Beholder sculpture was exhibited at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, UK, during the first international Steampunk Art Exhibition. My work went on to appear in books, documentaries, exhibitions, and on actors and performers around the world.

• Exhibited at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford (2009), Kew Bridge Steam Museum, London (2011), the Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford (2011), and ODD BEAUTY: The Techno-Eccentric World of Steampunk at the Southampton Arts Center, New York (2017)
• My sculpture Steampunk Brass Spider illustrates the Steampunk article on Wikipedia in multiple languages
• Featured in The Art of Steampunk by Art Donovan
• One of my clockwork bracelet designs was purchased by Courtney Love
• My seraphinite ring was worn by Allison Scagliotti in Warehouse 13

A Lifelong Dungeon Master

I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons since 1987 and I’m still a Dungeon Master today, running the same campaign with friends that I started in the late 1980s.

One day, someone told me my sculptures looked like Modrons, which led me to research these strange clockwork beings from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons. That discovery brought everything full circle: my love for Steampunk, born from my love of D&D, had found its way back to its roots.

The Modron That Started It All

Eventually I created a Steampunk Modron dice tray and shared it online. A few months later, Wil Wheaton shared the piece on Tumblr and a wave of visitors arrived.

That moment planted the seed for The Wizard’s Vault. What began as an extension of my artwork gradually grew into a world of dice sets, illustrated storage boxes, accessories, magical objects, and strange little creatures created for tabletop players and collectors.

The Artifact Retriever

The Wizard’s Vault began in my own D&D campaign, as a hidden stronghold where powerful magical artifacts are kept safe. Those who know of it can reach its contents with magical tools called Artifact Retrievers.

In 2014, I brought the concept into the real world by creating a Steampunk Artifact Retriever. The first version was featured in the Steampunk episode of L.A.R.P.S. on Geek & Sundry’s YouTube channel in 2015, and was later exhibited in ODD BEAUTY: The Techno-Eccentric World of Steampunk at the Southampton Arts Center in New York in 2017.

The Wizard’s Vault Today

As the shop grew, Catherine left her career as a senior graphic designer in the fashion industry to join the business full time. She is an artist in her own right and plays a major role behind the scenes in shaping the visual identity of The Wizard’s Vault.

Today we work with human artists to create the illustrations, characters and worlds on our products. With the Wizard’s Vault and its evolving lore, I continue to blend my passions, using art to tell stories and bring magical worlds to life.

Through the Lens

Photography has always been part of how I see the world. Today I spend much of my time photographing wildlife, especially birds, from the woods around Montréal to the rainforests of Costa Rica.

My recent trip to Costa Rica took me to La Selva Biological Station, Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge, the Yatama birding route and Arenal, where I photographed toucans, trogons, hummingbirds, a three-toed sloth, an eyelash viper and a strawberry poison dart frog.

I’m now developing ideas that bring my wildlife photography together with the artists I collaborate with at The Wizard’s Vault, where real creatures meet fantasy.

See my wildlife photography at danielproulx.ca →

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