The last Responder - Forged in Flames

From Ashes to Art: The Story of a Savage Soul

by Dino — Founder of Reliquiae Studios

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There was a time when I didn’t believe in tomorrow.

When the nights blurred into years, and every mirror I looked into showed a stranger staring back. I grew up fast, but not strong — not yet. I lost both my parents before I ever got a chance to really know who I was supposed to be. When that kind of loss hits you young, it doesn’t just break your heart — it bends your whole compass. You stop asking why me and start saying screw it.

That’s where my life took me — the wrong places, the wrong people, the wrong roads.

I dropped out of school in the sixth grade, thinking I was grown, when really I was just lost. The streets became my education. Drugs became my escape. I was chasing numbness, running from ghosts I couldn’t name. I’ve been locked in cells. I’ve sat in silence with my own demons. I’ve seen what it looks like when the world gives up on you — and worse, when you give up on yourself.

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🔥 Pain Can Be a Teacher — If You Let It 🔥

The same fire that burns you can forge you, too.

Somewhere in all that chaos, the universe threw me a strange kind of lifeline: the death care industry. Working in the mortuary, being there in those homes with families who’d just lost someone — it hit different.

Death stripped away all the noise. There was no pretending, no ego, no hustle — just raw humanity. I realized I’d been surrounded by death my whole life, but this time, I could give something back to it.

The first time I was leaving a families home with their loved one, someone who meant the world to these people. And they are in tears thanking me so much to the point I didn't know how to feel, I just know it felt better then any high, any drug, this was raw love and emotion, I finally did something to be proud of, something my parents struggles weren't for nothing. I finally gave back to the world, and now I knew what I was suppose to do. 

 

The first time I handled a fingerprint pendant, it wasn’t just jewelry. It was a legacy pressed into metal — proof that love doesn’t vanish just because the body does. And for the first time in my life, I felt purpose in my hands.

I wasn’t taking anymore; I was giving. Every shirt, backpack, belt, I designed, every ring I poured, every pendant I polished — it was like building a bridge between grief and beauty. Between what’s gone and what still remains.

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🖤 The Birth of Reliquiae Studios 🖤

That’s what gave birth to Reliquiae Studios.

The name means “remains,” but to me, it means rebirth. This studio is more than a business.

It’s proof that a broken life can make something sacred — that even a man who’s been through hell can create heaven for others.

I’m covered in tattoos, each one a chapter. Every scar, every line, every drop of ink tells a story of survival.

My hands are rough from metalwork, my eyes tired from late nights, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Because everything I make comes from that journey — from addiction to freedom, from prison bars to workshop benches.

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💎 Turning Pain Into Craft 💎

When you buy something from me — whether it’s a cremation ring, a pendant with a loved one’s fingerprint, or a piece from my Savage Dino apparel line — you’re holding a piece of that story.

You’re holding proof that no matter how far you fall, you can rise again. You can build something beautiful out of the ruins.

And let me tell you this: it’s never too late to become who you were meant to be.

Never too late to rewrite your ending.

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⚒️ Redemption Forged in Fire ⚒️

Every day I wake up grateful — for breath, for work, for the chance to help families remember the ones they love.

That’s what keeps me grinding, keeps me designing, keeps me pouring my soul into every project that leaves my hands.

I don’t want to be remembered as a man who made jewelry, or clothes. 

I want to be remembered as a man who turned his losses into light — who proved that from the ashes, you can rise.

Who took pain, grief, and failure and turned it into something eternal.

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This is who I am.

This is Reliquiae Studios.

This is redemption — forged in fire.

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