Has it been 7 years already?!

Indeed, memory is not my finest quality.

Don't get me wrong: sometimes, this could be really helpful. For example, I noticed that every 2-3 years I completely forget almost all the movies/series I've watched or the books/manga that I read, and it's cool because over the years I can watch the same movie or read the same book again and again, enjoying them like the very first time.

However, today Facebook reminded me that on this same day, 7 years ago, I received the 3d print of my first miniature: the Goiko Warrior.

As you may see, at that time everything was naive, even more than nowadays (it seems impossible, I know XD), but after all those were the very first steps of a spring chicken that just stopped studying law, to become a miniatures manufacturer.

Imagine how much enthusiasm and happiness hovered on my parents' house!

At that time, there was no Durgin Paint Forge, but we (me and my friend Valerio, who is the sculptor of almost all the miniatures that you see) called ourselves Clockwork Paladin Miniatures.

Yes, the passion for extremely long names was there since the beginning.

We started the Clockwork Paladin project to create two ranges of miniatures: The Third Key and Garou, the Alchemical City.

The Third Key was the first project I designed: a range of fantasy miniatures based on Japanese/Chinese mythology. I started to design a range of Dwarves with a strong Japanese vibe, called Goiko, and indeed I had a lot of fun in those first whimpers of creativity. Are you ready to dwell in memories of a forgotten past?!

As you can see, there were a lot of ideas (some good, some other let's say "improvable") and we even designed a first Elf character based on a kind of unholy mix between Indian warfare and Saint Seiya armors!!

Unfortunately, life hit us like a truck and for a while we had to stop all our projects. I confess that it was a sever blow for me, but in hindsight, not all troubles come for a bad reason and nowadays I think that in some ways, that crisis helped me to create something better.

When I was finally able to re-start my project, two years after, a lot of things were changed: not being able to manage his personal project, Garou, Valerio suggested me to create my own company to better support my own range of miniatures.

At that time I managed a painting studio page on Facebook, Durgin Paint Studio (yes, I was a painter on commission!), and I was really lucky to create a really nice, positive community around me and my projects: I decided, then, to build my own company on that foundation, making it the high quarter of my work. To underline the transition between miniatures painter and miniatures creator, I then changed the name of the page in Durgin Paint...Forge!

Since that moment, a lot of things are changed too: I decided to re-start from scratch, designing a more "classic" fantasy range of miniatures. I left behind my beloved Goiko, to focus on something else, more easy to "read" for people.

It has been a wise idea, in hindsight.

After some attempts, I found the good path building my first massive range of Dwarf characters, The Iron Crows of Kazhuk Izril.

The first Kickstarter campaign was an unexpected, blessed success and I took advantage of it by inserting inside the range two modern Goiko: Yro and the Goiko Demon Hunter.

You know: that first love, you never get over it.

When I started to create this new range of miniatures, I wanted to forget the blazing delusions of the past, burying my head in the sand like an ostrich, but I think that I was only disappointed in me, not in my creations.

I think that it's for this reason that, once I've seen that people seemed to really appreciate my work, I felt a kind of urgency to recover a small hint of the past, where everything has started!

I'm really happy for not having erased Goiko from my projects: not only they remind me not to give up with my ideas, but they are also one of the best-selling products of our store!

That means that, sometimes, when we blame something outside us for our frustrations, we are blaming something that is inside us!

To celebrate these stubborn bearded samurai, today and tomorrow you will find them at a special 50% discount: every time I ship a Goiko character all around a world, indeed, a little part of me giggles more than usual, because I know that, no matter the struggles, it is always, always worth it!