As one of (if not the only) female coppersmith in America (or the world), Sara Dahmen has had a varied career, from her first job producing commercials for CITGO, to building a Silver Anvil award winning event coordination company. After selling the wedding planning business she built over ten years, now Sara works as a metalsmith of vintage and modern cookware and manufactures pure metal kitchenware in tin, copper, and iron in her garage. Her debut novel, Widow 1881 {SillanPaceBrown 2018}, won the Laramie Award grand prize for Western Historical Fiction, Fiction Book of the Year from Author’s Circle, featured as a Pulpwood Queen Book Club Book, and is in talks for media development.

The historical research for her fiction inspired House Copper & Cookware. Sara’s American-made cookware created with pure and/or organic materials has been featured in national and international publications, from Cooking Light to Food + Wine, Veranda and Root+Bone and and many more. HCC copper wares are built by Sara with some help from local, American, family owned and operated companies. She has published over 100 articles as a contributing editor for trade magazines, and recently spoke at TEDx Rapid City. She is the co-founder of the upcoming American Pure Metals Guild, and is courting interest from production companies for unscripted television.

Sara is also an apprentice to a master tinsmith in Wisconsin, where she works with tools from the 1700 and 1800’s to build vintage cookware or design custom work from scratch. She also is continually building her cookware line as well as her fiction series. When not writing or sewing authentic clothing for 1830’s fur trade reenactments, she can be found managing her household (not very well), hosting themed dinner parties, reading the Economist and reference books, brainstorming with her husband, John, of 12 years, or playing with her three young children (William, aged 7; Hannah, aged 5; Jack, aged 3). She is also extremely active in her Port Washington, Wisconsin community, sitting on boards and volunteer positions throughout the city. 

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