Martin woke up one morning, turned to his wife Petra, and told her he needed a 3D printer to make a dragon. She was used to his habit of buying tech toys, so she just said okay. That okay turned into a business that has now shipped tens of thousands of creations to homes across New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
This is how it actually happened, printer by printer, customer by customer.
Quick answers
When did Turtle Creations start? Turtle Creations began in February 2022 in New Zealand, founded by Martin and Petra Novak. It started at home with a single hobby 3D printer.
Who owns Turtle Creations? Petra and Martin Novak own the company 50/50. It has never taken an outside investment, never borrowed any money, and grew entirely on its own revenue.
How established is Turtle Creations? It is a registered New Zealand company with tens of thousands creations shipped all around the world. The company now operates two separate print farms with a full team of "dragon trainers".
What makes Turtle Creations different? The founders, Petra and Martin, focus on more than just the demonstratively high quality, but also exceptional overall customer experience, as proven by over 2,600 verified customer reviews at a 4.9 out of 5 average. To this day, every e-mail and every message is answered personally by the founders.
It started with a dragon and a hobby printer
The first dragon was a gold articulated crystal dragon, about the size of our mini crystal dragons today, and it took nearly a full day to print. The first machine was an Ender 3 V2, a budget hobby printer for about two hundred dollars.
Our first 3D printer placed in Petra's home office.
Making articulated dragons on a cheap printer is far harder than it looks. The prints come out stringy, the colours fight you, and the joints are unforgiving. When one articulated piece fails, the whole dragon fails. After a few expensive failures we finally pulled off a larger rainbow dragon that took about a day and a half to print.
The first sales that proved people were hungry for dragons
The first real signal came from a fewer than ten sales on an online marketplace. It was a small number, but it proved something important: people would pay for these. Back then almost nobody in the world was making or selling articulated dragons, and 3D printed fidget toys were not yet a proven idea. When we showed people an 3D dragon, it was often the first one they had ever seen.
The printers soon started multiplying until they quietly took over Petra's home office, which happened to be the only room with enough space.
The first full rack of printers in Petra's room. It was still necessary to watch the first layer for every new print and quickly restart if it failed (which it often would).
Two suitcases to Wellington
The moment it became a real business was a two-day show at Armageddon Expo in Wellington.
I was reluctant to do Armageddon. We were two people making dragons at home and I felt like we had no idea what we were doing.
- Martin
Petra grew up around shows through her family, so we followed her lead. We flew down with two suitcases packed full of dragons. People were amazed. By the second day we were selling only leftovers. We came home and did the first genuinely businesslike thing we had ever done: we sat down with accountants and introduced ourselves as Turtle Creations, a real business.
Martin and Petra selling dragons at the Armageddon Expo in 2023.
Why a dragon company is called Turtle Creations
The name was my idea, and it is a small love letter. Petra has always loved turtles, and I love Petra, so I wanted the company to always carry her mark.
- Martin
There was a deliberate strategy in it too. We never put "dragons" or "3D" in the name on purpose. A name built around dragons would lock us into a mentallity about selling the product we have. The name, Turtle Creations, reminds us to focus on keeping our ear to the ground and listening to what customers are looking for. Not selling what we want to sell but providing what people want to buy and creating an experience that stands out, whether or not a dragon is involved.
Our complete guide to articulated 3D dragons is a good place to start, if you want to understand 3D dragons.
What you see is what you get
Honesty about the product is built into how we sell. Unlike most sellers, every product page shows real video and real photographs of the actual creations, including size comparisons and how each piece looks held in an adult hand. A Crystal Dragon on a desk and a wearable Jumbo Dragon at around 125 cm are very different things, and we make sure you know which one is arriving. Customers get clear expectations, so it is rare for anyone to be surprised when the box opens.
Petra is usually the model in our photos, here with our Jumbo Crystalwing Dragon.
Because we are transparent and the quality holds up, things go wrong only occasionally. That rarity is exactly what lets us go above and beyond when a problem does appear. We have the capacity to make it right even for a customer separated from us by an ocean, on the other side of the globe. Every order is also backed by a 60 day return policy.
The business founders being the ones answering your reviews, e-mails, and messages also means that the business remains self-aware and deals with individual customers, not with numbers in a spreadsheet.
The people behind the dragons
After the printers outgrew Petra's office they moved into our garage, and a New Zealand Christmas falls in summer, so that space held a toasty 30 to 40 degrees Celsius through our busiest season.
Martin spent a fair bit of it running between the machines in not much more than his underwear, keeping orders moving.
- Petra
Running 3D printing business is not about production but also all the logistics around getting a dragon to the hands of excited customers.
During the Chirstmas the orders were everywhere in the house. We divided rooms into sections. Living room was dedicated to packing complete orders, close to kitchen we had print cleaning area, and in the hall we had incomplete orders that needed prioritisation, and so on.
- Martin
After that first Christmas we moved into our first commercial building and started hiring.
A real photo of us setting up racks of printers in March 2023. Each printer always get a unique name.
One thing surprised us: Turtle Creations became mostly a women's business. Every regular employee we have is a woman, because they kept out-interviewing the men, and Martin is still the only guy at Turtle Creations.
We also make a point of bringing everyone from the team along to our shows, so the people who help make the creations get to meet the people who love them.
A real New Zealand business you can verify
Turtle Creations is a registered New Zealand company, Turtle Creations Limited, NZBN 9429052115509, based in Auckland. We have traded continuously since February 2022 and now run two separate print farms. Since launch the store has earned more than 2,600 verified reviews, currently 2,629 at a 4.89 out of 5 average, across tens of thousands of creations shipped worldwide.
You can also see the range of our creations for yourself, from the bestselling Baby Rose Dragon to the winged Crystalwing Dragon, or compare options in our 2026 buyer's guide.
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Best 3D Articulated Dragons in 2026: A Buyer's Guide
About the author
Martin Novak
Co-founder & Chief Dragon Trainer · Turtle Creations
Martin and Petra are two New Zealanders, who founded Turtle Creations in 2022 and grew its business from a single 3D printer to a well-respected 3D printing company. Martin handles most of the technology related to 3D printing, automation, and the website. He now has years of experience crafting dragons and fidget toys which he now shares on the Turtle Creations blog.