A SOLIDWORKS Superhero, A Creative Champion: Revealed

There’s the expression of soup-to-nuts but I would really like to introduce you to our latest SOLIDWORKS Superhero User who does everything from flowers to donuts – with SOLIDWORKS!

I’m very pleased to share that I had the opportunity to grab some time with our SOLIDWORKS Champion of the Year, Dani Petrova-Nikolova!

Dani has shown time and time again to the world that not only does she know SOLIDWORKS in-and-out, but she has a genius-like creative skill to go well beyond the typical grey “blobs” that we often see in SOLIDWORKS.  Her creations are really works of art and exceptionally inspiring.  In addition to the time she puts into designing, detailing and modeling her projects, she is constantly giving back to the worldwide SOLIDWORKS community, sharing her know-how, tips-and-tricks inside of the Dassault Systèmes communities as well as through her own social, digital channels.

Dani stands out from our 7 million SOLIDWORKS worldwide users with her creative and aesthetically detailed designs that are both mechanically elegant and artistically beautiful. She is a clear leader, whose passion to inspire other designers and engineers challenges them to elevate and evolve their creative process with any project.
Matt CLEGG,SOLIDWORKS Champions Program Manager

It’s really not much of a surprise given her designs – or may I say artwork – along with her constant sharing and helping others, Dani was the 2022 SOLIDWORKS Champion of the Year.  The big reveal of her winning this was announced at this past 3DEXPERIENCE World in Nashville, Tennessee.

Check out the moment Dani was given the award at the event here:

In chatting with Dani, I learned what motivates her and why she is using SOLIDWORKS and pushing boundaries:

I use SOLIDWORKS in my free time!  Most of the people see SOLIDWORKS just as a tool for work, and they don’t want to work with it when they’re home because it’s “work.”  For me, it’s not only work…and I’m getting really bored when I play games. I can play for a short period and then I don’t like it anymore. And that’s why I needed something to keep me entertained in my free time. And I figured out that that thing is SOLIDWORKS; not only tool for work, but also a tool for entertainment at home in my free time.

It was very refreshing to speak with Dani and learn that she has mastered both sides of her brain:

  •        From the left side, she leans on for the technical aspects of understanding and mastering SOLIDWORKS.
  •        At the same time, she has not forgotten the right side of her brain!  Her various projects (which are super cool!) clearly shows she is tapping into her inner child creative spirit.

That mix of technical and creativeness has seen Dani coalesce wonderment of life, nature and happiness through her SOLIDWORKS designs.

Log in to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s SOLIDWORKS News & Info community on 3DSwym to watch or listen to the complete interview as well as check out some of Dani’s projects and get the links to her social media channels here:

Matthew Hall

Matthew Hall is the SOLIDWORKS online communities manager and passionate 3DEXPERIENCE platform ambassador, listening to and leveraging the Voice Of The Users for continuous, transformational improvement. All his writings are human.