This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Element Ten is a neon studio at 1809 Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri — a second-generation shop founded in 2019 by Dylan Steinmetz in the storefront where his father, Randy Steinmetz, has been bending glass for more than forty years. Randy, who trades as Steinmetz Neon and was described by KCUR in 2018 as one of the few old-school neon benders left in Kansas City, still works the fires; Dylan designs and fabricates custom neon for interiors, restaurants and environmental design, and Olivia Shelton joined in 2021 and bends tube alongside him. The shop makes new work and restores vintage signs.

Description

Element Ten is a working neon shop on Troost Avenue, near 18th Street, on the eastern edge of the Crossroads. It is one of a very small number of places in the Kansas City metro where neon tube is still bent by hand over an open flame rather than ordered in.1

The shop has two overlapping identities. The older is Steinmetz Neon — Randy Steinmetz’s sign practice, run out of the same storefront, which KCUR photographed in 2018 while he restored a vintage sign by fusing two pieces of glass over a flame. KCUR’s account placed him at 18th and Troost and called him one of the few old-school neon benders left in Kansas City; among the signs passing through his hands was the Turner Music Company sign from Independence.1 The newer identity is Element Ten, launched by his son Dylan in 2019 as a design-forward front end for the craft — deliberately aimed at connecting artists and designers to neon as a medium rather than treating it purely as commercial signage.2

Dylan returned to Kansas City after taking an MFA at Washington State University in 2016 and started by working in his father’s sign shop.2 Olivia Shelton joined the team in 2021, coming from marketing and brand strategy, and now spends her time on tube bending and on the shop’s public-facing work.2 The company describes itself plainly as “second-generation neon.”2

Element Ten’s client work spans interior design, hospitality, entertainment and environmental design.2 The shop’s placement matters to the trade: neon is a craft with a real Kansas City lineage — the Lumi Neon Museum exists specifically to rescue and restore the city’s historic signs34 — and Element Ten is one of the few local businesses in a position to actually manufacture and repair the glass.

Goods and services

  • Custom neon fabrication — design and hand-bending of neon tube to commission2
  • Vintage neon sign restoration — including historic commercial signage21
  • Neon for interiors, hospitality and environmental design — restaurants, retail, brand and event work2
  • Installation of finished neon pieces2
  • Small-goods and shop sales — the site carries a shop and cart2
  • Workshops or teaching “ — the shop’s public-facing emphasis suggests it, but no first-party class page was confirmed this pass

History

Randy Steinmetz began his sign career more than forty years ago and has spent it at the torch.25 By 2018 he was working out of an old storefront at 18th and Troost, restoring vintage neon for clients and collectors, and KCUR profiled that work in the course of a story on Kansas City’s neon-rescue movement.1

Dylan Steinmetz finished an MFA at Washington State University in 2016 and moved his family back to Kansas City, where he started working in his father’s shop.2 In 2019 he founded Element Ten out of the same building — the same craft, repositioned toward artists, designers and contemporary commissions.2 Olivia Shelton joined in 2021.2

The two Steinmetz generations now work the same space; the company’s own framing is that Randy is the mentor and the shop is second-generation neon.2 The Lumi Neon Museum, Kansas City’s neon-preservation nonprofit, has publicly documented both Randy’s forty-year career and Dylan and Olivia’s work.56

Sources

Footnotes

  1. KCUR 89.3 — “Veteran Ad Men Plan Bright Future For Kansas City’s Old Neon Signs” (2018-08-03) — asserts: “Randy Steinmetz, of Steinmetz Neon, works over an open flame to fuse two pieces of glass as he restores a vintage sign”; Steinmetz works at 18th and Troost and is one of the few old-school neon benders left in Kansas City; his restoration work included the Turner Music Company sign from Independence, Missouri. This is the primary independent proof of the craft practice and its location. Note: the article does not name Element Ten, which did not yet exist. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Element Ten — official site, About Us — asserts: “second-generation neon”; Dylan Steinmetz received his MFA from Washington State University in 2016, moved back to Kansas City, began working in his dad’s sign shop, and launched Element Ten in 2019; Dylan designs and fabricates custom neon for interior design, entertainment, food and beverage, and environmental design clients; Olivia Shelton joined the team in 2021 from a marketing and brand-strategy background and focuses on neon tube bending; Randy Steinmetz “has been at the fires bending neon signs for over 40 years” and is “integral to each work we create,” identified as Dylan’s father and the shop’s neon mentor; address given as 1809 Troost Avenue, Kansas City MO. Home page: element-ten.com; project inquiry: element-ten.com (Retrieved by direct fetch 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15

  3. KCUR 89.3 — “This duo makes sure Kansas City doesn’t lose neon landmarks like Katz and Town Topic” (2022-02-03) — asserts: context only — the existence and mission of the Lumi Neon Museum as a Kansas City nonprofit rescuing and restoring historic neon signs (Katz, Town Topic, Western Auto). Does not mention Element Ten or Steinmetz. ↩

  4. The Lumi Neon Museum — official site, About — asserts: context for Kansas City’s neon-preservation activity and the local audience for restoration work. ↩

  5. The Lumi Neon Museum — Facebook post on Randy Steinmetz — asserts: Randy Steinmetz is associated with Element Ten and began his sign career more than 40 years ago. Third-party (local neon-preservation nonprofit) corroboration of the 40-year figure and the Element Ten association. ↩ ↩2

  6. The Lumi Neon Museum — Facebook photo post on Dylan Steinmetz and Olivia Shelton — asserts: Dylan Steinmetz and Olivia Shelton are identified as principals of the Element Ten neon sign shop. Third-party corroboration of the operating pair. ↩

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/element-ten · record updated 2026-08-14