The story behind The Weld Space

Hi, Richard here, Founder of The Weld Space

People often ask me how I ended up starting the business — and you might be wondering the same thing.

So, I thought I'd tell you the story of how it all began.

Many years ago, I studied welding and fabrication — skills that eventually led me to start RichCraft Furniture, designing and making bespoke metal furniture for homes and businesses.

RichCraft grew organically, and over the years I had the opportunity to create furniture for some fantastic clients, including boutique hotels in London.

Some of my work even found its way into publications including ELLE Decoration, The Sunday Times, The Times and Homes & Antiques.

But somewhere along the way and post pandemic, I had moved to Plymouth but I discovered something I hadn't really expected…

People didn't just want to commission the things I was making. They wanted to learn how to make things for themselves.

I decided to set up a new brand with a pretty modest ambition — if I could sell one welding course a month, it would help pay for the workshop while I continued designing and building furniture commissions.

But it quickly grew arms and legs.

I realised there were lots of people who wanted to learn welding, but weren't necessarily looking for a college course or qualification. They wanted practical, short format education built on solid foundations and taught by experienced Welders.

Many of our early attendees had something they wanted to achieve. They wanted to restore a car, build a project, repair something at home, or simply experience welding for the first time.

The Weld Space gradually grew into a much bigger operation, offering everything from one-day introductory workshops to five-day welding and fabrication courses.

The next challenge became: how could we help more people learn from home?

That's led us to launch The Weld Space Online Academy, taking the same beginner-focused approach we've developed in the workshops and making it accessible to a much wider audience.

We are now innovating The Weld Space has started combining that online training with AI technology and Computer vision to make learning from home easier than ever before.

What started with the hope of selling one welding course a month has become a business implementing innovative technology based approach to helping people learn welding.

Richard