A furniture makers journey | RichCraft Furniture x Elle Decoration Interview in full
Back in November 2023, Richard Evans founder of The Weld Space and creator of RichCraft Furniture was featured as “An Unsung Hero of Interior Design”. Below you can read about the full story behind his journey into creating all things bespoke with a full Q & A published from his chat with Phoebe Frangoul at Elle Decoration.
Today; Richard Evans still produces bespoke furniture pieces for residential and business clients through this other business RichCraft Furniture. This work ranges from small objects to bespoke display furniture for commercial environments the projects vary in scale and ambition. The end goal however, remains un-changed; to bring your ideas to life.
Richard brings his expertise in creating one-off objects to The Weld Space to teach others how to create, make and finish metal furniture.
By joining our courses you are learning from an active creative practitioner who continues to develop his furniture making and welding expertise to deliver ambitious, beautifully crafted functioning furniture.
Cover image of November Editions of Elle Decoration
The original furniture collection made for by Richard
Interview with a Bespoke Furniture Maker
The below interview was conducted between Richard Evans and Phoebe Frangoul at Elle Decoration. The final published piece was featured in November Edition of Elle Decoration and can be read online here.
So Richard, how long have you been working with metal and how did it become your material of choice, it would be great to hear a bit about your path, where did you train and learn the skills of metalwork.
“I started working with metal whilst at University, having previously only worked with wood. It was the perfect space to experiment and learn skills at my own pace. I graduated 2013 and returned to making and metalwork when I set up RichCraft Furniture in 2018. Since then, I have been creating bespoke metal furniture for commission. I am largely a self-taught maker, with the steep learning curve starting when creating my own collection of work for an exhibition. In business you need to stand out especially in the creative sector! So over time, I recognised a gap for bespoke metal furniture and have been responding to this aesthetic and market ever since!”.
What a fantastic journey, what excites you about using metal in particular. Does it have particular properties that you can harness in your work?
“I think Steel can be a hard and unforgiving material, on-one hand it requires brute force to cut, bend and manipulate into shape. On the other hand, it requires finesse in order to smooth edges, avoid scratches and achieve a high quality finish. The combination of these two skills helps bring a subtleness to an otherwise industrial material - which I enjoy refinding my techniques for. A common misconception; is that metal work is all about welding things together. In reality, it’s one of the smallest parts. Creating metal furniture from metal involves a lot of planning and preparation. Which plays into the process lead maker inside me”.
It sounds like you’ve got a real interest in using metal throughout your work. How did architects and interior designers initially come across your work. Do you remember the first bespoke piece was?
“I developed a collection of furniture to showcase at The London Design Fair in 2018. It was here I met my first interior designers which led me into the bespoke business. The job was creating some handrails, If i remember correctly, but that wasn’t important, what it taught me was! From there, I started contacting interior designers and Architects and received commissions making bespoke dining tables for a high-end residential clientele. Not being social media savvy, I needed another route to market so I developed a good online presence via my website. This helped grow RichCraft organically and lead to some serious commissioned based work”.
Richard’s Original work produced in 2018
Commercial bespoke work commissioned by New Wave London for Aesop.
More recent bespoke commissioned work in 2022.
Statement Furniture in the Locke Hotel in Dalston, London.
What a nice original and raw journey to go on. Can you tell us about some of your favorite bespoke projects that you’ve worked on?
Richard’s Mohegan Stacking Bar Stool for Locke Hotel.
“I worked with Shoreditch based Architects and Interior designers Red-Deer, to develop some statement furniture for the boutique Dalston Locke Hotel. This is by far my favorite project to date. They required a unique bar stool for the downstairs bar and a few other items. The bespoke stacking bar stools took prime location surrounding the bar on the ground floor so it was quite the way to showcase your work. The clients were pleased with the end result and given it’s not always possible to showcase your work friends and family. The site's location meant people could see your furniture creations for themselves”.
It must be hard to get everything right, How collaborative is the process - does the designer usually come to you and say ‘this is my vision’ and you have to work out how to execute it or do they tend to give you free reign to create something to broadly fulfill a brief or fit a space?
“I work with a mixture of clientele from Residential to Commercial businesses. Each group requires a different level of collaboration. Businesses normally complete the design work and need consultation on the best way to make and finish the piece in addition to simplifying the design based on the material and processes required. For residential clientele it’s more of a creative process which requires explorative work to discover what they want and how they want the piece to look. It’s always helpful to have a steer from the client on inspiration here”
You’ve got to let us know then, What’s the best thing about collaborating with an architect or designer?
“Variety is the best thing about collaboration! Working with different Architects or Designers results in lots of different and unusual designs being made. As a result, it keeps things interesting and means I get exposed to new processes and materials in some cases. It can be a new style of design or market; more recently, I have been making display furniture for commercial environments which included making shelving for the Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard. How cool”
Workshop images of the Display Furniture in the Shard
Large radius shelving for display furniture placed in the Shard.
Do you have regular repeat clients now and if so, how has that relationship evolved from the first brief to the most recent? Do you ever go to them with something new you've developed e.g. a technique and they build a scheme around it?
“Over the years of working in the bespoke furniture business, I have developed repeat clients whose projects are quite large and they require multiple items to complete a project. More often than not, due to the bespoke nature of the work it’s new projects with new clients which keeps it exciting. When people get in touch, they normally have seen my style of work, so are normally after some custom tubular steel furniture. Which the design scheme is normally built around”.
It would be great to know how do you feel about being the skilled maker behind the designs?
“There is certainly a sense of pride that comes from making bespoke furniture and being a maker - looking up at the London Sky Line and knowing something you made is in that building there, there and there is quite cool. With work becoming increasingly technology based, people lose touch with the skills needed to actually make something from scratch. So it’s good to know you are reviving a sometimes forgotten skill. When people give making a go, they find it’s actually really hard”.
Richard teaching at The Weld Space
Clients practising welding under instruction by Richard.
I understand you've made work for Phillipe Malouin - could you tell us a bit about that working relationship?
“Phlillpe Malouin is a stand out designer with a unique style, his team approached me to create some of his designs for a Salon 49 Exhibition. It was a fantastic opportunity to make something for a well-known designer and gain exposure to different material finishes he uses. They were completely new to me and rather cool. The pieces of furniture were designed to order and drawings complete. They just required manufacturing so I was a small part of the process which I was happy to do. It was interesting how he worked a combination of materials together like Mild Steel with an Aluminum table top which I've not seen since”
Furniture made for Philippe Moulin from metal box section.
The Full Collection of Furniture made for Philippe Moulin from metal box section.
Thank so much for the interview and the really insightful look into how you developed the bespoke business you have today. is there anything else you would like to add.
“No, Thank you for the interview it’s a pleasure to be featured. Building a business and building bespoke furniture has been hard especially when you throw in the pandemic and other world events that have popped up over the last few years - I’m sure there will be many more in the future. Although at times it’s been hard I wouldn’t change many things along the way. It has been a steep learning curve but also a brilliant education in life and business. if you thinking about starting a furniture making business. I would go ahead and give it a go.
I’ve found great pleasure in using my furniture making skills and combining it with teaching to create The Weld Space in Devon. The Weld Space has been a way to bring bespoke furniture making to the wider public and for people to learn how hard it can be.
If you would like to know more about RichCraft Furniture or The Weld Space please visit our websites”.
Would you like to Commission, Buy or Learn from Richard about Bespoke Furniture?
Commission Services
Work with a Furniture Maker? RichCraft Furniture has a range of design services that allow you to explore your design options. Check out our website for further details.
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Furniture
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Learn to Make Furniture
Want to learn how to make metal furniture of your own. Join one of our popular courses in Devon.
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