Pushing Forward.

Hello there. Remember us? We are WELD.

You may know us as those quirky creatives that won’t shut up about collaboration, coffee, and all the ‘free’ beer we drink. These pursuits, amongst many others, have kept us from blogging for quite some time, but we are righting our wrongs and back at it.

You may be reading this post because you’ve been to one of our events or you follow us on

Instagram. It’s also possible you’ve visited our spaces in Dallas and Nashville to get some work done. Maybe you’re a WELDER yourself — someone that’s been with us since the beginning or someone who just signed up this month and still isn’t sure what we’re all about. Regardless of why or how you got here, you’re here.

And we’re pretty happy about that.

We have a lot of exciting things happening at WELD. A new location in Nashville, new faces and a heap load more spontaneous dance parties. For that reason, we think this is a perfect time to remind ourselves and others why we started in the first place.

Since the beginning, WELD has sought to grow a culture of collaboration and community amongst creators through the use of a physical workspace. Worn out of moving from coffee shop to coffee shop, we were a people hungry for a place where relationship, inspiration and productivity superseded isolation, individualism and burnout.

Fortunately, we saw this happen from the beginning of WELD Dallas. Slowly but surely as our community grew, businesses launched, people collaborated, and heck, couples met and married (my husband and me included!) . It became clear that WELD existed far outside of the walls defining our space at 2410 Farrington Street. It was and still is a community, a family, a group of people rooting for each other. Over the years, our incredible space has continued to allow the incredible people that inhabit it to take risks and ultimately succeed as creatives and freelancers.

“WELD is a community, a family, a group of people rooting for each other.”

And because we believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, expansion has always been essential as we continue to prove that two plus two does in fact equal five. This isn’t a new concept we feel we can really take credit for. In fact, if you look closely at the lives of most of the world’s greatest movers and shakers, you will routinely unearth a community surrounding them. William Wilberforce lead the eradication of slavery in Great Britain with the support of the Clapham Sect. C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien weekly shared their unpublished writings over a pint of beer with members of the Inklings and the intersection of John Lasseter’s storytelling brilliance with Ed Catmull’s computer science changed filmmaking forever when they released Toy Story.

These groups are only a few examples of the hundreds of people whose passions, vocations, and lives have been enriched when they intentionally surround themselves with the passions, vocations and lives of others. This is not to say these people or communities were perfect — in fact, most were far from it. Yet we remember them more for the people they represent rather than the mistakes they made. This is the kind of place we want to be — one that’s honest about shortcomings and lessons learned in order to continue to move forward in our pursuits as professional creatives.

Expanding to different cities, is something we feel is essential to who we are. A new space in a new city offers the opportunity to add entirely new skill sets, new job markets and new sources of inspiration to our community. It also helps encourage the uniquely talented individuals in a given geographical radius to band together as a creative team. Connecting people is our thing, remember, and we want to be able to do that in and between as many places as possible. New locations will only add value, available resources, and a wider network of passionate people to existing members.

This past summer, the doors of WELD Nashville officially opened. Two years of hard work along with the combined talents of original members and our new community in Nashville only strengthened camaraderie between Dallas and Nashville WELDers. We’ve had quite a few months now to watch as community continues to develop and strengthen — this time within a city and between two cities!

“Already, we’ve witnessed friendships form, new projects emerge and WELDERs from both Dallas & Nashville begin to build their ideas together.”

Already, we’ve witnessed friendships form, new projects emerge and WELDERs from both Dallas & Nashville begin to build their ideas together. These fruits, among many others, are the driving force behind WELD and are what keep us all pushing forward.

Described by our founder, Austin Mann, as a “playground of creative possibility,” our 20,000 square foot warehouse was designed as a collaborative effort between a handful of WELD staff, members and friends. We’ve worked tirelessly to think through every detail of WELD Nashville so that the physical WELD Nashville can get out of the way in order to let members efficiently accomplish what they’ve been dreaming about.

And accomplish they will.

WELD is a place where unity comes from sharing our individual struggles, and where recognizing and discussing the roadblocks we all face brings a little extra encouragement to the people around us. We want our stories to show the incredibly deep impact people can make when they come together to reach a common goal. We hope this inspires others to build their own communities, band together to solve problems in order create better and ultimately make the world a better place.

We hope this inspires others to build their own communities, band together to solve problems in order create better and ultimately make the world a better place.

While our Nashville space marks a major milestone in the growth of the WELD community, we know it’s just the start and we’re excited to have you along for the adventure as we learn and grow together! Next up, we’ll be sharing a bit about some the tools we’ve been building for better collaborations, including the world’s first whiteboard table w/ Apple chargers built-in! :-) Stay tuned.

As you can tell, we believe community profoundly impacts the way we live and create. How has community impacted your life’s work? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!