Conversations with Elliot Werner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elliot Werner

Hi Elliot, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I went to school for art and dropped out after a couple years. I spent my early twenties bouncing around between various work. I had no direction and found myself making some bad choices. This path led me to be incarcerated in 2011. It was in prison that I found myself and decided that I was going to do everything I could to come out better for it. I took correspondence courses and participated in programs like ‘Reaching out from Within’, and a Drama class where I wrote and performed sketches and scenes. I rediscovered my love for art and even had a side hustle drawing portraits of animals and people. I began planning for what I was going to do after I was released. By a stroke of luck, the facility I was in had a welding program. I managed to get in, and it is there that I fell in love with welding.

That program gave me an opportunity for a work release welding job. I spent the next 5 years learning everything I could. I worked my way up through grinding, welding, fitting, quality control, drafting and design.

I was released in May of 2020. I was fortunate to be hired on by a company I met through the work release program. While working full time, I also enrolled in a master pipe fitting course to sharpen my welding skills and certifications. For 4 months my days consisted of waking up at 5am to draft on my computer for my job and working until 1pm. Then I would grab a sandwich or something quick to eat and head over to the welding school and take class from 2-10pm. Wake up and do it again.

After graduating from MWI, my day job didn’t satisfy my passion for welding. I set up a small weld shop in my garage and started doing custom welding projects in my spare time.

I spent the next 4 years working mainly as a mechanical designer and draftsman material handling systems and automotive assembly lines. I was able to continue welding on the side, but time management became a major issue. 55hrs a week on top of welding out projects came to a head, and it became clear that it was one or the other. After some soul searching, I decided I wanted to follow my true passion. I left my job last spring and took everything I had and started building my business full time. I have always loved creating with my hands and have had a keen eye for design. It has been a decade long road, but I have finally found my place where I can let my passion spread its legs.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Towards the end of welding school, just before Christmas break, I woke up to find I could not hear out of my left ear and had trouble walking. The doctors did what they could, but I was now partially deaf. I have lost all hearing in my left ear and have 40% hearing loss in my right. I came back and finished up the course after break. After struggling for several months with my hearing, I got a hearing aid. A couple years later I was able to get cochlear implant surgery.

It has not been a smooth road. My hearing has been the most constant struggle, but I was determined to not let it slow me down. It has been lesson in adapting. I realized most of my struggles are common with the rest of the world. I just came out to it less prepared. It never seemed like the right time for any of the decisions I made, and though luck played a part in that, it taught me that the only control you have over anything is you, so get to work.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a custom fabricator. I specialize in metal mainly – I have done sculpture work, handrails, tables and custom table bases, fencing, stairs, and so on. I like to blend the line between art and fabrication. My attention to detail and personalized design experience sets me apart from many other shops. I am the one designing and building for the client. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the look in a client’s eye that confirms you nailed it. I love solving problems.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I did not get here alone, Though I have been determined and worked hard, it is because of the small acts of kindness of strangers, the support of friends and family and some luck that I am on this road. Success is not a destination it is an act that demands constant attention.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://weldkc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/werner.weldkc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082098165145
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-werner-1352861ab