Designers & Companies

Hugh Roche Kelly

Hugh Roche Kelly is a woodturner and sculptor making decorative interior objects and functional tableware entirely out of locally sourced wood.

Through a long running partnership with the Sonian Wood Coop he enjoys direct access to old growth beech trees from around Bruxelles. Hugh aims to valorise this local and noble material and to create beautifully designed and realised pieces. Hugh has participated in the CraftHub Eu residence programme (2022) and trained as a woodturner under Glenn Lucas (Ireland) and Giorgio Romani (Italy).

Infos

hughrochekelly.com

Events

07∙04∙2025 > 13∙04∙2025

Milan Design Week

(Un)wrapped

Objects

1/5

Volume series

The Volume series, made from locally sourced beech or ash, are large thin-walled vessels. Working from single pieces of fresh timber, they are carefully shaped by hand and then hollowed out to a consistent wall thickness. While the designer chooses and cuts the form from the wood, it is the wood's own movements and distortion during a long drying period that gives the final shape of the finished object. In this way these pieces are the result of a true dialogue between the artisan and the material. The orientation of the grain and the naturally occurring fissures and faults are all prominent parts of the final pieces