Fulfillment Through Craft – Celebrate Kelly Ludgrove | CYD#16 – Nosakhari

After Kelly Ludgrove underwent brain surgery, it wasn’t just the need to care for her daughter that spurred on her recovery, it was also the equally strong need for creativity in her life. Firmly believing that it is vital for every creative to pursue their personal calling, whatever it may be, Kelly has been pursuing hers since the tender age of 10, when she first rescued some lengths of wood from a friend’s shed and fashioned them into a side table for her bedroom.

Since then she’s tried her hand at sewing, taken up meditation and for nearly two decades made a living as a breakdancer, but on rekindling her childhood passion for carpentry she recognised that all of these are similarly fulfilling experiences.Kelly deeply cherishes these therapeutic moments of uninhibited creative expression, and even amidst the noise of the saw and sawdust filling the air in her workshop, she finds herself fully immersed in the creative process of her furniture craft.

Viewing each challenge she encounters as a learning opportunity, Kelly has gradually expanded her skills and capabilities, and now her beautiful wood-panel floors, stools, benches and tabletops are beginning to gain recognition. While sales are picking up, it’s not the financial reward that Kelly prizes – it’s the sense of independence and self-reliance that comes with crafting exactly the kinds of woodwork she wants in her own home. There’s a powerful affirmation in the ability to carry out your own artistic vision – and in that, Kelly Ludgrove finds fulfilment, strength, and purpose.