Tasmanian-based designer Sean O’Connell presents his Kettles exhibition at the Australian Design Centre in Sydney, featuring handcrafted kettles that are both functional and beautiful.

O’Connell, a jewellery maker and metal worker, has transformed the everyday home appliance into a sculptural piece. Each kettle has been individually formed and welded by hand using stainless steel sheets, then delicately filed, sanded and polished. The handles are crafted from reclaimed celery top pine, endemic to Tasmania.

The character and form of each piece is unique depending on the shaping process and the flexibility of the steel. They have all been designed with a dual purpose – to boil water and to be works of art.

View gallery

Bent Kettle by Sean O’Connell.

Image: Melanie de Ruyter

“I make these kettles because I love working with metal in direct ways. I am constantly amazed how the forms come about and change all by themselves, as though the steel has its own ideas – we start going somewhere and end up somewhere else. It’s a very different way of making to the very prescribed processes I use to create my jewellery, where I design something and follow the plan,” he said.

“I also make these kettles because I think simple things, like boiling water for morning coffee, should be cherished. It helps centre our lives in the here and now, and really appreciate the mundane everyday acts. I’d like to think these kettles, with their simple joyous forms and shiny reflective surfaces, act as a kind of pivot and anchor for the day, helping to bring things into perspective.”

The exhibition demonstrates how a commonplace household item can be reimagined into something artisanal and visually interesting. It also highlights the design process involved in crafting an object not just for aesthetics but for functional use within the home.