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M E E T T H E M A K E R Fabricating Furnishings for the 21st Century By Wendy Pierman Mitzel T R E N D I N G W hat brought Fred Kukelhaus and Ben Young together as business partners was initially a matter of furnishing their gradu- ate school apartment. e real connection, they discovered, is rooted in a tradition of crasmanship begun by their grandfathers, for whom the company is named. Today, they are known for their quality design, sustainability efforts and use of local craers and work with architecture and design firms across the country. Reporter Wendy Pierman Mitzel took some time to find out how a Teach for America math instructor and a hurricane relief volunteer for the Red Cross ended up in a basement making themselves a dining room table, and the begin- nings of their own legacy. If I understand your story correctly, you two met at the Yale School of Management and became room- mates. But you didn't like your furniture options, so you made your own. Where did you get the tools, the space, the materials to build furniture? Young: We founded Hugo & Hoby much like many small companies are born in our country — in the basement of the house that we lived in, spending nights and weekends coming up with the idea, building prototypes, and hashing out ideas in our New Haven apartment. Fred and I were roommates at the Yale School of Manage- ment and as we furnished the East Rock apart- ment that we had recently moved into. We were frustrated by cheap, unsustainable options that fell apart within their first year and quickly end up in a landfill. ese cheap, throwaway options flood the market these days, and more durable options can be incredibly expensive. So we de- cided to start to build our own furniture instead — not with any intention of starting a furniture company when we did. We built desks, dining tables and a console table for our apartment, and 12 n e w h a v e n B I Z | N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 8 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m Entrepreneurs Kukelhaus (left) and Young created a new model for the furniture business but reached into the past for a name — their respective grandfathers.