Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.03.2013, Blaðsíða 42

The best selection of
Icelandic design
and delicious hand made
chocolate in the oldest
house in Reykjavik.
Open all days
down town Reykjavik
Aðalstræti 10
www.kraum.is. i c e l a n d i c d e s i g n
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Men Of Letters
Diversity, collaboration, innovation and risk are a
few of the qualities that the Iceland Design Centre
has aimed to highlight during DesignMarch, a four-
day festival taking place since 2009. It was these
qualities that drew them to the proposal submitted
by independent graphic designers Jónas Valtýsson
and Ármann Agnarsson to create this year’s official
festival identity. The pair got to know each other
two years ago while working at an ad agency, which
they left to focus on cultural industries like book de-
sign and album artwork. This project turned out to
be their most ambitious one to date, involving ar-
chitects, carpenters and crane operators. The final
result is a three and a half metre tall grid of giant,
three-dimensional wooden letters that simply spell
out HÖNNUNARMARS (“DESIGNMARCH”). We got
them to tell us more about the project and their in-
volvement with the festival.
How did you come up
with this concept?
Ármann: When we started this project we
wanted to think of a good way to represent all de-
sign. We are graphic designers so we tend to think
in that direction, but there are so many different
fields of design.
Jónas: We thought about what all designers
have in common, how we could represent that and
what DesignMarch means to us. We came up with
the idea that the festival is like an empty canvas that
the Iceland Design Centre puts out every year and
then designers fill it up. Basically, we made a grid of
letters that is like an empty canvas and we got four
designers to fill some of them up.
Á: In the pitch we just wanted the idea to stand
on its own. I think it was Halla [Helgadóttir, Manag-
ing Director of Iceland Design Centre] who said that
the event isn’t just about the outcome, it’s about the
process. That’s what we like about working with
each other. When we started, we didn’t really know
what was going to happen and that’s the fun part,
seeing how it goes and how it turns out.
Where has the process
taken you so far?
J: I think the most exciting part has been work-
ing with the other designers and seeing what they
came up with. All of them thought of amazing stuff.
The tricky task was making the letters work as
a wooden structure. They were designed with a
wooden grid in mind to begin with, but it was also
important for us to keep them elegant. We liked the
contrast.
Á: In the beginning, I think the IDC was scepti-
cal about whether we could really do this, in terms
of construction and cost. It was really a huge thing
to do and we have never done anything like this
before. We designed the letters in cooperation with
Hlynur Axelsson who then built them for us. He was
essential to the project. It was really interesting to
figure out how to budget and what kind of materi-
als to use. The letters are made out of wood and
they are huge, too. They are really beautiful and
very fragile.
J: But when they all come together, they form
a strong structure. They are attached and stacked
onto each other in three rows. When we were pho-
tographing it, it fell three times and almost killed us.
It’s so heavy and it was windy that day.
Á: Jónas was saying “Oh yeah, we’re just
gonna lift it and it’s gonna be fine!” Finally Hlynur
got a friend with a truck and a crane to help us out
because four of those letters attached together are
really difficult to move. The day we tried it out felt
like being on a trip and something goes wrong like
missing your train, but in the end you have a good
story to tell.
As designers, what’s the main
highlight of DesignMarch?
J: It’s nice to have a venue where all the fields
of design can come together once a year. I think it’s
really important for everyone to get involved and for
the public to see what’s going on.
Á: I think it helps to educate people about what
design is and what designers do. It really shows
what’s happening in Icelandic design; the good, the
bad and everything in between. We trust that de-
signers do what they like and represent themselves
and their field, so there is always a range.
PHOTOS BY MARINO THORLACIUS
The Four Letters
One important aspect in both the process and the
outcome of the project involved a collaboration
with four local designers who Jónas and Ármann
selected to customise one letter each. “It was re-
ally the key to the entire concept,” Jónas says.
“The designers really put life into the letters.”
Although the full structure of the letter-grid will
not be installed during the event, these four let-
ters will be set up at various locations throughout
DesignMarch. The rest can be seen at ATMO.
H – HAF by Hafsteinn Júlíusson
As a product design
and distributor, HAF fo-
cuses on products that
experiment with simplic-
ity, societal values and
ecological integrity. For
their assigned letter, they
painted the wood frame
fire-engine red, installed
glass encasements and
turned it into a massive
aquarium. Real living fish will be put in as the final
touch right before the event.
M – Mundi
The fashion designer will
be showing his new col-
lection for 66° North dur-
ing the Reykjavík Fashion
Festival, which runs con-
currently with Design-
March. Never shying
away from the intensely
conceptual and irrever-
ent, he adorned his let-
ter with a bold, black and
white patterned fabric. The result is an intersec-
tion between zebra print, seismic map graphics
and circus wear.
N – Vík Prjónsdóttir
Putting a modern spin
on traditional Icelandic
knitting since 2005, Vík
Prjónsdóttir has turned
their wool-work into
coveted objets d’arts.
They tucked their letter
up into their signature
sheep wool fabric, cus-
tomised with a special
event-exclusive print in
soft, whimsical colours, and threw on a bright red
hand-shaped scarf for good measure.
S – Marcos Zotes
Currently living and work-
ing in Reykjavík, this
Spanish architect is the
director of the UNSTABLE
project, which explores
the relationship between
urbanism and the role
of architecture primarily
through the use of light
technology. He has incor-
porated this into his letter,
leaving the wood frame bare and installing an in-
teractive projection device which people can text
and watch as their message lights up a wall.
DesignMarch takes place March 14–17 at various locations around Reykjavík. For more information go to www.icelanddesign.is
By Rebecca Louder
Meet Jónas Valtýsson and Ármann Agnarsson, the festival identity creators
DesignMarch Special 2013 2