Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.10.2010, Qupperneq 35

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2010
A decade ago Icelandic knits were dismissed by
Icelanders, who deemed anything connected to
traditional sheep wool as something only their
grandmothers were interested in. The Icelandic
woollen industry, after having blossomed in the
seventies and eighties, became less popular with
locals and now only catered to supplying tourist
shops with classical woollen goods.
Around fifteen years ago the woollen industry
went into severe decline and factories around the
country were shut down. In 2005, an established
knitting factory, Víkurprjón, based in Vík, south
Iceland, joined forces with five designers with a
project in mind to form innovative ideas to elevate
this declining industry. The designers set out to
make use of the natural materials and conditions
that exist locally, rather than using imported mate-
rials or outsourcing the production. "Our ambition
was to show a fresh image of the Icelandic wool
industry by developing new products with tradi-
tional Icelandic materials," explains Guðfinna Mjöll
Magnúsdottir, one of the five designers. The col-
laboration was christened Vík Prjónsdóttir, a label
set on turning wool into gold.
A RETuRN TO LOCAL PROduCTS
"When we started, wool wasn't very trendy,” ex-
plains Guðfinna. "But these days wool is making
a comeback. Wool is hip and everyone is knitting.
People are using local raw material once again
and daring to build on tradition. Asked whether
this has to do with Iceland's economic collapse
two years ago, Guðfinna replies that she believes
this to be is a world-wide tendency. “I think people
the world over are building on old foundations and
using local products for design, appreciating their
own backgrounds and not trying to pretend to be
something they're not.”
The design team went to the wool factory, situ-
ated in a small coastal village on the black sands
of south Iceland, to get acquainted with the ma-
chinery and to using wool as a material. "The Vík
factory doesn't use the latest machinery or knit-
ting technology,” explains Guðfinna. “For example,
the knitting machines are run on cassettes that
play the patterns, so these cassettes play visuals
and not sound. These non-digital circumstances
fascinated us but at were a challenge at the same
time. The reason that we plunged into this proj-
ect was the fact that in 1985 there were 52 knit-
ting and sewing factories all over the country but
when we started in 2005, there were only three
left, including Víkurprjón. The industry was dying
even though the raw material was in abundance.
We have plenty of wool in Iceland and we thought
it would be really tragic if the entire wool industry
died out. We aimed for a new target group as well
as extensive collaboration between designers and
the factory. We thought that it was pretty exciting
to use such traditional material to woo a new cli-
entele.
INTRIGuEd By NATuRE'S uNPREdICTABIL-
ITy
The resulting designs came together in a unique
collection that has gained worthy attention both
domestically and abroad. "We started off using
the radius around the town of Vík as our design
pool. We became inspired by our surroundings,
the crazy winds and the raging seas that also
feature in local folklore. We often mix together
traditional folktales and inject into them our own
little stories. For us it was logical to create some-
thing new from a base of tradition and nature,"
says Guðfinna. She explains the background for
the "Black and White" collection as having been
inspired by Michael Jackson: "He died when we
were working on it."
The "Hidden World" designs, on the other
hand, are a reference to shamanism. "Our inspi-
ration is obviously not purely from Iceland. We're
really fed up with that ‘Iceland is the best in the
world’ idea. Vík Prjónsdóttir is very curious and we
just look out for stuff that we find really inspiring."
One of the things that the design team found
intriguing is the wild behaviour of nature. "Nature
can be both romantic and dramatic. Exactly like
the ocean that surrounds Iceland, it has a roman-
tic side but also a dramatic and frightening side.
The way nature behaves is unpredictable; it can
be nurturing or destructive. Think of snow for in-
stance: it's freezing cold, but if you dig a hole into
the snow to seek refuge from a storm then the
snow isolates the heat and protects you. A blan-
ket, for example, is a protective object, a mysteri-
ous veil that keeps us safe from the elements. A
blanket is something in between a piece of cloth-
ing and a piece of furniture. It's the owner who
decides how to use it. "
A SEAL ON THE CATWALk
The quirky innovativeness of the Vík Prjónsdóttir
design team caught the eye of Danish designer
Henrik Vibskov two years ago, and he asked them
for permission to remix their ‘seal pelt’ design.
“This was a very good collaboration and the de-
sign became a part of Vibskov's collection that
year, so our seal was on the Paris catwalk that
winter,” explains Guðfinna.
Vík Prjónsdóttir has also been a regular subject
for the international fashion and interior design
press in the past year. “We’ve received great cov-
erage in magazines such as Plaza and Dwell, and
this spring we're set to take part in a design ex-
hibition in Istanbul in collaboration with Iceland-
based designer Jet Korine."
Currently the team are exhibiting their work
at a downtown design gallery in Reykjavík called
Spark Design Space, at Klapparstígur 33, and
the next product to hit stores is a selection of
scarves."We're pretty much swamped with work;
it's a 24-hour day for us," explains Guðfinna and
adds that all the designers in the group also have
other work to attend to such as lecturing at the
Iceland Academy of the Arts. "I'd say that our
work is mostly based on a vision, an ideal. Now
that we've done a second collection you could say
we've built up more of a brand. At the moment
we're focusing on making Vík grow and travel fur-
ther."
Words
Anna Margrét Björnsson
Photography
Marinó Thorlacius
Turning Wool Into Gold
Innovative design team Vík Prjónsdóttir draw inspiration from everything from Icelandic folktales to Michael Jackson
”Nature can be both
romantic and dramatic.
Exactly like the ocean that
surrounds Iceland, it has
a romantic side but also a
dramatic and frightening
side. The way nature
behaves is unpredictable;
it can be nurturing or
destructive
Vík Prjónsdóttir helped us make our cover images! That team is
really something - working with them was very inspiring!