Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.03.2014, Blaðsíða 44

4
A hundred years ago, a committee was
established to design the new Icelandic
flag. In doing so, they petitioned the
public for ideas and received 46 unique
designs. During DesignMarch, Hörður
and two fellow graphic designers—Atli
Þór Árnason and Unnie Arendrup—will
be replicating this public petition as
part of their “Raise a Flag” event where
they too will accept design suggestions
for a new Icelandic flag. The resulting
drawings will be displayed at Gallery
ÞOKA during DesignMarch. We got
in touch with Hörður to find out more
about it.
Why do you think it's time to rede-
sign the Icelandic flag?
This might be a strange way to start my
answers, but I don’t actually think our
flag needs to be redesigned. I’m sure
many can come up with what they think
is a better version of the flag. But in
theory, there is nothing wrong with our
current one. It’s simple, easy to draw
by memory, has strong colours and
doesn’t have any negative connotations.
Really, the only reason one would have
to redesign it is a selfish one, a ‘just
because’ kind of reason.
What are some of the design ele-
ments of the current flag that you
think do—or don't—work very well?
Design wise, I think the Icelandic flag
works quite well. It has three strong
colours with strong contrasts between
the adjacent ones (blue touches white
touches red). It bears the so-called
“Scandinavian Cross,” which links us to
the other Nordic countries. The propor-
tions of the flag are well thought out. I
could go on.
If you were to start completely from
scratch, without any outside sug-
gestions, what would your proposal
for the new Icelandic flag look like?
My proposal would most likely go in the
direction of using Icelandic nature as
the core element, possibly with a focus
on the sea, as it plays such a huge part
in who we are as a nation. So I can most
certainly say there would be a lot of
blue in it.
When the public was surveyed 100
years ago, their designs used a
number of recurrent symbols, pat-
terns and colour schemes. Do you
expect to see new design trends or
popular colour palattes emerge this
month?
We might see a few fish, maybe a whale
or a puffin. About the colour, there
actually are some rules when it comes
to flags and such symbols. To be strict,
the only colours one is allowed to use
are blue, red, green, black, yellow and
white. But not all countries follow this
and for our suggestions there won’t
be colour restrictions. I’m hoping for
something radical, something new,
something current and fun.
In the past, both a flattened cod and
a falcon were national symbols. Do
you think these still appropriately
represent Iceland? Are there other
symbols that better suit the country
today?
These symbols were there for a reason:
The flattened cod, simply because it
was one of our main exports to Den-
mark and then the falcon because we
wanted something more noble than a
cod. So we wanted a falcon with open
wings about to take flight. This was to
symbolise the new nation, about to take
off flying on our own. The only problem
was that the artist in Denmark only
found one stuffed falcon to draw, and
that bird was sitting still, wings folded.
So our heroic bird, about to take flight,
ended up sitting dead still (literally) on
a rock.
Finding new symbols for a country
like ours is much harder today than it
was 100 years ago. Our culture has be-
come more diverse, so we would most
likely have to rely on something from
the past. Or, as I mentioned before,
something very neutral, like nature.
What interests you the most about
this current flag project?
Although I’m expecting quite a few
proposals from designers, I’m hoping
for even more suggestions from just
anyone. Any age. Any profession. And
they can only suggest the design in
writing, leaving it to us to translate that
description into a symbol.
Collaboration, whether it’s between
designers or otherwise, is something I
love and welcome. And this is an oppor-
tunity to do a huge collaboration piece
with people I’ve never even met.
For more information about Hörður’s
flag-related projects, or to submit a design
proposal, see faninn.is. (This interview has
been excerpted; see the full Q&A online.)
Does Iceland Need A
New Flag?
Hörður Lárusson weighs in…
By Larissa Kyzer
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