Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.09.2016, Blaðsíða 2
Or Type / 66°N
LOOMING ELECTIONS P: 16
And we do mean looming.
+ Plane Crash! + Polar Bears! + Herbs!!
LIFE
Our cover this issue was designed by type
designers Elsa Jónsdóttir & Björn Loki.
Type design is exploding in iceland
right now. At the front of the fray is Or
Type, the growing type foundry, brain-
child of Fáskrúðsfjörður-born Guðmun-
dur Úlfarsson, alongside Mads Freund
Brunse. The foundry has built up a for-
midable catalogue of forward-thinking
typefaces, ever growing in popularity.
This year they designed the letters on
the famous Icelandic national football
team uniform, they just released a new
typeface, Boogie School Serif, and their
recent collaboration with 66n, a set of
woolen hats, was the #1 fashion acces-
sory last winter.
Across the pond in London, Gunnar
Vilhjálmsson has been making waves as
a designer at the industry leader Mono-
type, most with notably his work on an
award-winning custom typefaces for
the Gourmand magazine. Gunnar has
been instrumental in growing the Icelan-
dic type scene, publishing a book about
the icelandic letter “ð”, and bringing the
worldwide type designer conference, Aty-
pI, to Iceland in 2011, an adrenalin injec-
tion to nascent local designers.
The idea of designing type for your-
self is taking hold here, for instance
Rakel Tómasdóttir’s work on the ice-
landic version of Glamour Magazine,
where she uses her own type designs
for much of the magazine’s headlines.
The list of designers with typefaces
in the works or recent releases is long
and getting longer.
Next up is Elsa & Loki’s exhibition,
opening on September 30th. You can
read more about them and their exhi-
bition on page 44. SP
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illustr ations
Inga María Brynjarsdóttir
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contributing writers
Nanna Dís Árnadóttir
Mark Asch
Jón Benediktsson
Chanel Björk
Ariel Chu
Mary Frances Davidson
Grayson Del Faro
Óli Dóri
Valur Gunnarsson
Hrefna Björg Gylfadóttir
Éric Lluent
Johanna Pétursdóttir
Eli Petzold
Geidi Raud
Davið Roach
York Underwood
Isaac Würman
Lilja Björg Jökulsdóttir
editorial interns
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Signe Smala
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contributing
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Auður Lóa
GAS
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mundsdóttir
Hrefna Björg Gylfadóttir
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founders
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine
is published 18 times a year
by Fröken ltd. Monthly from
November through April,
and fortnightly from May
til October. Nothing in this
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advertisers’).
cover image by
Elsa Jónsdóttir
Björn Loki
On our 2-day south coast tour you‘ll travel through a magnificient
variety of landscapes. Explore waterfalls, lava fields, Reynisfjara
-black sand beach, Jökulsárlón -glacier lagoon, and hike on
Skaftafell glacier!
BOOK YOUR TOUR AT
www. adventures.is
©
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DISCOVER
THE PEARLS OF THE
SOUTH COAST
In This Issue
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2016
2
Icelandic Type
Design
CAVE & CAVE MAN P: 52
+ Þorlákshöfn + Whale Watching
TRAVEL
REYKJAVIK INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL P: 20
+ Films + More films + Fonts + Sci Fi Books + more
CULTURE
FRESH!
THE
GRAPEVINE
PLAYLIST
Gýða Valtýsdóttir
"Epicycle"
We’ve been glued to
this unusual album
from the sometime
múm singer—a long
term project that
interprets classi-
cal music of the last
2000 years through
Gýða’s unique
musical filter. It’s
on Bandcamp now,
and set for a physical
release later this year.
GKR
"Tala Um"
It’s impossible
not to like GKR.
His music is brim-
ming with humor,
brash confidence
and exuberance, his
rhymes stumbling
around the joyfully
menacing beats laid
down by Marteinn!,
seemingly carefree,
but always on point.
A master in the
making.
Sin Fang
"Spaceland"
The new Sin Fang
album moves on from
the lush indie-pop of
2013’s ‘Flowers’, into
a confident, spacious
electronic sound-
scape full of echoey
alt-pop melodies
and dreamy synth
washes, also featur-
ing a selection box
of choice duets with
Jónsi, Farao, Sóley
and Jófríður.
Alvia Islandia
"Bubblegum Bitch"
She may be sweet
but she doesn’t su-
garcoat. Alvia takes
that dirty-covered
trap record from
your screen, washes
it clean and tints it
pink. The result is a
pretty-girl narcotic
sound that makes
you feel like a total
badass while you’re
rushing to the Hag-
kaup candy rack for
50% off hour. This
one’s got nammi.
Gangly
"Holy Grounds"
So this is a bouncy
bass thing for your
luxuriously sound-
systemed car, but at
the same time it has
an icy wistfulness,
so you’re alone in
your car. It’s not full
on hysterically sad,
so you’re probably
not just-dumped,
but rather at that
moment when
you’re still getting
Bragðarefurs at the
ice cream shop, just
before that magic
moment when you
re-join the gym.
Loki & Elsa
Gunnar
Vilhjálmsson
for Monotype
Listen & watch:
GPV.IS/M15
Words
PARKER,
SVEINBJÖRN
& JOHN