Atlantica - 01.06.2001, Qupperneq 90

i-site THE ARTS❍
Magic and Wonders
In Gamla Bíó, one of Iceland’s oldest movie theatres, where Charlie Chaplin
and Roy Rogers brought tears and joy to the nation, one can now hear beauti-
ful tenor and soprano voices practising Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’. Sculptor
Bjarni Daníelsson has been the director of the Icelandic National Opera House
for almost two years. He states that being a sculptor suits him well since in the
job he is always moulding people to their operatic roles. The Icelandic National
Opera is young and so is the nation’s interest in opera. “We are not afraid to
premiere popular operas in the years to come,” says Daníelsson, adding that
to appreciate opera in general one has to understand the oldest and most
famous pieces. “We want our Opera to be a backland for Icelandic singers and
give them the opportunity to sing here while they are still young.” TLG
Tickets for this autumn’s premiere of the ‘The Magic Flute’ go on sale in August.
For more information call (+354) 511-4200.
Alpaca on Ice
There is a rather charming story behind ELM. The business is the brainchild of
childhood friends: Erna Steina, whose background is in textile design, Lísbet,
a painter and Matthildur, an art therapist. After moving to Peru, Matthildur
returned to Iceland with a selection of jumpers that she had made herself to
finance her travel. She obviously has not only a sense of adventure, but also
quite a talent since her garments proved so popular that the seeds of a joint-
business plan were sown, and the three established ELM.
Some people can find ten reasons for not doing something before they find the
one good reason to go for it. Not so with these women though - they went
straight into production.
The garments are designed in Iceland and produced in Peru, mostly in Alpaca
wool and Pima cotton. Matthildur is in Peru, ensuring that all of their ideas
come to fruition, and Erna Steina and Lísbet are based in Reykjavík where they
design and take care of the shop.
The friends exchange ideas and designs and judge the production outcome by
photographs, and all these communications take place via e-mail. This system
works well. Since these designers have not been traditionally educated in
knitwear design, they have been more ready to experiment with their raw
materials, and try out styles that many would believe were not possible for
knits. They push knitwear methods to their limits, and the results are striking.
ELM designs are popular in the US, and are sold in outlets in New York,
Chicago, San Francisco and Florida, among others. For those with an interest
in knitwear, the clothes are made full-fashion (i.e. the fabric is worked so as to
avoid cutting and overlocking), and all of the garments are handmade. They
also have an interesting selection of scarves, leather bags and some attractive
silver accessories. JMcC
For more information, go to www.elmclothes.com or contact them on
elm@islandia.is, or in the US at usa@elmclothes.com
ELM, Laugavegur 1, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland, tel. (+354) 511-0991.
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