Iceland review - 2016, Page 67

ICELAND REVIEW 65
ERLA FRIÐRIKSDÓTTIR
- MANAGING DIRECTOR - KING EIDER
EIDERDOWN MANUFACTURER
Erla moved to Stykkishólmur as a child but returned
to Reykjavík for high school. In 2005 she came back
after being hired as town mayor. Today she runs
eiderdown manufacturing company King Eider
with her husband Rafn Júlíus Rafnsson. The down
from the eider duck, a species found in northern
latitudes, is unique due to its high insulation value,
Erla explains when we visit her workshop. “During
nesting, the female ducks lose their feathers from
their chest and arrange them in the nest. If the
duck didn’t lose the down, the warmth from the
it’s chest would not reach the eggs. The down also
protects the eggs,” she explains. Erla and her fam-
ily own several islands out in Breiðafjörður, where
the eiderducks nest. From mid-May to mid-June
they collect the down, taking care not to scare the
birds. King Eider also uses down from other eider
farmers.
After collection, Erla and her husband start by
heating the down at 120ºC (248ºF) for at least eight
hours to kill bacteria and dry any grass caught up in
the down, making it easier to separate. After that,
the down is cleaned, first by machine and then by
hand, to remove any remaining grass, feathers and
knots. Despite the use of machines, it’s a lot of work,
Erla says. In Norway, she mentions, there are man-
ufacturers who do the whole process by hand, tak-
ing an entire week to produce just a few kilograms
of down. She purchased some old machines—the
oldest dates back to 1959—from eider farmers but
they also have some new machines. “They do the
same job as the old methods. In the past, the down
was placed in a huge pot on top of a fire but now
we heat it in a machine.”
Today, King Eider exports around a ton—of the
total two-and-a-half to three tons exported from Iceland—per
year, primarily to Japan, both in the form of the raw material and
in bed quilts (pictured above), which cost from ISK 1-2 million
(USD 7,600-15,000) depending on how much down is used and
whether the cover is made from silk or cotton. She now works
full-time for the business, which until recently was only a side
project, launched back in 1991 when the family bought the islands
in Breiðafjörður along with other locals and started collecting the
down.
Hoping to attract some of Stykkishólmur’s many visitors, Erla
and her family are now preparing to open a museum about eider
ducks—the house is painted green like the ducks’ eggs (pictured
top left)—in town next spring. One of the major challenges, she
says, is finding eider duck souvenirs. “Puffin souvenirs are sold
everywhere now but we want to have something connected with
what we are doing. There isn’t anything—maybe just one post-
card.” It’s here where ceramicist Sigríður comes in. She’s preparing
some plates and cups (pictured on opposite page) featuring eider
duck designs.
Erla says that the recent influx of tourists to Iceland has trans-
formed the local job market. “In the past, working with scallops
was the main sort of work people did here but now it’s tourism.”
The eider duck museum is just one of the ways in which creative
locals are taking advantage. *
COMMUNITY
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