Iceland review - 2016, Qupperneq 22

20 ICELAND REVIEW
Aníta is a bubbly, enthusiastic and
engaging character, and she makes a good
point about Icelandic nature: namely
that it is usually listed as ‘inspiration
number one’ by artists of all types who
work in Iceland—almost to the point of
cliché—but Aníta prefers human inspira-
tion. “For me it’s always about handicraft.
There’s a big history of women making
things in Iceland, like needlework, and
when you go to all these small museums
you can see this very visual history, which
is inspiring to me.”
Aníta’s considerable success has come
since completing her studies at Central
Saint Martins in London in 2014,
with her MA collection being shown
at London Fashion Week and outfits
even featuring on Germany’s Next Top
Model. Her work has also featured across
the fashion press, including Elle in the
UK and Denmark, Vogue.co.uk, Style.com
and i-D magazine. Her MA collection
won the Fashion Special Prize at the
International Talent Support competi-
tion 2014.
“I got good press from my graduate
collection because it’s all done by hand
and people ask how I had the patience.
People don’t have the patience for that
anymore and people don’t even know
how to do it, it’s usually all done by
machine,” Aníta says.
All her clothes are painstakingly hand-
made to order at her studio in Akureyri,
North Iceland, though she splits her life
between Iceland and London. “Working
in Iceland at the moment is my dream
place. It’s nice to come from a place like
London with lots going on and come to
a quiet place like Iceland where you can
go through all your ideas.”
Things could have been very different
if Aníta hadn’t taken a trip to London
at the age of 16. She says that although
she had always been into handicrafts and
comes from a very hands-on family, it
wasn’t until visiting Saint Martins that
she realized fashion was a viable career.
“I read about Saint Martins and all
the designers graduating from there had
designs I really liked, so it felt like the
best choice. And I was very drawn to
London for its high energy and buzzing
culture,” Aníta explains.
So, what next? Well, apart from likely
appearing on Germany’s Next Top Model
again, Aníta is preparing for a major
new show alongside ceramicist Bjarni
Sigurðsson and jeweler Helga Mogensen.
“We all work with really strong textures
and even though we work in different
fields and scales, we all have a very
innovative approach to our work. We all
complement each other very well.”
The show, titled Triad, opens at the
Museum of Design and Applied Art in
Reykjavík at 5 pm on March 9 as part of
DesignMarch (see page 10). It runs until
May. *
FASHION