Iceland review - 2016, Page 21

ICELAND REVIEW 19
FASHION
TON OF CLAY
After just a year-and-a-half at the
Academy, Bjarni and his partner decided
to move abroad to study. Bjarni applied
to the Jutland Art Academy in Denmark,
knowing the chances of getting in were
slim. There were 3,000 applicants and
only 32 accepted, but in he got.
To finance their studies, the pair got
cleaning jobs at the university, where
they scrubbed floors from 5 am to 10
am, five mornings a week. After four
years of studies, Bjarni graduated and
decided to rent a studio along with other
artists. He spent much time introducing
his work, going from one business to the
next, showing his portfolio. He also kept
the cleaning job. This was Denmark, so
naturally that meant a lot of biking.
Bjarni hadn’t been in the studio for
long when someone pointed out to him
that ordering a ton of clay would be
more economical than making smaller
orders. “Money was scarce, but I decid-
ed to order a ton anyway, to save in the
long run. The bill would come to 10,000
Danish kroner [USD 1,460 at today’s
rate] and I had no idea how to pay for it. I
said to myself, ‘You’ll just have to sell sev-
eral things over the weekend.’” Bjarni’s
eyes sparkle and he gesticulates as he
cheerfully recollects what happened.
“That morning, I listened to the radio,
and the voice said, ‘If you hear the
same song twice today, call us and you
could win anywhere from 100 to 10,000
Danish kroner. At that moment, they
had just played ‘I Want to Break Free’
by Queen. ‘How stupid,’ I thought, and
went off to work. Later that day, I was
back home when I turned on the radio
again, and what did I hear, but ‘I Want to
Break Free!’ So, reluctantly, I decided to
call. They asked what song I had heard
twice and I told them. ‘Great,’ the voice
replied, ‘now you get to choose an enve-
lope. Pick a number from one to five.’
I picked number one, and guess what, I
won 10,000 Danish kroner—enough to
pay for the clay!”
ART
ON FIRE
After four years in the studio and with
countless kilometers of biking behind
him, Bjarni’s work had started to become
recognized in Denmark.
By now, the pair had decided to move
back to Iceland and, little by little, Bjarni
built up his own studio in Hafnarfjörður,
a town just outside Reykjavík. He now
co-owns and operates the design store
Bjarni at work in his Hafnafjörður studio.