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DesignMarch 2018: Iceland’s Design Festival Celebrates it’s 10th Anniversary

Last weekend, DesignMarch 2018 celebrated its 10th anniversary. Over the span of three days, Iceland came together with its fellow Nordic countries to promote and celebrate Icelandic design.

On Thursday, the festival began with the international DesignTalks at the Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall to inform and inspire its visitors. During the evening, the festival opened at the Hafnarhus Reykjavic Art Museum with welcoming words from the city’s major who was proud to have this festival in Reykjavic and the Iceland Design Centre who organizes the yearly event. And, of course, some live music was involved.

Throughout the next few days, we visited exhibitions, open studios, galleries and live performances. With design being one of Iceland’s youngest disciplines, it is impressive to see the quick growth of the creative industry. Enjoy this photo gallery for a design update after 10 year’s of celebrating Icelandic design.

30,000 Feet

Iceland Air is one of the main sponsors of DesignMarch. During our flight we enjoy this video inviting us to the biggest design festival in the world.*

(* per capita)

Photo credit: Photo by Aart van Bezooijen

Landscape

A look at the amazing landscape during one of our first bus rides from the airport.

Photo credit: Photo by Paula Raché

Illikambur

Hanna Whitehead and Hilda Gunnarsdottir present their latest collection together at Gallery Harbinger. Their project brings together a ceramic jewelry and a fashion collection for the label Milla Snorrason. The color scheme and mineral patterns of their work are inspired by Illikambur, a rocky area located in the east of Iceland.

Photo credit: Photo by Aart van Bezooijen

Illikambur

Hanna Whitehead and Hilda Gunnarsdottir present their latest collection together at Gallery Harbinger. Their project brings together a ceramic jewelry and a fashion collection for the label Milla Snorrason. The color scheme and mineral patterns of their work are inspired by Illikambur, a rocky area located in the east of Iceland.

Photo credit: Photo by Aart van Bezooijen

1+1+1 + SWEET SALONE

1+1+1 is an experimental project format by three Nordic studios: Hugdetta from Iceland, Petra Lilja from Sweden and Aalto+Aalto from Finland. This year, they worked with the SWEET SALONE label that supports the local crafts industry in Sierra Leone. The lamps with a ceramic and wooden base match well with the handwoven shades by local basket-weavers (see online magazine).

Photo credit: Photo by Aart van Bezooijen

1+1+1 + SWEET SALONE

1+1+1 is an experimental project format by three Nordic studios: Hugdetta from Iceland, Petra Lilja from Sweden and Aalto+Aalto from Finland. This year, they worked with the SWEET SALONE label that supports the local crafts industry in Sierra Leone. The lamps with a ceramic and wooden base match well with the handwoven shades by local basket-weavers (see online magazine).

Photo credit: Photo by Aart van Bezooijen

Harpa Reykjavik

The DesignTalks traditionally take place at the Harpa Reykjavik concert hall. During the lunch break visitors enjoy the amazing views from the multifaceted facade designed by studio Olafur Eliasson in collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects.

Photo credit: Photo by Aart van Bezooijen

DesignTalks

Getting ready with good coffee for the DesignTalks. We particularly enjoyed the research oriented talks by Daisy Ginsberg presenting her research on better futures asking: “What is better? Whose better? And who gets to decide?” - and Kaave Pour’s from Space10 in Copenhagen who demonstrates how playful a research approach can actually be.

Photo credit: Photo by Paula Raché

Power and Potential

This year’s DesignTalks has a clear motto: Power and Potential. With a series of talks, young designers demonstrate that designing means more than making stuff and can be used as powerful tool to improve the quality of life and work in our society.

Photo credit: Photo by Aart van Bezooijen

Bea Szenfeld

During the DesignTalks she reveals the hands-on work behind the paper-based fashion and large theatre installations. It was nice to see that Icelandic singer Björk has already worn her work 8 years ago (watch Björk’s outfit at the Polar Music Prize 2010).

Photo credit: Photo by Paula Raché