ICELANDIC TIMES - Land og saga
ICELANDIC TIMES - Land og saga
ICELANDIC TIMES - Land og saga
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“I think it’s safe to say that we have one of the largest<br />
selections of souvenirs around.“ Photos: Ingo<br />
The Viking –<br />
The list of items is almost endless; key<br />
rings, statues, novelty items, heathen<br />
ornaments, baseball caps. Be sure<br />
not to go back home without at least<br />
one book about Iceland, where you<br />
can reminisce about your stay with<br />
spectacular phot<strong>og</strong>raphs of everything<br />
Iceland has to offer. “We also have<br />
stuffed birds like the puffin on offer, so<br />
if you are a real puffin fan, you can have<br />
one at home,” says Sigurður.<br />
The Viking shops are different in<br />
size and shape, the biggest one being<br />
in Akureyri. Every shop also has its<br />
distinctive feature. “We are quite busy<br />
these days as the new shop in Isafjordur<br />
is just about to open. Then we are also<br />
opening a website, theviking.is, which<br />
will be ready in the middle of May,” says<br />
Sigurður. If you yearn for something<br />
good and memorable about Iceland,<br />
make sure you drop by at one of their<br />
stores and see for yourself.<br />
Director Harpa Þórsdóttir, Museum of Design:<br />
Shoes and Bags Made of Fish Leather<br />
The Museum of Design celebrates<br />
its 12th anniversary this year by<br />
opening the museum in a new<br />
location at the end of May. The<br />
opening exhibition is called “From<br />
Fish to Leather” and there you<br />
can see bags from houses such as<br />
Dior and Salvatore Ferragamo and<br />
shoes from Donna Karan made of<br />
Icelandic fish leather.<br />
“By opening our in new location on<br />
May 28th we are getting a fantastic<br />
new museum where we can<br />
preserve our items and have regular<br />
exhibitions. Our first exhibition is<br />
called “From Fish to Leather”. It is an<br />
idea we have been working on for<br />
some time. We are trying to give our<br />
visitors some idea what kind of raw<br />
materials are manufactured in Iceland<br />
and designers are using,” Museum<br />
Director Harpa Þórsdóttir says.<br />
“We will have on display all kinds of<br />
Icelandic and International artifacts<br />
made of Icelandic raw materials,<br />
e.g. fish leather. Fish leather is<br />
manufactured in Iceland and mainly<br />
exported. We connect this to the<br />
industrial history. Traditionally fish<br />
leather has been used to produce e.g.<br />
hand-made shoes but nowadays shoes<br />
made of fish leather are fashion items<br />
with brand names like Donna Karan,<br />
Nike and Christian Dior,” she says.<br />
The Museum of Design is the only<br />
design museum in Iceland. The goal<br />
is not only to be a design museum<br />
welcoming guests of all ages but also<br />
to be a research center for experts<br />
and scientists. The new location is<br />
Garðatorg 1, Garðabær. Opening<br />
hours: Every day 12-17. Closed on<br />
Mondays.<br />
“We are trying to give our visitors<br />
some idea what kind of raw<br />
materials are manufactured in<br />
Iceland and designers are using.”<br />
Take Something Memorable<br />
Home with You<br />
You will see majestic mountains,<br />
lava fields, cliffs, the huge<br />
wilderness in Iceland. You will<br />
witness spectacular wild-life,<br />
birds with colorful beaks, great<br />
whales, sheep everywhere and<br />
the Icelandic horse. You will hear<br />
enough folk tales about trolls, elves<br />
and you will get to know about<br />
the vikings, who went on viking<br />
voyages all around Europe and<br />
parts of America, of whom some<br />
settled down in Iceland. You will<br />
want to have something at home<br />
to remind you of this all. You will<br />
find such a souvenir in one of the<br />
Viking souvenir shops in Reykjavik,<br />
Akureyri and from June onwards,<br />
in Isafjordur as well.<br />
Sigurður Guðmundsson, owner of the<br />
Viking, says that the shop has always put<br />
emphasis on offering quality products<br />
at fair prices. “I think it’s safe to say that<br />
we have one of the largest selections of<br />
souvenirs around. We want to offer our<br />
customers great souvenirs, which can<br />
be reminiscent of Iceland. It can both<br />
be in the form of a warm winter coat<br />
and a little puffin statue,” says Sigurður.<br />
“It depends on what interested you<br />
the most about Iceland; was it the<br />
nature or the literature? We will have<br />
something here to remind you of what<br />
you experienced in Iceland.”<br />
You can find The Viking in both<br />
Laugarvegur 1 and Hafnarstræti 1 in<br />
Reykjavík as well as in Hafnarstræti<br />
in Akureyri and soon in Isafjordur as<br />
well.<br />
Various products designed to battle the<br />
weather and winds of Iceland can be<br />
acquired in The Viking.<br />
You can buy knitted<br />
wool sweaters there,<br />
mittens and socks,<br />
winter coats, fur shoes<br />
and Icelandic design<br />
products. “Puffin items<br />
are always popular<br />
and also some viking<br />
items like the viking<br />
helmet and sword,”<br />
says Sigurður.<br />
Viking items are always in high demand.<br />
-New Icelandic Calendars for 2011<br />
A Daily Reminder of Your Stay in Iceland<br />
What better way to remember<br />
your visit to Iceland than with<br />
an all-Icelandic calendar, so that<br />
every time you check the date<br />
you‘re greeted with majestic<br />
landscapes, the peculiar puffin or<br />
the graceful Icelandic horse?<br />
Snerra publishing house has printed<br />
such calendars for over 25 years<br />
now and is renowned for its<br />
quality photos and professional<br />
workmanship. Snerra has<br />
now printed a new line of<br />
calendars for the year<br />
2011. The calendars<br />
come in various shapes<br />
and sizes and with different<br />
themes; including landscapes in all<br />
seasons, birdlife, horses and one is<br />
dedicated entirely to the puffin. The<br />
calendars come with text in Icelandic,<br />
English, German and French and<br />
some have official Icelandic holidays<br />
marked. That way you won‘t forget to<br />
celebrate the 17th of June in 2011 or<br />
the first day of Icelandic summer.<br />
The Snerra publishing house was<br />
originally founded by phot<strong>og</strong>raphers<br />
and pilots who felt that in the 80‘s<br />
there were no adequate phot<strong>og</strong>raphic<br />
portrayals of Iceland in the souvenir<br />
market and decided to<br />
take it upon themselves<br />
to remedy that. Twenty five<br />
years later they are still one<br />
of the leading distributers<br />
on the market. Which is no<br />
wonder given the fact that<br />
Snerra has onboard two of<br />
the leading birdlife and nature<br />
phot<strong>og</strong>raphers in the country,<br />
who have published several<br />
phot<strong>og</strong>raphy<br />
books.<br />
The pictures of the Icelandic horse<br />
are however phot<strong>og</strong>raphed by<br />
a farmer in Búrfell, named Jón<br />
Eiríksson. Somewhat of a free spirit<br />
and an undeniable artist, Jón takes<br />
his camera with him in his tractor<br />
whenever he goes to feed his horses<br />
where he captures the majesty of<br />
the Icelandic horse in its natural<br />
surroundings.<br />
Snerra also has on offer other<br />
exciting souvenirs such as Icelandic<br />
beer steins, jewelry, antique maps<br />
of Iceland, playing cards and even<br />
christmas items.<br />
Snerra‘s calendars and other products<br />
are sold in bookshops and souvenir<br />
shops throughout the country and<br />
you can also purchase the online at<br />
www.snerra.is<br />
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