Craft and Design Fair in Reykjavik

Iceland is famous for having many excellent designers, and I was hoping to look up as many as I could find during our stay. Then, a few days before we left home, an Icelandic Facebook friend who runs Islenska Butasaumssidan posted about the event “Handverk og Hönnun” (craft and design) which were to take place in Reykjavik.

It was to open in the Town Hall a couple of days before we were due home.

Now, how lucky is that!

Instead of racing all over town and country to see designers’ products, they would all be gathered in one spot, – or many of them would be, in any case. A date was immediately fixed on our schedule.

The Town Hall is situated on the edge of the city pond, and halfway into it.

We chose to arrive there on Friday morning, on the second day, avoiding the crowds on the opening day. The welcome banners were flying outside the entrance, so it was easy to find the way.

We were not the first to arrive, though, – far from it.

After scanning the area from above, we descended on the show floor and started the tour from booth to booth.

Almost the first stand we hit upon was this one with the hand bags.

They are made by Helena Sólbrá, and she uses a lot of fish skin for part of, or the whole of, her bags.

She buys the fish skins from someone in the north of Iceland, who prepares skin from many kinds of fish. They are very well done, as the fish smell is totally absent, – they smell only of ordinary leather. Some are also dyed.

I had been hoping to find something like this, and since I had some birthday money to spend, one of these beauties came home with me.

Next we stopped at Thorunn Simónadottir from Gallery hjá Totu. It is a mother and daughter company where they make many things textile, including quilts, according to their home page.

At the fair, they were mostly showing their beautiful hats.

Thorunn showed us the branch from a tree which they had to cut down recently on their farm. She brought the branch, which had big yellow-green buds on it, to hang the yellowish hats on, – it was a lovely sight. Sadly, the colours do not show up very well in the photos I took.

Trees are not abundant in Iceland, so felling a big one is not an easy decision to make, but this one had to go, as its roots were ruining their underground pipes, she informed us.

Then the booth of Gudrún Bjarnadóttir of Hespa caught my eye.

She had a table full of hand dyed Lopi yarn, dyed only with natural colours.

She also had knitted items for sale.

I could not pass on this, so a few skeins of beautiful Lopi went into my bag, – they were dyed twice with cochenille and indigo.

The next booth, Amanda & Svava Rvk, made me almost sorry that none of us are expecting, as they had the cutest baby boots made of, – you probably guessed it already: – fish skin.

Hugrún Ívarsdóttir had beautiful table runners and aprons for sale. They are made from her own design, inspired by the patterns on the traditional Icelandic bread “Laufabraud” (leafbread), and on the traditional Norwegian “krumkaker”.

She has studied design in Denmark, has relations in Oslo and speaks beautifully Norwegian, and she has her textile designs woven in Finland.  A truly Nordic experience.

I always make “krumkaker” for Christmas, and next Christmas we will have a table runner with krumkake-design on our table.

On her website you can see more of her designs.

The shoes above are the design and make of Halldora Eydis Jonsdottir. In addition to raw materials like leather from lamb and horse, she also uses fish skin….

… horse hair..

… and unique lava crystals taken from 200 meters underground of the Lake Myvatn area.

An amazing collection of shoes.

Fish skin seemed to be the really big thing at this fair, – or maybe it was just me noticing it.

Here it is used for brooches and other decor at the Volcanic-Iceland booth.

The variety of products was large. I had to stop and admire these beautiful knives made by Stefan Haukur Erlingsson.

They were beautiful.

There were also booths which showed different kinds of clothes, ceramics, and jewellery of almost every imaginable kind.

Last, I am showing some jewellery from Mariacarmen:

Would you have guessed that the roses are made from lemon rind?

After walking the floor for some time, it felt good to sit down in the nearby cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee while gazing out of the large windows ….

… which gave a splendid view of the life on the pond.

I wish we could have spent more time there, but we were on to other things in the afternoon.

However, on this page there is a list of all the booth holders, and you can click on their names for a description, contact information, and websites. I have enjoyed re-visiting a lot of them after I got home.

Eldrid

Virka

One of the almost mandatory things to do for a quilter in Reykjavik, is a visit to the quilt shop Virka, which is one of the largest quilt shops in Europe.

I could not possibly miss out on that, and as it was raining on our first day, we grabbed the opportunity of some indoors sightseeing.

When you enter the shop, you are first greeted by a large area of fabric for clothing.

Lots of fabrics in every colour.

Those who are using non-quilting fabrics in their projects can find lots of stuff here.

If you are after the “real” quilting fabric, head for the staircase to the basement.

It is easy to find as there are lots of quilts hanging on the bannister and on the walls all around.

It is almost like a mini quilt show….

… or perhaps not so mini.

A couple of brighter hangings catch the eye just before you get to see the goodies you are after….

… and even more quilts displayed on the shop floor.

Lovely!

As you can see, this lady is having a good time in here.

A few fat eights made it back to Norway…

… and some yardage….

.. and even a bunch of fat quarters. When I don’t really need anything, the blue greens always make their way into my bag anyway.

I fell for these cute scissors. Nice as presents, or to bring along with a hand sewing project.

I think my purchases were quite restrained, especially considering what I left behind:

 

 

Ok… I won’t bore you with more fabrics.

I was even tempted to buy this quilt, – but I didn’t. After all, there is a limit on the pieces of luggage you can carry onto the airline. Pity, but there you are.

We had a great time in the shop, though.

Eldrid

 

Happy Christmas

I just wanted to share some photos of some of the delightful Madonna-and-Child paintings that I took in the Vatican Museum this autumn, – along with the very best wishes for a Happy Christmas for everybody.

Eldrid

The World’s Largest Gingerbread City

During our weekend in Bergen, we also went to see what has become a yearly event, namely the Gingerbread City. It has grown year by year, and is said to be the largest one in the world.

In the beginning it was situated in one of the shopping centers in town, but it soon grew too large for the rooms there.

A special tent is now erected in the middle of the Torgallmenningen square, and the Gingerbread City is built in there every year.

Everyone who wishes to, can contribute to the city.

There are contributions from individuals, from children in kindergardens and schools, and from other people all over town and beyond.

There are lots of fantastic houses set in a mountainous “landscape”, – just like Bergen itself, which lies in between seven mountains.

 

In between the houses there are several model trains, chuffing in and out of tunnels.

I am not sure if the organizers publish beforehand what types of buildings they want, and how many of each. In any case, there is a wide variation of houses,  and even a roundabout, – which every city ought to have.

Every magic city also needs a castle, – or several.

Even though the city is not lacking in transport facilities, Santa uses his own transport, as usual.

Some contributors have not limited themselves to building just one house, but have aimed for a whole street. The one above is a recreation of Hollendergaten.

And here it is in “real life”, – Christmas garlands and all.

Churches were abundant, along with recreations of school buildings and kindergardens, and also of some of the old historical buildings in the city.

There were also examples of modern houses, – and Santa visits them all.

I liked the theater scene with the attentive audience…..

… and also the lonely log cabin in the mountains.

GOD JUL  -  Merry Christmas!

Eldrid

Bergen

A couple of weeks before Christmas my husband and I spent a weekend in Bergen. Although it is not far, we seldom spend much time there as we usually just travel through. This time, however, we enjoyed ourselves a lot.

We were travelling with a group, and it was mostly a social trip, but with plenty of time in between for walking around the town, and for shopping.

The Saturday was very nice, so most of the day it was possible to walk the streets without an umbrella.

The harbour area is a very nice place on a day like this.

People were coming and going by boat, just as they have been doing for centuries in this place.

I could not resist zooming in on some of the patterns created by the reflections in the water.

Walking past the market stalls was also a feast for the eyes.

… and you could grow hungry just by looking…

We also walked over to the Bryggen area, where the Farmers’ Market was open this weekend.

The stalls were filled with lots of goodies, and there were lots of people looking and buying.

It is hard not to be tempted to buy even more than you can carry.

We were especially tempted by all the delicious home made cheese, and we bought pieces from several stalls. They will be a tasteful addition on our Christmas lunch table.

Bryggen has some very old and pittoresque buildings, which are on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The narrow alleys between the buildings are worth exploring.  Many small shops, galleries and studios can be found here.

There are also many charming open spaces at the back of the buildings.

When it started to rain, we ducked into one of the shopping centers nearby. As this was two weeks before Christmas, they were not too crowded, and as we were not in a hurry either, we had time to look around and enjoy the Christmas decorations.

I especially liked theese:

When strolling along the festive streets, we also came across this sculpture:

A useful reminder that not everyone is prosperous, and someone might be in need of assistance, – and not just at Christmas time.

We also visited the Gingerbread City, but I’ll have to make a separate post about that. After all, it is the world’s largest of its kind.

Eldrid