Gallery Talk: Brynhildur Pálsdóttir, Ólöf Erla Bjarnadóttir and Snæbjörn Guðmundsson

Product designers make things and create experience. They identify needs and opportunities while also taking into account production processes, choice of materials and the impact on the environment.
Here, a handful of outstanding projects have been selected, each of which reflects a specific design approach, thus giving an insight into key trends in Icelandic product designing in recent years. The designers and companies selected, each have their own emphasis in their design. The projects show the diversity in the field and the opportunities on offer to society by utilizing the forces of creative thinking.

RESEARCH PROJECT
Brynhildur Pálsdóttir, Ólöf Erla Bjarnadóttir, Snæbjörn Guðmundsson

The search for Icelandic Porcelain is a joint project between a designer, a ceramist and a geologist. The aim is to find Icelandic minerals which can be used to make porcelain.

The biggest difference between porcelain and other clay is that the latter is normally used in its natural form but porcelain is a composite material, light in colour. It also has a much higher firing temperature than clay, which means you can make stronger, and more exquisite things.

Porcelain is originally mixed from three minerals: kaolinite, quartz and alkali feldspar. Iceland has substantial quantities of pure quartz. Kaolinite is also found around the country, in active and inactive geothermal areas, but usually it is heavily mixed in with other minerals. Alkali feldspar, though, is almost nowhere to be found pure in the country. In order to produce real Icelandic porcelain the search is on for other minerals which could replace it.

The work involves taking samples of suitable Icelandic minerals, experimenting with them and researching them. Here, the focus is on the journey rather than the destination.

Free with admission.