Brynjar Sigurðarson (1986) received a master’s degree in product design from ECAL (Lausanne), in 2011, and a bachelor degree from The Iceland Academy of the Arts (Reykjavík). Since 2011 he has been establishing his studio along with teaching at the Masters Department at ECAL. He founded Studio Brynjar & Veronika in 2014.

Brynjar Sigurðarson´s work is very linked to storytelling and narratives, which are deeply rooted in Icelandic culture. He uses various media such as drawings, photography, video, sound and furniture in order to convey his work in a fruitful and a specific way.

The strength of the work tends to lie in the research and the way of approach within the field of design; to look and investigate cultural values and translate them in the shape of objects. In this case, the initial goal is to create a visual universe, speaking the language of the Icelandic fishing village.

« A big part of my work deals with the Icelandic fishing and harbor environment, started with a one month stay in a remote fishing village in the northeast of Iceland, called Vopnafjörður. Since the trip, I have continuously worked on “exercises” and examinations on how to translate shapes, materials and details from the harbor and the coastal environment. The objects vary from furniture with abstract functions, sticks arranged with ropes and collected objects, porcelain pebble stones, ocean like glass vases and furniture referring to the fishing harbors in Iceland. »

(Brynjar Sigurðarson).

Recent studio projects involve work for Camper, CIRVA, Manufacture de Sèvres, PCM, Spark Design Space. His works have been exhibited in various exhibitions around the world. His documentary, Borgþór Sveinsson, produced by Frosti Gnarr was presented at the Art Film Festival in Den Bosch (Holland) and was recently acquired as part of the permanent collection of MAK, Vienna.

Currently, Brynjar Sigurðarson is working with his partner Veronika Sedlmair on various projects ranging from, furniture, accessories, performance related projects, as well as self-produced objects sold from the studio called Society of Things.

In 2011 he received the Grand Prix at the Design Parade 6 in Villa Noailles, (Hyères) and in 2015 he was awarded with the Swiss Design Award as well as a honorable mention at the Hublot Design Prize.

In summer 2015, a vinyl book about Brynjar’s work under the name Things that Happened, was published:

« Brynjar’s way of working can perhaps best be compared to the attitude of a hunter on a constant lookout for the unusual, becoming one with the very world he’s studying. He lets himself be taken in by a place, its materials and habits, and intuitively reassembles these elements into ritualistic objects and scenes. »

(Sophie Krier – Things that happened, Field Essays, 2015).