Linie Design – handofin gólfteppi

Við höfum tekið eftir vaxandi ‘trendi’ undanfarið sem sjá má í erlendum hönnunartímaritum og á ýmsum bloggsíðum um endurnýtingu á gólfteppum.
Sumar hugmyndir benda á hvernig hægt er að nota mörg teppi saman og leggja þau ofan á hvert annað svo þau myndi eina heild.
En það allra flottasta er þegar að mörg teppi hafa verið endurnýtt og eru sett saman í eitt og sama teppið.
Þessi fallegu gólfteppi hér að ofan kallast Atmosphere og eru frá Linie Design sem er hágæða teppaframleiðandi, öll teppin eru handofin í Indlandi af fullorðnum og reyndum vefurum sem notast við hefðbundið og upprunarlegt handverk.
Höfuðstöðvar Linie Design eru í Kaupmannahöfn og framleiða þau teppi sem þekktir skandinavískir hönnuðir hafa hannað fyrir þau.
Linie teppin fást núna í Epal.

Ferm Living

Fallegar myndir af vörum frá Ferm Living, en Ferm Living er danskt fyrirtæki sem hannar vörur fyrir heimilið með grafísku ívafi, meðal annars textíl, kertastjaka, bolla, servíettur og annað fíneri til að poppa upp á heimilið.

Falleg íbúð full af klassískri hönnun

Þetta fallega innlit var nýlega að finna í danska tímaritinu Bo Bedre, gullfalleg íbúð með frábæru vali af fallegri klassískri hönnun.
PH 5 loftljós eftir Louis Poulsen
Nokkrar sjöur eftir Arne Jacobsen
Eggið eftir Arne Jacobsen
Svanurinn eftir Arne Jacobsen
Vipp ruslatunna og Tivoli útvarp.
Ljósmyndir: Inger Marie Grini

Fallegar hönnunarvörur

Það er alltaf gaman að skoða fallegar hönnunarvörur, hér að neðan er safn af ýmsum vörum sem fást í Epal. Allar eiga myndirnar það sameiginlegt að vera bjartar og jafnvel sumarlegar í takt við frábæra veðrið úti!
Falleg ílát frá Iittala og karafla ásamt háglasi frá Marimekko
Viskustykki frá Ferm Living
Glerílát frá Iittala
Iittala skálar henta undir ýmislegt
Ljós frá Louis Poulsen

Gott ráð!

Maður veit aldrei hvenær hvenær góðu hugmyndirnar koma,
Þessvegna er gott að hafa alltaf litla skissubók á sér. Skissubækurnar frá Pantone eru frábærar og koma í ýmsum litum og stærðum, hvort sem að þú vilt línustrikað, rúðustrikað eða teikniblokk.

HLÚUM AÐ ÍSLENSKRI HÖNNUN – EYJÓLFUR PÁLSSON – 05/11/08

Eyjólfur Pálsson húsgagnahönnuður og kaupmaður í Epal:

Hlúum að íslenskri hönnun

Íslensk hönnun, gæði hennar og velgengi, hefur verið mér hugleikin um langt árabil. Íslenskum hönnuðum fjölgar jafnt og þétt. Tilkoma Listaháskóla Íslands, sem og starf undirbúningsdeilda í hönnun við Iðnskólann í Reykjavík og Hafnarfirði, hefur orðið til þess að áhugi á hönnun hefur vaxið ört. Ef til vill mætti þó áhugi hins opinbera á íslenskri hönnun vera enn meiri og koma betur fram í verki, til dæmis þegar val stendur á milli íslenskrar og erlendrar hönnunar.

Varla líður sá dagur að ekki þurfi að velja búnað í opinberar byggingar, fyrirtæki, samkomuhús eða á heimili landsmanna. Ég vil því hvetja þá sem að málum koma að hugleiða fyrst af öllu hvort ekki megi finna það sem leitað er að meðal verka okkar ágætu íslensku hönnuða. Ég veit vel að ekki er alltaf hægt að velja það sem íslenskt er, en í guðanna bænum, gefið íslenskri hönnun tækifæri. Kannið hvað íslenskir hönnuðir hafa fram að færa og hver veit nema þar finnist einmitt það sem hentar hverju sinni. Ef ekki þá verður að sjálfsögðu að leita annað og mætti jafnvel flétta saman íslenska og erlenda hönnun

Þess eru dæmi að efnt hafi verið til samkeppni um hönnun húsgagna fyrir ákveðin verkefni, eins og t.d. í Höfða. Þrír íslenskir aðilar komu með hugmyndir og í lokin var ein tillagan valin og húsgögn smíðuð eftir henni. Mjög vel tókst til og sama má segja um búnaðinn í Hátíðasal Háskóla Íslands sem og bekki og stóla sem hannaðir voru sérstaklega fyrir Hæstarétt. Gott dæmi um val á íslenskri hönnun er búnaður í húsnæði Sambands íslenskra sveitarfélaga í Borgartúni. Þar reyndu menn af fremsta megni að velja íslenska hönnun og í lokinn var útbúinn lítill upplýsingabæklingur um húsgögnin og listaverkin og höfunda þeirra. Utanríkisþjónustan hefur einnig lagt sitt af mörkum til stuðnings íslenskri hönnun með því að prýða sendiráð og sendiráðsbústaði víða um heim með íslenskum húsgögnum og öðrum búnaði og er það vel.

Ekki þarf endilega að hengja sig bara í húsgögn þegar hugsað er til íslenskrar hönnuðar. Það sést best á því að íslensk fatahönnun verður æ meira áberandi og konur, sérstaklega í opinbera geiranum, klæðast nú gjarnan fötum sem þekktir íslenskir fatahönnuðir hafa hannað. Fleiri mættu nýta sér þennan möguleika og gott dæmi þar um er að Steinunn Sigurðardóttir hefur hannað nýja flugfreyjubúninga fyrir Icelandair og sækir innblástur í íslenska náttúru og sögu félagsins.

Þegar fyrirtæki og stofnanir, og auðvitað almenningur líka, kaupa gjafir ætti skilyrðislaust að skoða íslenska hönnun fyrst. Mikið er til af íslenskhannaðri gjafavöru; hnífapör, bollar, fatahengi, karöflur, hillur, kollar, mottur, vasar og glös, allt íslenskt. Ég er ekki að segja að eingöngu skuli kaupa íslenskt en falli það að smekk og aðstæðum er rétt að skoða fyrst það sem íslenskt er.

Þegar rætt er um nýsköpun finnst mér grundvallaratriði að menn hugsi út í að hlutir séu söluvænlegir. Ef hönnun er aðeins skúlptúr, minnismerki hönnuðar, verða ekki framleidd nema örfá eintök hluturinn verður ekki settur í framleiðslu né fjöldasölu. Afraksturinn verður lítill sem enginn og hönnuðurinn fær ekki einu sinni sín höfundarlaun. Verk hans vekur athygli í smátíma en selst ekki og býr ekki til neina peninga! Allt snýst þetta í raun um að skapa atvinnu.

Skoðun mín er sú að opinberir aðilar þurfi að ganga á undan með góðu fordæmi, velja íslenskt og hvetja þar með hæfileikaríka íslenska hönnuði til dáða. Oft var þörf en nú er nauðsyn.

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VISUAL ARTS – EXHIBITION IN 2000

FRIDAY  22 SEPTEMBER 2000

VISUAL ARTS

Epal, Hverfisgata 20  mixed technique

Daníel Magnússon, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, The Happening Club, Hallgrímur Helgason, Haraldur Jónsson, Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, Hulda Hákon and Húbert Nói. Until 24 September. Open during business hours

Twenty five years ago Eyjólfur Pálsson founded the company Epal, called it after himself and started a fight to make Icelanders pull themselves together and start to think seriously about design. Although this fight might just have started and many victories are still to be won concerning tastefulness and embellishment, Eyjólfiur managed to prove to Icelanders the importance of fine and original design. He even got them to buy fine design, furniture together with furnishings.

Certainly, what became an obstacle to sophisticated design during the first decades of the century, was that the manufacture was far from being competitive. What the designer of the Bauhaus school thought of as potential public domain was far too expensive to produce.

During the passed decades these obstacles have been eliminated, or at least, the productions costs of artistic design have been reduced so that it is now affordable to a much larger group than in the first part of the century. And design is the type of art that touches the heart of most Icelanders. A nation, which is, as seriously as the Icelanders, searching for its identity, must easily fall for art which is as descriptive for the owner. So long as people allow themselves to look around everybody understands design.

In design there are always certain expectations on mass production if the prototype is a success. Thus, there is much more money in all kinds of design than i socalled free – or more correctly unapplied – art. It may be presumed that Eyjólfurs success is, apart from his daring and  energy, due to a boom in all kinds of design in the West during the past two to three decades.

For the celebration of the anniversary Eyjólfur established a co-operation between Epal and a couple of artists in order to illuminate the connection between design and visual arts. This is of course not a innovation in itself as artists have for a long time practised impregnation between visual arts and design.Among some of the most famous visual artists in Europa are some fine candidates for furniture designers. One might mention the Austrian Franz West, the Swiss John Armleder and the German Tobias Rehberger of whom the last one expresses himself almost entirely as a designer.

It is not possible to say about the artists contributing to Epal’s anniversary exhibition that they work like designers, they rather take aim at design. Although one of them, Daníel Magnússon, works as a  cabinetmaker, he makes a clear distinction between that part of his work and the art. By the way, he made use of his wood work skills in his former works, but since he took the photograph into his service, he has been distinguishing very clearly between his design and his art. His photographs of traditional furniture are not least strikingly beautiful and capable of sharpening the debate on furniture making, in connection with objects and means.

Gabríela Friðriksdóttir displays a painting of a black eyas which seems to be tearing apart a worm.. The bonds between the painting and the armchair in front of it are obvious, although each piece might easily be presented together with something else. In the vicinity can be seen Haraldur Jónsson’s double-bed with a forest of lamps around it. On the blankets he has marked the contours of a couple in the same way as the police marks up the body contours after an accident or a murder. Thus Haraldur presents this empty doble-bed as a forum where both the beginning and the end of life can be found.

In the corner hangs Hallgrímur Helgason’s cartoonlike picutre of a dining table with a multicopied Grim, his self-portrait known by most people due to the whalrusrteethes and the Pinoccio-nose. In front of the work is of course the fine dining table, certainly empty, but indeniably loaded with the spirit of Hallgrímur’s word. Slantwise against it is Húbert Nói’s painting, a hyper-realistic picture of Fritz Hansen’s Viper-partition, but because the motive is regular, the realistic painting of it becomes abstract.

Slantwise from there The Happening Club has placed a nicely designed teddy bear similar to a simple logo in the roof of the room. Around it are the light bags of the store and they form a protecting frame around the rag animal. Near to it Hulda Hákon has chosen to put together a sofa of three units and a triple relief of fire tounges and text. The harmony is perfect and the colours fit well together. Hulda’s work thus becomes true room art, visual art aligned with the furniture. By the side of it is Hrafnkell Sigurðsson’s photo of two combined footboards with af real footboard in front of it. The object and the photo tussles to get the attention.

Slantwise against Hrafnkell is an egg-shaped chair hanging besides a large photo of the two companions Einar Örni Benediktsson and Stephan Stephensen – Steph – and they smile completely nude like overgrown putti from an Italian renaissance work. It looks as if the nudity is supposed to refer to the softness of the hanging egg-chair and to the fact that human youngs are born naked.

Although the exhibition is possibly rather short, it is a notable attempt to reconcile the dogs and the cats that designers and inapplied artists have been in this country. The room is fantastic just like the exhibitors’ art and the furnitur of the 25 years old store.

Halldór Björn Runólfsson

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VIÐTAL – EYJÓLFUR PÁLSSON

[A translation of an article from the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið September 10, 1995]

various people are more clever than i am

Eyjólfur was born in Reykjavík on June 27, 1946. His ancestors lived at Skagaströnd in North Iceland and Hérað in East Iceland.  As a child he lived with his grandfather and grandmother on their farm at Melar in Fljótsdalur valley for ten summers and still today he is very concerned that those bonds do not get worn out. He heads east at least twice a year, in recent years always to take part in rounding up the sheep and sort the in the pen. “We go searching for sheep all the way to Mt. Snæfell. It is tough but is assists you mentally. People have experienced hazardous journeys while searching, but I have been lucky,” says Eyjólfur.

THE ONLY ICELANDER

Eyjólfur was trained as a cabinetmaker at the Technical School in Reykjavík and after completing his education  he went to Denmark where he attended an entrance examination at the renowned design college Kunsthåndværkerskolen in Copenhagen. He was among 50 applicants attending the examination and the fact that only 12 would make it into the school was not likely to make people more optimistic. But Eyjólfur was one of the 12 students who passed the examination. He completed his studies in 1970.  “It was a time of prosperity in those years and everybody got a job. People had even made sure they would get a good job before they graduated and together with my Danish schoolmate I started to work in an office belonging to an architect by the name Kay Kørbing. That was a nice job, Kørbing was mainly doing designs for cruising ships. I settled there for two years, but then I went home and started working at Gunnar Ingibergsson’s and later with the architects Hrjóbjartur Hrjóbjartsson and Geirharður Þorsteinsson.  I was with them for six years. It was while I was working with them that I founded the firm Epal. You might thus say that I am not one of the oldest workers in the firm although I founded it and I have owned it from the very beginning,” says Eyjólfur.

SENSE OF LOSS

What was his intention with the founding of the firm Epal and what was it all about?  “They are not many who know that the name Epal is linked to my initials Eyjólfur Pálsson – Epal, it was my relative Helgi H. Jónsson, the journalist, who has the honour of the name. Epal was among the first stores specialising furniture and furnishings. The idea was awfully simple. I thought there was a lack of many of the good and well made  things I had seen abroad, such as curtains, lights, furniture. I merely had a sense of loss and that was why I started importing many of these things. In the very beginning most of it was imported from Denmark. Later on I started working with different domestic designers and I assisted them introducing their work. That means traffic in both directions, as many people contact me and furthermore I try to keep in touch with what is going on concerning design here in Iceland as well as abroad, and if I see something I think would fit or attract attention, I am ready to initiate some co-operation. Some of this has been very successful and I could mention as an example a curtain pattern by Jóna S. Jónsdóttir. It was stamped in four different colour nuances and we sold thousands of meters of it,” says Eyjólfur. And he is asked to go on:  “Well, different things have been done and some of them cost more than what they returned. And vice versa. I get many ideas. For instance, we co-operated with the textile designer Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir who designed clothes from the different materials I was offering. The purpose was to show that you might use materials for lots of other things than we do traditionally. We also worked with clothes designer Eva Vilhelmsdóttir who designed leather clothes and we arranged an exhibition at Hótel Borg which attrected great attention. Guðrún Margrét and Oddgeir Þórðarson designed a very big sofa that Tolli decorated with paintings. We didn’t sell many of them but they attracted tremendous attention. It would actually be awfully boring to be in this business if I didn’t have this alternate branch to introduce something new and unusual,” says Eyjólfur.

DESIGN MINDED CO-NATIONALS

How do Icelanders accept your design-linked ideas? “It is easy to say that we have experienced an enormous interest in it and it is obvious that the need for such activity was there to a great extent. I have the experience to confirm that, I have been in this business for a little more than twenty years.” And  doyou think you and your firm have been a success?  “We have tried many things and we haven’t been consistently successful.  Through the years there have been ups and downs, but generally I think it has been a success and I have been very lucky with staff. I could point out various acknowledgements to confirm this because I am not the only one claiming that Epal does a good job.  Two years ago three of five acknowledgements were ours on a Design day held by Form Island, among other things for a lamp designed by Pálmar Kristmundsson and a sofa designed by Guðrún Margrét and Oddgeir.  I might mention as well that the Danes have noticed what I am doing here up north and in 1986 Epal accepted the acknowledgement “Landsforeningens Dansk arbejdes diplom og Prins Henriks æres medalje “(The diploma of the National Organisation Danish Work and the Prince Henrik medal of honour) which is granted all over the world to those who are considered to be doing well in producing or selling Danish design. Epal was only the third party in Iceland to receive this award.”  But isn’t it difficult to be constantly full of ideas?  “I have never said that I always make the right choice, but it demands a lot of work to keep up with what is going on in design matters here in Iceland and elsewhere. I would even not be against handing over the store to a good partner and devote myself completely to the studies and the design matters. It is in fact very gratifying to assist people to present themselves and their design. But you asked how it was to be constantly full of ideas. Actually not everybody agrees that Epal has been very fertile during recent years; they say that some stagnation has set in. Whether or not this is true I would be the last one to judge, but if this is the rumour it would be absurd not to take it into account. That is why I have decided to change the emphasis quite a lot,” says Eyjólfur grinning. What does this change of emphasis include?  “I can mention as an example that we are starting to introduce American design in some curtain materials from a Danish manufacturer. There are as well furniture, lamps and upholstery never seen in Iceland before. We have a special presentation of these products throughout September. This line reflects very well what we have always emphasised which is never to offer anything of bad quality. We have never imported anycheap things. The word cheap is however relative because the products that we sell have always been at the same price or even cheaper than in the country of origin,” says Eyjólfur and he continues: “It is a substantial misunderstanding that a good product would necessarily be expensive and for some reason we have the label on us that we are expensive. I think the explanation is that when the economic situation was more difficult some years ago we did not do what many others did, start to import cheaper products. We never lowered the standard. Those years were difficult but I think we are now  harvesting for the trouble. Now we see some very enthusiastic activity in society and everybody agrees that we offer good products. And many people have verified that our products are not expensive when you take the quality into account. You could say that we are our own enemies offering these quality products, as they last maybe 15 to 18 years, need no recovering, while something of less quality and cheaper would be outworn in 2-3 years.”

OTHERS BETTER

After Epal had been here and there we moved to Faxafen in 1987 and the house was one of the first ones in the area where a great many firms are located today. It was considered a total mistake to establish a store in that remote place in those days. Since then there has been constant construction activity and the area is one of the most fertile commercial centres in the country. The Epal House is designed by architect Manfreð Vilhjálmsson; he received the culture award of the newspaper DV for it. On this occasion Eyjólfur is asked why he did not design the house himself and why he is constantly asking everybody else to design for him as he is a designer himself. And does Eyjólfur design anything after all? “Of course I am a cabinet maker and not an architect. Referring to the other question the answer is that he designs himself. As an example I can mention the year 1992 when I was a member of the executive board of a design exhibition in Perlan. One of my roles was to encourage people to design and take part. I was to act as a good example and design something myself. On the contrary I would like to tell it as it is that various other designers are more clever than I am and therefore there is more need to search for them and introduce them. This search for talent and ideas has always been an important part of my work and you might say that a new dimension entered into my work when I accepted to be a member of the board of an experimental project under the Prime Ministry one and a half year ago. The purpose of the project is to assist cottage industry and small-scale industry around the country. It is mainly manufacture of smaller utensils made of all possible and impossible materials. We are three members of the board and one employee and contact persons all over the country. When we started it was planned that this project should last three years.  We do not have unlimited funds to support people economically, but we assist people in various ways, pointing out optional solutions, etc. Among the things we have done is to arrange a competition in design of small utensils made of Icelandic raw materials. The response has been unbelievable, some 410 proposals from all over the country.  We granted some 19 awards but it was hard to choose, as many outstanding ideas emerged. It is unquestionable that this work has returned a lot already and many things have not surfaced yet. This project has proved to be very gratifying and has strengthened my interest in getting down to consultancy of this type exclusively, ” says Eyjólfur.

THE WORK AND HOBBIES

But besides that, is the work maybe your main hobby or are you into horses, angling, or something else in order to relax?  “You might say that my work is my main hobby. That is to say that my work is linked to my immense pleasure of travelling.  I travel around the world in connection with my work and in that way my work and my hobbies are linked together. I attend exhibitions and conferences and you get to know so many people in this field that inevitably I am invited to come here and there. Thus, for instance, I have become acquainted with Italy over the recent years through an Italian agent from a company I do business with. On such invitation trips it is possible to relax together with my family and do the work as well. In Italy I was invited to stay in a vacation house in the mountains for one week and then for another week in a house on the beach. And Italians pamper their guests and do everything to please them. The newest country on my sights is Japan. I have been there once and I am on my way again to attend an international conference for indoor architects in Nagoya. It will undoubtedly be very interesting as I have received an offer that my wife Margrét Ásgeirsdóttir and I may stay in a Japanese home. The Japanese generally don’t like that but I asked whether it would be possible and it was arranged. That is the way I like to travel, i.e. to get acquainted with the people and their culture as much as possible.

A CASE OF ENTHUSIASM

The journalist is about to end the interview but that is not accepted until Eyjólfur has mentioned his enthusiastic case which he has not mentioned until now. Eyjólfur has the final words: “For a long time I have been considering, and I am very enthusiastic about this, that everybody concerned with design matters, in whatever way, should unite and incite the discipline og raise more dignity and respect for it. There a various organisations all over but nothing happens. I have discussed this with different people in various branches and I have received positive responses. It might be a slight exaggeration to claim that there are indications of a strong movement, but nevertheless people are discussing the matter and that is the start of something more. I can feel that such unification is at hand and then it will be more fun doing this.”

CIVILIZING DESIGN – AÐALSTEINN INGÓLFSSON


CIVILIZING DESIGN:

EPAL DURING A QUARTER OF A CENTURY

I would like to start by confessing that twenty five years ago I didn’t consider Eyjólfur Pálsson capable of great ventures, not as a design pioneer nor as a businessman. His appearance, chin-tufted as he was, and speaking so silently that one would say “Pardon me” every time he said something, looking somewhat dreamingly over his sisal-mats, the PH-lamps and the Børge Mogensen furniture in the store in Síðumúli, he reminded you of a flower child of Danish family who had wandered into business.

It wasn’t until I tried to negotiate with Eyjólfur on favourable instalments on furniture  I was buying from him that I realized that in this peaceable gentleman rested a hard-nosed businessman. Moreover, I could have told yourself, that whoever called his company so directly after himself, must be very  self-confident.

Eventually, people realized that Eyjólfur’s “dreams”  were feasible. It was possible to sell fine design to Icelanders, furniture and other equipment, although these things were more expensive than simple mass production. This salesmanship has, however, probably demanded enormous work and farsightedness. Nevertheless, the manager remained calm.

On second thought, apparently, the founding of EPAL was part of a bigger design wave abroad. The late seventies and the first part of the eighties were  times of extreme prosperity, people had enormous amounts of money and were very eager to buy specially- designed things, new and old. Designers, design companies and stores blossomed as never before. Also during this period, special design museums came into being, the Design Museum of London, the Wolfsonian Foundation of Florida an the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum in Michigan.

When the last economic crisis occurred less than a decade ago, it of course affected badly these very design companies, designers and museums. I am not very familiar with the internal affairs of Eyjólfur’s company, so I am not well aware of how he managed to keep the company afloat through those difficulties and make it the super power in design development it is today. I think that this success is not least due to a sensible purchase policy. Instead of sticking tightly to international luxury design, especially various very expensive eyecatchers from Italy, Eyjólfur chose to cultivate contacts with the Nordic countries above all.

There the roots of modern Icelandic design are to be found, and also the roots of numerous educated Icelanders; moreover, different aspects in the way of thinking among Nordic designers affects us directly in Iceland. All of this should have made it easier for Eyjólfur to sell remarkable quantities of Nordic furnishings to companies and schools and thus strengthen EPAL’s economic base.

Eyjólfur was doing business, no doubt about that. But none of his customers could fail to notice that good design was his passion. In the name of this passion he was prepared to take various risks:  to establish co-operation with designers like Ole Kortzau, to cost the design of prototypes, to support young Icelandic designers in producing and marketing their products, and even to start the production of specially- designed products under EPAL’s. Some of these risky projects worked out, others didn’t. The point was that no one else, not even the State itself, with its numerous development funds, seemed to be interested in costing such development work. For Eyjólfurs great courage, the Danish export industry presented him with a fine bicycle; more over his majesty the Danish Prince Henrik awarded him a medal and a diploma. Up to now, the Icelandic authorities have not offered him any such loyalty.

In order to keep up with various innovations in Nordic furniture design, interested people only needed to drop by EPAL regularly, at first in Síðumúli and later on in the graceful building designed for the company by Manfreð Vilhjálmsson in Skeifan. There the director wasseen walking about, somewhat absent-mindedly, maybe pointing out a new sofa, upholstery or lamp equipment, mentioning the advantages and the disadvantages of the article in question in very few words. I think that the term “nice” might have been the strongest praise about design he would express. But then again the thing would be really excellent. And I suspect, that these brusque comments by Eyjólfur made some people scrutinize design in a new way; wonder what makes a well-designed utility desirable.

It wasn’t until one participated in meetings with Eyjólfur that one would understand why he was always so absent-minded. This man is located totally in the future, ceaselessly deliberating something, not only for his own company, but also for design in Iceland. exhibitions, conferences, presentations, marketing campaigns, construction projects and various co-operative projects with designers. Each meeting with him turns into brainstorming – however softly, which benefitted the undersigned when he launched the design prize hosted by the newspaper DV. Usually the most useful comments and the best ideas came from Eyjólfur.

At the begining of a new century there has been some turbulence within the area of design, as well as within other areas of the visual arts. Exhibitions of young designers’ work carry with them that the tasteful modernistic design that Icelanders have inherited from the Nordic pioneers is now in trouble. The younger generation seems to prefer systematic chaos instead of systematic tastefulness. What will then become of a company like EPAL? I am really hoping that the mission of civilizing design will be carried on, design that makes it easier for us to enjoy our lifes to the fullest, in agreement with the environment in which we live. And the one who can really spread that gospel in this country is Eyjólfur of EPAL.

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