Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 37 (Brynjar). 38 (Veronika).
Occupation: Designers and artists.
Instagram: @studiobrynjarandveronika
Hometown: Reykjavik and Immenstadt, Germany.
Studio location: Reykjavik and Immenstadt, Germany.
Describe what you make: We make objects and installations that range from furniture and lighting to artistic interdisciplinary projects such as an instrument for flutists and used by Björk in her recent concert series.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Our next project feels often the most important. In this case, our exhibition of large hand-blown glass lights produced by the glass research center CIRVA, Marseille, and exhibited at the wonderful gallery Galerie Kreo, Paris.
Describe the problem your work solves: We try to bring dreamlike scenarios into the mundane everyday. Our goal is to make things that belong somewhere between fiction and reality.
Describe the project you are working on now: Next summer, we’ll reveal a public fountain by a river in Pforzheim, near Germany’s Black Forest. The fountain, a bronze statue of a hybrid figure midway between a water creature and an elf, sprays water mist into the air when the sun shines from a certain angle. This results in a rainbow that will be visible from a walking path nearby where children pass on their way to and from school.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: “Mystic Garden” for Galerie Kreo. For the making of the collection, we collaborated with a community of skilled glassblowers, exploring the limits of large-scale blown glass. Handcrafted at Cirva, the International Glass and Visual Arts Research Centre in Marseille, the glass volumes exhibit inner and outer colors—capturing hues on the brink of transformation. Whether illuminated, dimmed, or unlit, the pieces reveal a captivating interplay of stacked glass and unique gradients. Working closely with the glassblowers was a captivating and enriching experience. The show opens on Jan. 30.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: A white swan feather and a few stones laying scattered on the table. Electric piano behind the desk for clearing the mind when work is hectic.
What you do when you’re not working: Read, snowboard/ski, swim in freezing lakes or the ocean.
Sources of creative envy: Fabien Cappello’s drive, Giulio Ridolfo’s colors, and Anniina Koivu’s writing.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Social media.
Concrete or marble? Marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember and forget.
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts.
Dark or light? Light.
