Icelandic designers on Good Morning Washington

Helga Ólafsdóttir, director of DesignMarch, and Birta Rós Brynjólfsdóttir, designer at Studio Flétta, were guests on the TV program Good Morning Washington to discuss the Taste of Iceland festival, which took place in Washington this weekend. The festival focuses on Icelandic culture, design, literature and food. In addition to Ólafsdóttir and Brynjólfsdóttir, authors Ragnar Jónasson and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir were guests on the program.

DesignMarch takes place here in Iceland from April 24-28, and Ólafsdóttir says that all the latest trends in the world of design and architecture will be discussed at the festival.

“It was a big one to go live on the TV here in Washington after a long flight and a little sleep. Everything went well and less stress to go to such a big studio than I expected. I was asked about the DesignMarch festival and what’s the characteristic of the Icelandic design scene. They were very impressed with “Pizza Hour” and the person who took the interview wanted to take one piece of Icelandic wool pizza home,” she says.

Brynjólfsdóttir is in Washington with Hrefna Sigurdardóttir and Ýr Jóhannsdóttir, but together they run Studio Flétta. Their design, “Pizza Hour,” won the Icelandic Design Award in 2023, and the project was presented at DesignMarch last year. At “Pizza Hour,” the designers craft woolen pizzas from leftovers from the Icelandic wool industry and sell them to customers like regular pizzas, but the project is original and a good example of how design can make people think with a memorable experience and an interesting social experiment.