Dagný Björg, a second year student at the Technical College Reykjavik, exhibited her Okta furniture design at Epal during the DesignMarch festival. ARTS THREAD spoke with the aspiring young designer to find out more about her designs and plans for the future.
ARTS THREAD: Firstly, how did it feel to exhibit at DesignMarch?
Dagný Björg: The opportunity to exhibit my work at DesignMarch before even graduating is a great honour! I was really happy to take part in the exhibition in Epal and the response I got was beyond my expectations.
AT: Tell us about your Okta stool, where did you get the inspiration from?
DB: It was close to Christmas when I started sketching the stool. I wanted to make a piece of furniture where no alien objects like screws or glue are used to assemble it – but I still wanted the stool to be properly stuck together. I managed to accomplish this with Okta. There are no screws needed, the stool is simply pressed together so that the joints match perfectly.
AT: Why did you choose to work with these specific materials?
DB: I chose to use birch plywood for Okta. I love the texture of the wood, the soft colour with visible veins running through. The end of the wood is beautifully striped – and these patterns shows through on top of the stool and on the edges. I think it looks beautiful that way.
Dagný Björg, Okta Stool
AT: What are you currently working on?
DB: At the moment I’m putting Okta into production. We used to assemble the stool by ourselves but we don’t have the facilities anymore. Also, I want to experiment a little more with the stool, make it into a coffee table and try different types of wood like walnut.
AT: What do you think sets Icelandic designers apart from other designers?
DB: I think that Icelandic designers think more locally, work with local materials and use local resources in their work. Mass production is uncommon here in Iceland and so products are very often made by hand in one way or another.
See more blog posts about DesignMarch.
