Sigurður Oddsson, Matthías Rúnar Sigurðsson and Gabríel Benedikt Bachmann win the Icelandic Design Award 2021 for Hjaltalín - ∞

The Icelandic Design Awards 2021 was held in Gróska on the 29th of October. Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir, minister of Tourism, Industry and Innovation presented the award to graphic designer Sigurður Oddsson, sculptor Matthías Rúnar Sigurðsson and three-dimensional designer Gabríel Benedikt Bachmann for Hjaltalín - ∞

From the jury:

The record “∞” is a timeless epoch-making piece with its graphical and three-dimensional approach. For the record cover of Hjaltalín’s fourth LP record, Sigurður Oddsson, a graphic designer and the art director for this project, brings up ideas about permanence and reification of music in conversation and cooperation with the sculptor Matthías Rúnar Sigurðsson and the three-dimensional designer Gabríel Benedikt Bachmann. 

The process of composing and publishing the record was a cognitive pregnancy, the musician's brainchild that takes form, grows and develops throughout the process. The record release is the birth, epoch-making with an irrevocable product. Unwavering and infinite, written in stone.

In the hands of the team the soundscape of creation is reified as a wolf child sculpture in basalt which also is drawn and saved in a digital three-dimensional form in order to maximize the lifetime of the art and manifest its accessibility in different media. The wolf child is intended a permanent resting place in Úlfarsfell (Wolf Mountain), which is a three-dimensional monument for the continued existence of the album, paving a completely new path for the future of record publishing. 

The graphical presentation is skillful. The interplay between light and shadow creates a unique sense of calm and warmth. A moment frozen in time. The choice of font is appropriate, and the code refers in a tasteful manner to the Golden Record of the Voyager spacecrafts which is a message in a bottle from mankind to outer space. The jury of the Icelandic Design Awards 2021 concludes that the design and over all implementation of the record cover “∞” is an especially integrative piece and an ambitious monument for the future.

The Icelandic Design Award 2021 was held in Gróska on the 29th of October. Guðrún Sóley Gestsdóttir, media personality, presented the awards and earlier during the day a productive talk was held about a future based on design, creativity and innovation, directed by Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir, the managing director of Festa - center for sustainability.

The Icelandic Design Award started in 2014 and honours the best Icelandic design and architecture annually. The importance of design in our society, culture and business has been growing steadily, and it is therefore vital to increase the understanding of good design and highlight the value of quality.

The jury of the Icelandic Design Awards 2021
María Kristín Jónsdóttir/Sigríður Sigurjónsdóttir, chairmen of the jury, Museum of Design and Applied Art
Hildigunnur Sverrisdóttir, architect, IUA                                                                                                              
Þorleifur Gíslason, grapich designer, IDA 
Katarina Siltavuori, director of Archinfo Finland.                     
Margrét Kristín Sigurðardóttir, SI                                                              
Ragna Fróðadóttir, fashion and textile designer, and director at Edelkoort Inc.                                     

The Icelandic Design Award is established by Iceland Design and Architecture in collaboration with the Iceland University of the Arts, the Museum of Design and Applied Art, Promote Iceland and SI - the Federation of Icelandic Industries.