Crafts and design on the Faroe Islands

Faroese handicraft and design have flourished throughout the 20th century. A closer look on how development and conditions have changed over the last 100 years reveals that an anonymised collective production, especially of woollen products, have become individual brands. Several local artisans and designers work professionally with their companies full-time and for some, it is an extra job alongside their day job.

Knitting as a craft has had favourable conditions to develop and become a well-preserved tradition. While most of Europe saw a decline in the mastery of, for example, hand knitting in step with industrialisation, this has not been the case in the Faroe Islands. This may be due to the isolated location of the islands and the fact that they have not managed to fully industrialise knitwear production. But the reason may also be that wool has been and continues to be an available material. Knitting also requires very small tools in the form of knitting needles, which are easy to transport and, not least, to import. Traditionally, the technique was mainly used to produce clothing, which is also the case today. Other materials, such as wood have been less available, as not many trees grow on the Faroe Islands.

Another technique is weaving, which, however, is more complex than knitting. It has been crucial for some of the significant artisans within the profession to pass on their expertise through private teaching and evening school classes. Among these are Olivina Joensen, Marjun Sigurdsdóttir, Tita Vinther and Súsan í Jákupsstovu. Poulina Jóanesardóttir has had her own weaving business in Tórshavn since 1990, where she, among other things, weaves fabric for Faroese national costumes.

There is a growing interest in making a living as an artisan and designer. The expertise that the culture has brought along is developing to an increasing degree, despite the fact that there are only a limited number of educational opportunities within the subject areas. However, some preparatory basic training programmes are offered at Glasir – Tórshavn College, where students can prepare for applying to, for example, design schools abroad. Føroya Fólkaháskúli also has a pottery and textile workshop. In the late 1970s, an attempt was made to establish a school of arts and crafts on Sandoy with Súsan í Jákupsstovu as the head; it existed for four years.

However, the tradition of handing down craftsmanship knowledge has meant that the Faroese products are of high quality both technically and in terms of form and expression. Generally, there is a preference for working with local products and with sustainability in mind.

Textile design

One of the first designers to make a name in the fashion industry was Barbara í Gongini. She graduated from the Danish Design School in 1996 and launched her own company in 2002. Her designs can be described as avant-garde and androgynous, and she often works in a monochrome black universe, in solid woven fabrics and in an asymmetrical silhouette. She is among the best-known Faroese designers and is represented in more than 35 countries. In addition to fashion, she also works on interdisciplinary projects with film, performance, art, sound and shows.

Guðrun & Guðrun consists of the duo Guðrun Ludvig and Guðrun Rógvadóttir. The company opened in 2006 with a small shop in Tórshavn. Since then, it has expanded to be represented in New York, Milan and Tokyo. From the beginning, it has been one of the core goals to be able to use the wool, which in the early 00s was mostly burned as there were fewer and fewer spinning mills. Another characteristic is that Guðrun & Guðrun’s collections always predominantly consist of hand-knitted products, which trace directly back to the Faroese craft tradition. Guðrun Ludvig, who is the designer of the duo, has managed to renew the traditional knitting patterns with her poetic and delicate touch. The best known is probably the hand-knitted sweater ‘Vón’ in two colours with a star pattern in horizontal lines on the body. It is made of 100 % Faroese wool and became internationally famous thanks to the Danish TV series The Killing. The ‘Sarah Lund jumper’, as it is also known as, has really shown the value of hand knitting both locally and abroad.

Ullvøruhúsið is one of the recently opened design shops in Tórshavn (2018), and the two designers behind it are Jóhanna av Steinum and Karen Sissal Kjartansdóttir. Jóhanna av Steinum graduated from Central Saint Martin in London in 2007 and launched the brand STEINUM in 2010. Her knitwear is characterised by brightly coloured patterns and is mainly made of wool fibres knitted by hand and on a machine. Karen Sissal Kjartansdóttir, who has a Master’s degree in economics and business administration and is a self-taught designer, launched the Shisa Brand in 2012 with a focus on sustainability and use of locally produced and processed wool. The Shisa Brand works with graphic contrasts in the wool, often in natural colours. This minimises the need for dyed yarn, which reduces the use of water and CO₂.

Jewellery, interior and applied art

Østrøm is a craft and design shop located in the Skálatrøð port area in Tórshavn which opened in 2012. At the opening, six artisans and designers were involved, while today the number has increased to more than 30, including Elisa Heinesen, Rebekka á Fjallinum, Joel Cole, Durita Thomsen, RÓ, EINSTAKT and Klevang. From the beginning, Østrøm has been a catalyst for budding artists, who can present and sell their products in smaller collections fairly risk-free, as the artisans and designers pay a commission on their sales. Over the years, Østrøm has helped to establish several professional artisans and designers who, through exposure in the shop, have been able to take the leap and open their own shop.

Alia Gurli designs jewellery made of sheep horn with a simple geometric expression, which emphasises the material’s structure, colour and strength in the encounter with silver and gold. Her use of this demanding material is the result of a desire to breathe new life into the local resources which have been overlooked in recent times.

Since 2013, Turið Nolsøe Mohr has produced jewellery from basalt, gold and silver with a minimalist and geometric cut. She is a trained architect, but also chose to work with jewellery to get down to the details of the Faroese material and closer to the body.

In the field of interior design, mention should also be made of Osmund Olsen who graduated from the Kolding School of Design in 2013. In 2014, he launched his company under his own name and he mainly designs lamps from acrylic slats, which appear light, bright and modernist. He is one of the few in the Faroe Islands who works in this field.

Ragnhild Hjalmarsdóttir Højgaard, who graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design in Copenhagen in 2017, weaves and tufts rugs, sound panels and cushions from Faroese wool, which she keeps in its natural colour. Among other things, she has helped create interiors for restaurant NOMA in Copenhagen and the Hilton Garden Inn in the Faroe Islands.

The company Heimkaer also produces interiors, but in knitwear. Focus is on finely knitted merino wool in varying colours, where the structure appears three-dimensionally in the form of stones or patterned in traditional Nordic knitting patterns. Heimkaer was launched in 2013 by Ann Højgaard Slot, who graduated from the Kolding School of Design in 2012.

Since 1987, Guðrið Poulsen has had the ceramics workshop Leirlist in Tórshavn. She graduated from Myndlistaand handiðaskóli Íslands in Iceland in 1986 and produces unique functional designs, most often in the form of cups, bowls and plates. In recent years, she has also worked with decoration and smaller works of art made of ceramics.

Further reading

• Association activities and volunteering on the Faroe Islands
• Building style on the Faroe Islands
• Bundni Steinurin (The Knitted Rock)
• Film on the Faroe Islands
• Gøtu Fornminnisfelag (Museum Association)
• Languages and dialects on the Faroe Islands
• Literature on the Faroe Islands
• Media on the Faroe Islands
• Museums of cultural history and heritage on the Faroe Islands
• Music on the Faroe Islands
• Religion and religious communities on the Faroe Islands
• Sports on the Faroe Islands
• Theater on the Faroe Islands
• Tradition and tales on the Faroe Islands
• Visual arts on the Faroe Islands

Read more about Culture on the Faroe Islands