The founder of Icelandic Design, Gerdur Kristjansdottir, is a native of Reykjavik,Iceland. Gerdur comes from a long tradition of handicrafts, as both her grandmother and mother were well-skilled craftspeople in knitting and embroidery.  Gerdur learned the trade of knitting at the age of seven from her mother who used to make the entire family’s clothes and wool socks to stay warm through the harsh Icelandic winters. Summers would nd Gerdur sheering sheep on her uncle’s sheep farm. The shorn wool would be spun by a neighbor and turned into lovingly-constructed warm wool sweaters for the coming winter. Such was the early roots of Icelandic Design.

"Icelandic Design is an accidental business,”explains Gerdur. Her education and previous experience was in social work. Teaming up with her then retired mother in the early 1980’, more available time and decades of knitting experience coincided.  At the time Gerdur was living in Colorado, a landscape-dominated state similar to her homeland of Iceland. The demand for their well-constructed sweaters was smoldering, and the rst large wholesale order of 180 sweaters validated the change in life course for Gerdur. This original order inspired Gerdur to return to Iceland to employ 200 local knitters who would insure that the handicraft tradition would carry forth in    ne fashion. In 1984 Icelandic Design was ofcially formed, and today Gerdur is still at the helm after 20+ years. She still insures the same high quality construction and use of the nest materials just as she learned from her grandmother and mother as a little girl.

Gerdur has indeed succeeded in cultivating her traditional Icelandic handicrafts heritage through Icelandic Design. Today she is still very much involved in the creative process of the business by creating new patterns and prototypes, as well as sourcing new materials such as yarns and wools from all over the world. The goal of Icelandic Design is to create ‘wearable art’ and this is done through the care and training of small localized workforces close to the source of all of Icelandic Design’s materials. She seeks to employ knitters who can mostly work out of their homes so that they can stay close to their families. She has developed long-term relationships with many of the knitters in other countries [Nepal and China for instance] who manufacture for Icelandic Design. Her social work background applies as she truly cares for those who work with her to create the best handmade wool sweaters available. “This feels good to me, and is a worthwhile thing” explains Gerdur on her active support of her knitters.  “They encourage me to keep the business going.” With their positive feedback and her tradition, the future of Icelandic Design looks warm and cozy.