‘bentey’ by ragnheiður ösp image © designboom

designboom was in reykjavík, iceland for designmarch 2011 the country’s major design week focusing on bringing forth a fresh look at the awakening of icelandic design. celebrating its third year, the event hosted a range of events, exhibitions and lectures including a show at the iconic icelandic design store epal where designboom spotted the ‘bentey’ stool by icelandic designer ragnheiður ösp of umemi. taking a mundane mass manufactured stool, ösp wanted to inject personality and a bit of her home country into the object. woolen products are a major part of traditional icelandic arts and crafts. keeping this in mind, ösp drilled a pattern of holes into the seat and then wove wool yarn through the openings, creating a floral pattern on the surface. not only providing an embroidered decoration to the everyday piece of furniture, the pattern also acts as a type of ‘padding’ for the sitter.

umemi at designmarch 2011 ‘bentey’ stools on display at epal image © designboom

umemi at designmarch 2011 top view image © designboom

umemi at designmarch 2011 detail of the woven pattern image © designboom

umemi at designmarch 2011 ‘ashley’s’ flower’ image © designboom

continuing with her exploration of wool, ösp has also developed a series of pillows in which she plays with knots, twisting and weaving, resulting in a collection of soft 3-dimensional objects. the set of five pillows were displayed at the vörhús (warehouse) á laugavegi.

umemi at designmarch 2011 ‘turks head’ image © designboom

umemi at designmarch 2011 ’round brocade’ image © designboom

umemi at designmarch 2011 ‘good luck’ image © designboom

umemi at designmarch 2011 installation view of the pillows at vörhús á laugavegi image © designboom