LÍFSSTÍLL  Design magazine,  "Fjölbreytni er Lykilorðið", by Svava Jónsdóttir, Reykjavik, Iceland, pp. 40-44, #4 2000.
 

Lifsstill Magazine; Design, Furniture, Home and Music. Article by Svava Jonsdottir. Photographs by Thordarson studio, Blanche Mackey and Veretta Cobler/V-Group. Pages 4, 40-44, issue #4, 2000.

He is from Reykjavik and completed his Natural Sciences degree from MH College. After this his course headed to New York City, where he studied architecture. "I had been working on architecture concepts and designs from age 13. What set me on going into the field was this drafting class way back in 9^th grade. In MH I took a class with Halldor Runolfsson art critic, and this is the time where I finally decided to be an architect. Halldor was a very good teacher and somehow focused my energy.

The Icelandic artist says that his interest in architecture is how it connects into various other fields. "It is directly joined with urban design, furniture design, industrial design, sculpture... it also can be coupled with music through structure. All of this forms a kind of a core that I am currently absorbed in."

Olafur Thordarson artist works on architecture, art, furniture design, industrial design… "I really see this as a singular existence. Currently, I am teaching industrial design at RISD –Rhode Island School of Design which is the leading University in industrial design in the United States. There, I take on class subjects connecting architecture and industrial design. This semester, my students work on the elevator from a conceptual point of view." (See vefrit.com/elevator.htm)

This year, Thordarson has been designing clocks and lamps which he will introduce during next year. "These designs are a secret at the moment and are turning out really great. They for instance correlate to certain sound formations that New York musician Skuli Sverrisson is working on."

One can not help but notice these works by the Icelander. They are very original. Unusual. Sometimes he gets his ideas while dreaming.

"I concentrate on the works being original and having a personality; that they speak for themselves, not necessarily needing to be explained. Regarding the objects, I mostly work on them on my own to maintain the characteristics. Here, the design procedure is left partially open so many of the objects seem somewhat in an unfinished state.

My objects are not really as powerful in a photograph as they are in reality, especially in terms of their scale. For me it is so important to experience an object and handle it, feel how it moves and see variations and light fractions. All to often I see objects which look great in a photograph but when one actually touches them, they become diminished, even disappointing."

Concerning the evolution of his projects, Thordarson explains that often the designs follow similar investigative routes while each remains distinct with its own identity. "Variety is a key word with me."

The material use is also very original. Unusual. "I don’t know anymore what is unusual or not. Life itself is completely weird. Whenever one creates something, it remains there so it is important to be decisive where one is heading at each moment. To be investigative, curious and enthusiastic is what gets stated in what one makes. I see material use as just one of these issues relating to the experience of an object. Lately I have used concrete, plasters, gauzes and woods. I also use resins, which are cast materials widely used industrial applications as plastics and rubbers. Resin is an expensive material and the people who buy my objects get a lot of it, not just the sort of cheapo thin stuff most common in industrial productions. The material must say something when one touches it or interacts with my objects and therefore be one of the deciding factors included with both form and function. Plastics are very beautiful materials when they are used in the right kind of experience."

The objects by the Icelander speak. "My objects speak in different tongues but most of all I like them to get people to speak out. In the International Furniture Fair in New York last year, I noticed that people’s reactions were remarkably consistent. First they headed directly towards my objects, touched them, walked around them, smiled and then inquired about them. The objects thereby manage to get people to react, i.e. think, so this is truly the best I see one getting in his design objective. My objects influence people in the manner that they are not those daily unnoticed routine objects but connect one’s perception with art and expression. Perhaps one can say they embody a certain living spirit."

Thordarson’s objects can be purchased at Gallery Fold. Those interested can also view his web pages at www.dingaling.net and www.thordarson.com.

The designer emphasizes lighting. He says the lamp is such an interesting project when it is not only conceived of as mere task lighting. "Lamps have this capacity to create a presence in a space –in a way other objects can not. Lighting has to do with light itself and therefore what the entire color spectrum offers. Certain applications remain uninvestigated, regarding the light source itself and its relationship to the screen i.e. the body it travels through. In my Fungi lamps, which are well over two meters high, I put a projector light into the cast concrete foot. The screen is then formed so that it captures the light beam itself. The form is therefore a result of the light beam reaching a certain light distribution onto the screen. The socket becomes this concrete foot that suspends the screen above with raw concrete reinforcing bars."

One sees Icelandic characteristics in Thordarson’s designs. He points out how one can see the influence of lava flows or "how material cures while flowing, like lava." It can for instance be seen in the foot of the Hond I Belg lamp [1990], where the plaster slumps while solidifying. This is really a direct influence from my travel experiences in Iceland."

Dingaling. Dingaling. Dingaling. One thinks of a toy. A toy telephone. A child calling on its toy phone. Dingaling Studio is Thordarson’s company, with his partner/fiancé Donna Fumoso, a make-up artist and herself a designer of jewelry.

"One of the ideas behind this name was that the computer modem calls into the company web page to see our work. The name hasn’t gone unnoticed and people easily remember it."

Aside from the design work and operating the company, Thordarson publishes the web magazine Das Boot (www.dasboot.org or www.vefrit.com) regularly presenting diverse artists. According to Thordarson, the webzine is a really great project. "I knew so many good artists that were in need of a voice that this whole thing started out of pure necessity. We do emphasize giving space to Icelandic artists."

Thordarson lives in this world where everything revolves around design. His workshop is where he lives, right off Wall Street and Broadway –and there, everything is filled with prototypes, paintings, tools, computers…

"This is a never ending work. It is certainly very giving. It does take a lot of self-discipline to constantly absorb into inventing new objects, make them and promote them. The main issue is to enjoy this whole engagement and this spirit hopefully gets through in the design work."

 © copyright Olafur Thordarson / Dingaling Studio, Inc. 1998-2001. All rights reserved. No information can be copied
from this web site without a written permission. Each design is copyrighted by Olafur Thordarson/Dingaling Studio inc.