Style & Culture

The best shops in Reykjavik

Iceland and its far-out landscapes have bubbled up to the boil. In its design-mad capital, the most northerly in the world, edgy stores are neatly packed alongside modern-minded artisans mixing the minimal and elemental
Shops in Reykjavik Iceland

Reykjavik’s shopping scene is one of the best-kept Nordic secrets. Undaunted by the prospect of establishing an independent brand from scratch, Icelandic designers mix formal training, heritage crafts and self-taught skills, often running their own stores while tinkering away in a workshop in the back. They’re notoriously tricky to pin down – few have searchable websites – so a stroll in the capital quickly turns into a discovery of quirky brands and the people behind them.

  • REYKJAVIK LETTER PRESS Need a bespoke card tag or notebook Graphic designers Olof Birna Garðarsdóttir and Hildur...
    Baldur Kristjansson

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    REYKJAVIK LETTER PRESS

    Need a bespoke card, tag or notebook? Graphic designers Olof Birna Garðarsdóttir and Hildur Sigurdardottir, the duo behind studio/shop Reykjavik Letter Press, have it covered. They offer full-whack modern graphic-design work as well as specialised letterpress services using centuries-old printmaking techniques, plus carry-on-ready postcards and writing paper with Icelandic phrases and iconography.

    Address: Reykjavik Letter Press, Fiskislóð 24, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 517 0170
    Website: letterpress.is

  • Jon Gudmundsson

    Where to shop for homeware in Reykjavik

    AKKURAT

    Concept store Akkúrat, a collaboration between Döðlur studio (known for its slick interiors projects) and shopkeeper Sigrún Guðný Markúsdóttir, is one of the city’s latest creative hotspots. It’s housed within the 1855 Ingólfsnaust complex, which contains some of the oldest buildings in Reykjavik and is also home to the Icelandic Design Centre. Akkúrat stocks clothes and accessories, furniture, cosmetics and candles. Particularly good finds include Kalda’s super-fluffy wool and white leather mules and Verandi’s Grapefruit and Lemon coffee-salt body scrub.

    Address: Akkúrat, Aðalstræti 2, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 868 7613
    Website: akkurat.is

    MY CONCEPT STORE

    My Concept Store seems to stock everything the curious traveller might want for on the road and back home again. Vintage globes and antique wooden cows sourced from India share slate-grey shelves and map cabinets with My Black and My Charlotte, the shop’s new line of oxidised silver and gold diamond jewellery, as well as cashmere and silk from My Peysa, rucksacks and fur-trimmed parkas.

    Address: My Concept Store, Laugavegur 45, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 519 6699
    Website: myconceptstore.is

  • EPAL

    There are smaller Epal stores at the airport, Harpa convention centre and on Kringlan and Laugavegi streets. But it’s worth the short trip out of town to Skeifan to find the two-storey, warehouse-like flagship of this 35-year mainstay of Nordic design. Each conceptual space blurs the line between living area and imagination. Classic Danish pieces such as Arne Jacobsen’s egg chair and Poul Henningsen’s snowball lamp are interspersed with playful Icelandic concepts, including Sigurjon Palsson’s wooden puffin and Vík Prjónsdóttir’s Healing Hands, a five-fingered scarf that wraps around you like a hug.

    Address: Epal, Skeifan 6, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 568 7733
    Website: epal.is

    KIRSUBERJATREO

    Run by 11 female artisans, one of whom is usually working as the shop assistant, Kirsuberjatréð (‘cherry tree’ in Icelandic), is an eclectic gathering of art-meets-craft homewares, jewellery and curiosities. Fish-skin bags, radish paper bowls, chicken-feather music boxes and upcycled rubbish and driftwood are displayed alongside baby clothes crafted in fine wool; there’s also a workshop on site that regularly hosts international guest artists and exhibitions.

    Address: Kirsuberjatréð, Vesturgata 4, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 562 8990
    Website: kirs.is

  • Annette Falck-Berendsohn

    FOTOGRAFI

    Set somewhat incongruously on one of Reykjavik’s smartest shopping streets, tiny red-iron-walled Fotografi has everything you could want from a traditional photographic print shop, including conversation with corduroy-clad regulars and a vinyl soundtrack heavy on punk and the old-school Icelandic crooner Stefán Islandi. Among the 200 vintage cameras hanging from the walls and littering the floor (watch your feet) are works by contemporary photographers that look beyond the country’s show-stealing landscapes, including gallery owner Ari Sigvaldason’s Astronaut. A signed copy of his spacesuited man stopping traffic in front of Reykjavik’s Hallgrímskirkja cathedral is yours for about £30.

    Address: Fotografi, Skólavörðustígur 22, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Website: fotografi.is

    Pictured: An old grocery shop

  • HUGDETTA

    When they are not designing offices, children’s hospital wards and New York restaurants, husband-and-wife team Róshildur Jónsdóttir and Snæbjörn Þór Stefansson are busy masterminding eclectic, functional conceptual art pieces for their design company Hugdetta. Alongside minimalistic wood-and-metal chairs and sofabeds, there are more portable pieces such as flat-pack Invisible birch chairs and Something Fishy, a model-making kit comprising more than 100 real fish bones.

    Address: Hugdetta, Barónsstíg 27, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 694 7020
    Website: hugdetta.com

    HRIM

    Hrím is a hit for its range of international brands, including London Pottery, Kähler and Smeg, but make a beeline for the Icelandic section to pick up Ihanna Home’s monochrome dot, line and loop print blankets and cushions, or dishware and accessories from Tulipop, a world populated by gothic cartoon characters such as the cuddly red-horned monster Fred.

    Address: Hrím, Laugavegi 25, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 553 3003
    Website: hrm.is

    Pictured: An installation by artist Eske Kath at Epal design store

  • Where to shop for clothes in Reykjavík

    STEFANSBUO/P3

    Keen to give pre-loved pieces new life, designer Stefán Svan Aðalheiðarson set up a Facebook consignment store where anyone could buy and sell second-hand fashion. The idea was so popular that he partnered with concept store P3 to create Stefánsbúð/p3 (pictured)– now one of Reykjavik’s most popular vintage stores – where he receives, repairs and peddles items on behalf of their owners, as well as importing pre-owned accessories from Europe and the USA.

    Address: Stefánsbúð/p3, Ingólfsstræti 2b,101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 772 0411
    Website: facebook.com/stefansbud

    GEYSIR

    Geysir is one of Iceland’s best-known lifestyle brands and epitomises the country’s pared-back aesthetic. Alongside Geysir’s own line of cosy knits and blankets, its six sleek stores stock a Scandi-skewed selection – Danish labels Ganni and print queen Stine Goya – plus a tightly curated collection of Icelandic names, including swimwear by Swimslow and Kalda shoes.

    Address: Geysir, Skólavörðustígur 16 & 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 519 6030
    Website: geysir.com

  • Jessie Evans

    KRONKRON

    Although visiting Kronkron feels a little like stepping into the 1960s, this is no vintage store – the psychedelic mix-and-match silk print shirts, skirts and dresses are all new creations by hair stylist Magni Þorsteinsson and his wife Hungrún Árnadottír, a fashion graduate of Paris’s Studio Bercot. Their Kron by Kronkron shoes, handmade in Spain from smooth and brushed leather, suede and lacquer, recall something Vivienne Westwood might step out in; there’s also a solid selection of high-end international brands, including Acne Studios, Comme des Garçons and Sonia Rykiel.

    Address: Kronkron, Laugavegi 63B, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 562 8388
    Website: kronkron.com

    ORRIFINN

    For its small size, Reykjavik seems to have a disproportionately large number of goldsmiths and silversmiths producing edgy, beautiful designs. Orrifinn is a local favourite. The entrance, slightly below street level, is easy to miss. But you know you’ve gone too far if you pass the window displaying plaster-cast vertebrae hung with axe pendants and clavicle-framing braided metal necklaces. Most days proprietors Orri Finnbogason and Helga Gvuðrún Friðriksdóttir’s can be seen hammering out new ideas in the space behind the till.

    Address: Orrifinn, Skólavörðustígur 17a, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
    Telephone: +354 789 7616

    Pictured: clothes at Stefansbud/P3 boutique

  • Mikael Axelsson

    Local know-how according to Edda Gudmundsdottir, stylist to Bjork

    ‘Go to Ion Adventure Hotel for a night. Just 40 minutes from Reykjavik, it has an outdoor hot tub set below a dormant volcano, the landscape is beautiful and the restaurant serves excellent food.’

    ‘Mokka Kaffi is one of the city’s best coffee spots. It’s where artists and writers have hung out since I was a kid. It’s always kept the same look, and the huge old coffee machine, and is still incredibly popular now.’

    ‘Sea Baron is a little fisherman’s shack in the harbour that does catch-of-the-day and lobster soup. It’s very low-key – you’re basically sitting on beer kegs – but great.’

    ‘For dinner, go to Snaps – it’s a fantastic neighbourhood joint – and Iceland’s first Michelin-starred restaurant, Dill.’

    Pictured: Dill restaurant

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