HELSINKI.- The young Icelandic designer Brynjar Siguršarson received the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize, the world’s largest design award, in 2018. His prize exhibition is on view in Design Museum’s Gallery. This exhibition presents Siguršarson’s original idiom of form and working method, which have achieved international recognition in a very short time. The Söderberg Prize exhibition is now being seen for the last time at Design Museum, because the Torsten Söderberg and Ragnar Söderberg Foundations have stopped awarding the prize.

Designer Brynjar Siguršarson’s unique works, falling into the interstices of utility objects and sculpture, represent conceptual design in which narrative has an important role The designer’s connection with the natural environment and local traditions of his native Iceland has a strong presence in his work. In his furniture designs, Siguršarson has applied hundred-year-old net weaving techniques, among other methods.

The award committee of the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg prize described its choice as follows:

Brynjar Siguršarson’s work has strong roots in two of the fundamental elements of Icelandic heritage, namely storytelling and fishing. The authenticity of his work springs from the ability to connect with the past but at the same time stand firmly in the present where international influences and new opportunities have greeted him. Brynjar“s ability to collaborate with people from different disciplines such as fishermen, filmmakers, writers, musicians, archaeologists and crafts people is a key factor in all his work.

Brynjar Siguršarson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986. He is currently living and working in the South of France, where he has had a German-Icelandic design studio with designer Veronica Sedlmair since 2015. Siguršarson has a bachelor’s degree in product design from the Iceland Academy of Arts and a master’s degree from ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The Söderberg Prize awarded for the last time
The Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize was established by the Torsten Söderberg and Ragnar Söderberg Foundations and awarded for the first time in 1994 on the centenary of the birth of Torsten Söderberg. Söderberg’s wife, Wanja née Aminoff was one of the donors of funds for the Torsten Söderberg Foundation. The Söderberg Foundations have been Sweden’s leading patrons of research. Worth SEK 1,000,000, the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize was the largest of its kind in the world. It has been administered until now by the Röhsska Museum and awarded annually to a Nordic designer or craftsperson. Previous recipients of the prize include Mats Theselius (Sweden), Peter Opsvik (Norway), Steinunn Siguršardóttir (Iceland), Harri Koskinen (Finland), Ann-Sofie Back (Sweden), Henrik Vibskov (Denmark), Margrethe Odegaard (Denmark) and Daniel Rybakken (Norway).

The Brynjar Siguršarson exhibition is on show at Design Museum from 7 June to 25 August 2019.