We are back from Reykjavik (one more post is coming up!) and the shop is open again, Tues-Sat 10 to 6! As always, if you can’t make it during those times, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment!

Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, as well as some new ones thanks to the wonderful September issue of House & Home Magazine, currently available!

Also, NEW in the shop: Kenton Sorenson’s leather iPad case, Passport holder, iPhone case and Dopp kit. Wicked awesome!

Day two started off super early with a quick breakfast at the Grey Cat again (not much else was open and we didn’t have time to wander) and a meeting with Ingibjörg Hanna Bjarnadóttir at Reykjavik’s major Scandinavian design shop Epal. She is fortunate enough to have a space for her studio within their large showroom. We already carry her raven coat hangars but we wanted to meet her in person and see some of her other work.

Right after that we headed over to the brand new Spark Design Space for our second meeting with Thury from Vik Prjonsdottir – we’ll be putting in an order this week for some very awesome wintry items. This meeting was quite fortuitous, as we also met with gallery owner and the head of product design at the design school, Sigridur Sigurjonsdottir. She shared with us some recent student/graduate/faculty work. As well we learned about the current exhibition at Spark.

“For the past two years Maack has worked with the world of scents, creating fragrances for her art projects in collaboration with French perfumery APF. The scents are based on a perfumer translating the artists original drawings into scents.”

I am totally not a perfume person, but I tried one on for the day and returned later to buy “Sharp”. (photo from Spark)

From left: John, Thury and Andrea.

After a morning of meetings we went to Sægreifinn in the harbor area. They have the best lobster soup. Note baby in pram, sleeping soundly outside the restaurant. God I wish we lived in such a world.

Nom nom.

Gull beer and lobster soup. Not exactly a match made in heaven, but whatever.

That painting is awesome.

The inspiration. For some reason they felt the need to include the guy lurking in the background.

Mink whale, anyone?

Blue cat. Love the attention to detail.

A gallery and the design shop Kraum are located in this building, which is the oldest house in Reykjavik, dated to 1762.

John in shopping mode.

Off to get cultured, we stopped in at Reykjavík 871±2. I really like the mood of this exhibition, which is about the first settlement discovered in Reykjavik. It’s small, intimate and technically innovative. The above is a motion sensor video that plays when you walk past (the ghost like person and bird are the only things that move in the video).

A bit of the archeological find, with a smoking volcano in the background.

Afternoon snack at Mokka Kaffi, my absolute favourite coffee shop ever. Old timey and super cozy.

Wood, fabric woven wallpaper, aubergine carpet, steel.

The best waffles and lattes. The place was rammed when we first got there, waffles all around.

Again with the copper and black lighting. A ghostly patina on the wood slats.

Dinner was at Fish Market, recommended by Kitka friend Tyrone Warner among many. Reservation recommended.

We went with the tasting plate – which is served to the table. Kind of a greatest hits off their menu.

We outpaced most.

Our new friend Ingibjörg invited us out for a night cap at “Boston” a really cool bar on the second floor of a building. The DJ was in her 60s and playing some real classics, everyone was in a good mood and singing along.

Our plane landed in Iceland around 6:30 AM and after picking up our bags, taking a bus into Reykjavik, and checking in at our hotel we were pretty exhausted and hungry. We stopped to have some breakfast at the Grey Cat.

The artwork to the right was made by the owner of the Grey Cat.

We definitely needed our coffee fix.

Yum! Eggs with stewed tomatoes, potatoes, bacon, and toast! The perfect cure for our zombiefication.

The interior is quite cozy with vintage copper and black painted pendant lights and lots of books.

We are staying at the 101 Hotel which used to be the Icelandic Social Democratic Party’s former home until it was transformed by owner and designer Ingiborg S. Palmadottir.

There are rows and rows of design literature throughout the lobby.

At the entrance to our room was this beautiful black glossy catch-all mounted to the wall. It fits everything perfectly.

The room is simple and clean with heated oak floors and Italian linen sheets. We really loved the 3 oak shelves in the entrance.

There is a long counter which is used as a desk, a television stand, and a bar.

Our little mini bar with some Icelandic treats.

Another cool feature was having a little drawer full of little gifts you can buy.

The bathroom took some getting used to, with its frosted glass and full mirrors.

After food and shower we headed out into the sunshine for a wander.

We were running out of fuel so we stopped off to get another round of lattes and a couple of croissants at Sandholt cafe.

Refueled, we headed down to the harbor area.

Our first dinner in Reykjavik was at La Primavera which we heard to be one of Jamie Oliver’s favorite restaurants. It’s a fusion between Icelandic and Italian cuisine, we were intrigued.

It was a bit of an early dinner, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The first course was goats cheese sauce under a bed of prosciutto topped with arugula and drizzled with oil. It was very savory and the arugula added a nice peppery flavour that balanced the dish. The bread basket also saw a lot of action.

The main was slow cooked lamb, tagliatelle, Parmesan and parsley. Simple, delicious, comfort food–exactly what we needed that night.

The desert was a panna cotta with vanilla and orange garnish. I didn’t think I liked panna cotta until now.

I guess they were right about the whole Jamie Oliver thing.

Our last stop of the evening was Prikid for a couple of pints.

Viking pints of course.

I guess this is a good time to mention that we are still alive. We’ve been having issues with the blog since we changed servers, and we haven’t been able to upload photos. Hopefully we’ll have another post for you guys later on today!

For now I thought it would be fun to compile another Business Trip Essentials post, like we did when we went to Tokyo.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’re aware that we are huge fans of vintage Braun. Dietrich Lubs worked with Dieter Rams during the glory years at Braun and has been commissioned by Duller Japan to make a pen for their collection.

The Dietrich Lubs pen comes housed in a beautiful little notebook, perfect for quick jots and the perfect size for traveling. We’ve been using it to write down addresses and phone numbers and it’s been great!

We’re really excited to be the only retailer in Canada to carry Kenton Sorenson leather products. This passport wallet is made from vegetable tanned leather and will start to get darker with regular use. It’s really been a pleasure using it at the airport because you can literally put everything you need into this little wallet.

The last item which has been getting a lot of compliments (in the store and now in Iceland) is the iPad portfolio. It features the same beautiful leather which you can see is already getting a nice patina, and a long leather tie to keep everything together.

We’ll be introducing more and more Kenton Sorenson products the closer we get to Christmas, but I can tell you now that there are iphone sleeves, Dopp kits, and laptop cases coming very soon!

Hi everyone! We have a lot of photos to share but can’t upload them to the blog! Thanks for your patience…we haven’t forgotten about you!

Update: Ugh. Was REALLY hoping to get some posts up today, but it’s still not working.