Icelandic Contemporary Design
Dear guests,
I am honoured to be invited here to DanskDesign Center to open this exhibition of Icelandic Contemporary Design – furniture, product design and architecture.
The greatest assets of any country or region are its people, their creativity, skill and talent.
Within the economy the industries based on these assets are known collectively as the ‘Creative Industries’ – a unique sector that is creating wealth and jobs through developing and exploiting intellectual property.
In Iceland we are experiencing the importance of our creative industries better than ever before.
During the financial collapse and the economic crisis we are experiencing, it is good to feel the creative power which has been Iceland‘s strength for some time.
We see this creative power at work in a number of promising startup companies. We see this in the applications for innovation support. And we hope to improve the statistics so we can map the impact of the creative industries on the economy and employment.
As the minister of industry, energy and tourism I am a bit preoccupied with the extra value this sector is contributing to our society.
Culture plays an increasingly important role in the world economy. The Creative Industries are a fast growing sector globally, providing numerous jobs and increasingly adds value to our identity.
We are all looking for this extra that makes us special while at the same time exchanging ideas and being influenced by others.
When asked to explain what Iceland and Icelandic culture is all about we can latch onto a variety of cliches about the land of contrasts; fire and ice; powerful nature etc.
But when I discuss the renewable energy of Iceland, both geothermal and hydropower, the real reason for its existence is that Iceland is a sort of a place in between.
We bridge the contintental plates of Europe and North-America. This explains the great amount of geothermal energy and diverse landscape of this relatively young country.
Some point out that Iceland is not only a continental bridge geographically, but also in a cultural sense.
In the Icelandic society we see a mixture of the Northern European emphasis on welfare and the American emphasis on the entrepreneurial spirit.
Maybe the recent financial turmoil has reduced our appetite for US style risk taking in finance and brought us closer to Europe in that respect.
We have sought education from both sides of the Atlantic and brought knowledge and experience back home.
The economy and industries of Iceland grow from this soil.
We have added the latest in science and technology to our experience in using natural resources, whether the fishing stocks, hydropower or geothermal energy.
The tourist industry thrives on the fact that you can step almost directly from the latest in modern luxury and leisure activities into unspoilt nature.
Maybe we need a bit more distance to observe whether we see the same powers behind the great strides that have been taken in Icelandic design in recent years.
But you can judge for yourself from the works of the twenty two designers and design teams participating in this exhibition. They give an excellent overview of the best in furniture design, product design and architecture.
This is the first Icelandic design exhibition here in this distinguished centre and I hope it marks the beginning of a long and meaningful relationship between Icelandic and Nordic design.
I notice that two of the qualities that are said to characterise this exhibition is „curiosity“ and „optimism“.
Both are highly important. We need innovation and creative thinking. That is the way forward for our societies.
Congratulations and enjoy.
