Get your hands "dirty" with Creative Iceland
- nicolas
- Jul 6, 2015
- 3 min read
“Nothing ever becomes real 'til it is experienced.” -John Keats
The travel industry in Iceland has grown exponentially for the last couple of years, and is now the biggest industry, putting the fishing industry in Iceland in second place. Creativity has always been a big part of the identity of Icelanders and with more visitors to the country than ever we want to offer a new perspective on activities and workshops for people interested in discovering new and memorable experiences. We want you to experience our history, culture, arts, craft and storytelling by doing!
If you are travelling in a foreign country and are interested in learning about the culture there’s always the option of visiting museums, galleries, historic sites and buildings. There you can observe what each place has to offer. Creative tourism with Creative Iceland offers you to not only observe, but also gives you the chance of a hands on experience by being a participant in the creative community in Iceland. When you go home you will have created memories and experiences that last a lifetime and you will also have adapted new skills, ideas and develop a lasting connection with Iceland and Icelandic creativity.
If you are interested in participating in the creative part of Icelandic culture, Creative Iceland offers you experiences that have each been hand selected by our team to ensure that you meet with some of Iceland’s best artists, designers, storyteller, chefs and performers to name a few.
When travelling in Iceland you might get the feeling that everyone is Iceland has their own creative project on the side. The doctor just published his third album, the engineer is writing a new mystery novel and the bus driver might have a book of poetry in his shirt pocket with his original poems. Grandmothers knit and crochet and cross stitch while the grandfathers are busy at choir practice and young men wearing their own handmade sweaters from Icelandic wool. It can feel like every other person you meet is in a band or a choir or working on something creative.
These are the people that make the culture of Iceland. The ones that have pursued a professional career in their selected field of arts or crafts are willing and able to introduce their passion of creation and design to the country’s visitors and Creative Iceland offers this unique and sustainable form of tourism which also supports our cultural and creative community.
The identity of Icelandic design has developed greatly and established its unique character. This is mainly due to the fact that only since the year 1998 have we been able to train our artists and designers in Iceland when the Iceland Academy of the Arts was founded so training and education in Iceland is very new. Promising young artists and designers are abundant and for the past few years we have witnessed creativity in Iceland having a rapid growth spurt, largely due to the financial crash. The saying “necessity is the mother of invention” has never been more true.
The cultural landscape has been greatly affected by the presence of the innovative designs of the locals. A mixture of design and respect for the ancestry and nature is hard to miss. It’s also very difficult not to get inspired yourself when you try the creative experiences first hand. The great thing about Creative Iceland is that each experience offers the participant to take part in the project and also go home with your own design, made by you, or the knowledge and information on how to make and host, let's say, a proper Icelandic dinner party.
The average local Icelander is friendly, knowledgable, speaks excellent english and is very hospitable. Many of the projects at Creative Iceland are hosted at the artist’s home or their personal studios. Most of them have gone through great lengths to refurbish and design studios or their homes to be able to produce designs and creative work, more often than not with their own hands.
We hope that with the workshops provided at Creative Iceland you will feel the optimism, curiosity, gumption and the force of nature that drives them onwards in the creative field.
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