Palli Kristjánsson & Soffía Sigurðardóttir

Knives born of Icelandic nature

• Palli and Soffía have high standards and aim to produce faultless knives
• They see themselves as recycling discarded materials
• Their pieces are rooted in their Nordic heritage

For Palli, a night dreaming about knives doesn’t result in him waking up in the cold sweat of a nightmare, but rather with a flurry of inspiration that sends him rushing into the studio to create his next masterpiece. Soffía, his partner and former apprentice, works as a tour guide travelling the country, and gathers interesting materials on her trips. Together they produce knives that hark back to the Viking Age. Their workspace is open to the public and they welcome visitors into their special mix of museum, studio and shop. Their rustic studio is full of curiosities: horns, antlers, hoofs and even teeth. These form the handles of their knives. The pair work sensitively with these natural materials and no two knives are ever the same.

Interview

©Palli Soffia

©Þorkell Þorkelsson

What do you love most about your craft?

Soffía: Palli loves his work and never talks about 'going to work'. Many of his friends say that he doesn’t work, but plays all day long. I have always been creative, I love working with my hands and I also paint. Making our living through craftsmanship is a joy.

Is heritage important in your work?

Many of our blades are replicas of old Viking blades dating back to the Iron Age. Palli is part of a group of people that value this craftsmanship from the Viking Age and systematically try to keep old traditions alive. We also feel it is important to use mostly natural Icelandic materials.

What is special about the materials you work with?

We look at ourselves as recyclers; we are saving parts from animals like hoofs, antlers and teeth, things that normally get discarded. We give these materials a chance to be part of a beautiful work of art, something that will live for centuries, if well taken care of.

What surprises customers about your work?

How long it takes to dry the material we use. Everything has to be at the same humidity level. It can take six years to dry the wood we are using. For hoofs we have to boil them for 10 hours and straighten them, and then it takes 18 months to dry them properly.

Palli Kristjánsson & Soffía Sigurðardóttir are master artisans: they began their career in 1990 and they started teaching in 1995

Works

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Where

Experiences

Knife forging course near Reykjavik

6 Hours

25000 ISK per person