We have started new section “Interviews”, and a first article is about
Hörður Lárusson, Graphic designer from Reykjavik.

NDB: Hi Hörður, First off all does your name have some particular meaning in Icelandic language?

Hi to you too. My name means nothing at all in Icelandic. In Norwegian on the other hand it has a meaning, that is “a man from Hordaland” (which is a place in Norway). Actually the street I live in here in Reykjavik is called Hordaland, so I guess I truly am the man from Hordaland.

NDB: Where do you get your inspiration from?

I’d like to say that I get it from books and stuff, like everyone else says … but truthfully I think I get most of my inspiration from my friends, family and other people I usually hang out with.

NDB: Tell us about your favorite work you have done?

Of the stuff I’ve done recently I think there are two that you could say are my favorites. These two projects, although both being books, couldn’t be more different in terms of working on them. First there is a paper I designed with 2 good friends. It was a school paper for the Commercial Collage of Iceland, called V71. It was over 200 pages and we got the freedom to whatever we wanted to and didn’t have to worry much about the money side of things. We spent about 2 months locked up in a tiny room downtown, that smelled of apples, and produced what I think is, a great paper filled with illustrations, witty text and nifty design tricks. Second project was a book that contained 10 interviews with famous artists from all over the world. There is only one picture in the whole book, it’s all in black and white and there was hardly any money to spend and no time. I still think the outcome is one of my best works. Both of them are books I still like to grab from my shelf and flip through once in a while.

NDB: This is a standard question that we ask our guests: What are the top five songs currently on your playlist?

I’m not sure that this is a safe question to ask me … I am notorious for having terrible taste in music. Although in-between I like listening to classics like Creedence, Beach Boys and Kraftwerk, some of my more questionable music (according to the people around me) is stuff like Halcali, Phat Krew and the great danish band Aqua. Aqua still gets quite some air time on my computer.

NDB: What is your favorite drink?

Cranberry/Apple juice and hot water with ginger… but don’t try mixing them together.

NDB: Finally Hörður, any words of wisdom for our Nordic Design Blog readers?

I think I’ll quote Scooter and say: “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice”.