ELEMENTAL

BUILT NORTH MODERN BARN IN ICELAND IN MAY EMBRACE THE RUGGED 2010, TRADITIONAL HAVE ATLANTIC MORE THAN IT DOES AND THIS CURATED DESIGN, BUT ITS OWNERS OCEAN ICELANDIC BLUNTED ELEMENTS WITH A SIMPLE THE THOUGHTFULLY INTERIOR.

- CHANTAL HINTZE

ICELANDIC INTERIOR DESIGNER RUT KÁRADÓTTIR IS A DREAMER.

For five years, she collected items from her favourite Scandinavian homeware brands and treasures from her travels, storing them in her garage. She’s patient, too: for years, Rut and her husband, marketing consultant Kristinn Arnarson, had been taking the 45-minute drive from Reykjavik to Stokkseyri whenever they wanted to indulge in a bucket of fresh lobster tails at their favourite restaurant, Fjörubordid. On one of their visits to this sleepy village on the Great Thjórsá Lava shoreline in the southwest of Iceland, the couple spotted a new barn being built. They fell in love with it, and it might be no coincidence that Rut began her beach-house collection around the same time as they first saw the barn. Suddenly, each visit to Stokkseyri not only meant a great dinner, but also a chance to check on “their” barn.

Fast-forward five years to a leisurely Sunday morning, and Rut was browsing the real-estate section of the local newspaper, “more out of habit than a desire to find a new property”, when she stumbled upon “their” barn. “We had just finished renovating a property in the west of Iceland and I knew we couldn’t afford another one just yet – but at least I’d finally get a glimpse inside,” she recalls.