Útilykt

66°North and Fischersund designed a fragrance inspired by the scent of the Icelandic outdoors. This fascinating collaboration was revealed during the Design March festival, on the 19th - 23rd May 2021.

Headwind in every direction
Drifting snow creeping undercoat collars
Snow beads on wooly mittens
Berry colored tongue and head resting on a pillow of moss
Lawnmower in a distant garden
An undressed Christmas tree blowing down the sidewalk in the sea breeze
Frosted windows, weather forecast, and the car heater on full blast.

Fischersund x 66°North is an interdisciplinary design project with the aim of creating a fragrance for 66°North, as well as a unique world of experience around the fragrance, as part of the project is a musical composition by Jónsi from Sigurrós, Sindri, and Kjartan Holm. Jónsi is one of the founding partners of Fischersund, a company that specializes in experience and perception. Jónsi and his sisters, Lilja, Ingibjörg, and Sigurrós established Fischersund together in 2017, making the phrase "family business" certainly apt.

"This collaboration is in fact a story of Iceland and Icelandic nature told through music and fragrance. The idea was to capture the fresh scent people notice when they come inside after a good time spent outdoors, a scent that is difficult to define exactly, but everyone is familiar with".

The fragrance is handmade in Iceland and made from Icelandic medicinal herbs and oils, which makes it a pure fragrance product, free of all unwanted additives. As previously mentioned, the inspiration comes from Icelandic nature and the scent of the Icelandic outdoors; the wind, the sea, the snow, freshly cut grass, and being outside. All played a major part in the inspiration when the design teams from 66°North and Fischersund worked on developing the fragrance.

66°North and Fischersund both emphasize strong storytelling in their work. This collaboration is in fact a story of Iceland and Icelandic nature told through music and fragrance. The idea was to capture the fresh scent people notice when they come inside after a good time spent outdoors, a scent that is difficult to define exactly, but everyone is familiar with.

"Creating a fragrance is a long process", says Lilja. "We start with the conceptual work. What story do we want to tell? We go back to our own scent-memories a lot, which we often have in common, and create a concept out of that. Then the development comes next. We decide what notes we want in the fragrance, what elements we find first and what remains.

Then Jónsi takes over and creates recipes, and we choose one to develop further".

"Before the final fragrance is ready, we have tossed the recipe back and forth between us, changing and improving, spraying it on everyone around us, going in endless circles until, finally, everything clicks."

Fischersund x 66°North

Útilykt fragrance

"Music and fragrance are both really abstract things. If you read the description of a fragrance or a music composition, you still have no idea of what it’s really like – you have to experience it."

Útilykt

"This collaboration is in fact a story of Iceland and Icelandic nature told through music and fragrance. The idea was to capture the fresh scent people notice when they come inside after a good time spent outdoors, a scent that is difficult to define exactly, but everyone is familiar with".

"Before the final fragrance is ready, we have tossed the recipe back and forth between us, changing and improving, spraying it on everyone around us, going in endless circles until, finally, everything clicks."

Fischersund x 66°North

Útilykt fragrance

Fischersund x 66°North

Vinyl record