“Hanna´s work leads you into a magical world filled with intriguing colours and shapes. The material selection and the handling of material is unique and characteristic. She uses her own curiosity, ideas and intuition and does not follow the styles, trends or tastes of others. This makes her pieces look like nothing else and her mind shows through in every move. Her style has a certain roughness but at the same time so much softness. These contrasts and unexpected moments result in the works being constantly surprising. Hanna Dís does not always follow the rules and thus manages to create new methods, new aesthetics and new worlds.” - Rúna Thors
Hanna Dís Whitehead focuses on a hands-on approach, working in a very personal way, interweaving story, shape, materials and colour.
Hanna works on the borders of art, design and craft often going between diverse materials within the same subject. She is very interested in the dialog between objects and the viewer. Recently she has started to focus on local materials growing around her studio in the South East of Iceland, Hornafjordur.
She makes almost all her objects herself in her studio out of diverse materials for example wood, wool, straw & ceramics. Mixing them together in interesting ways. Working on objects she strives to give them an energetic feel with a generous amount of colour and expression.
In the studio she uses multiple craft techniques such as rug tufting, hand-building, extruding & casting ceramics, wood furniture making, weaving, felting and most recently straw marquetry. Always looking for new ways to shape and give life to materials.
Hanna works & lives in Hornafjordur, a quite remote area around 500 km away from the capital Reykjavík. Hornafjordur has around 2000 inhabitants and is surrounded by mountains and the Vatnajökull glacier. It used to be one of the most isolated areas in Iceland.
Hanna Dís graduated Cum Laude from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2011.
Her work has been featured for example on Sight Unseen, Damn magazine, Frameweb, Dezeen, Elle decor web, Milk decoration, Core magazine, Herdes magazine, Grapevine magazine, Wallpaper online, Vogue, Vogue Skandinavia, The nordic style mag, Design diffusion magazine, Gray magazine, Designmilk, Say Hi to, Oak the nordic journal & Another Magazine.
Her work is in the collection of The Icelandic museum of design and applied arts & Svavarssafn Art museum.
Selection of recent publications here!
Contact:
studio@hannawhitehead.com
Work available through:
Unique works
Studio in Höfn open by appointment only :)
Gallery Port - Artist run space. Reykjavík
Listval - Art Consultancy, Reykjavík
Smaller ceramics and other things available:
Studio Hanna Whitehead webshop
Also in Reykjavík art museum shop- Hafnarhús, Reykjavík art museum shop- Ásmundarsafn, Icelandic Design museum, Gerðarsafn museum - Kópavogur & Kiosk Grandi.
Selection of recent exhibitions
Curated by FLD, Spinneriet, Gothenburg, Sweden group exhibition, 2024
Attributes 2, Stúkusalur, part of art festival Umhverfing 5, Höfn, 2024
Hæ/Hi Vol III, Icelandic Embassy-3 days of design, Copenhagen, 2024
Attributes, Mosfellsssbær Gallery, 2024, Solo exhibition.
Echo, Rammagerðin flag ship store, 2024 with Petit Art Prints
Hæ/HI: Vol III, Landsbankahúsið, 2024, Group exhibition.
Stockholm furniture fair- Greenhouse, 2024
Under/Over, Ottó Höfn, 2023, Solo exhibition
Jólagestir Gallery Port, Gallerý Port, 2023 group exhibition
Margt smátt, Harbinger project space, 2023 Group exhibition
Gentle Glow, Gallery Port, 2023-Solo exhibition
Jólagestir Gallery Port, Gallery Port, 2022-group exhibition
Untitled, Embassy of Iceland in Helsinki, 2022-solo exhibition
HÆ/HI, Bianco Gallery, Seattle-USA, 2022-group exhibition
Continued, Ottó, Hornafjordur, 2022- Solo exhibition
Spin, Gerðarsafn art museum, Kópavogur 2022- Solo exhibition
Hæ/Hi, Stak event space, Reykjavík 2022-group exhibition
Another house, Ásmundarsalur Gallery, Reykjavík 2022
Fimm pottþétt í fötum, Gallery Port, Reykjavík 2021
Stance - linear narratives, Berg Contemporary Gallery, Reykjavík 2021
Transition, The Nordic House, Reykjavík 2021- solo exhibition
Point of view, Harbinger project space, Reykjavík 2021
Hönnun í anda Ásmundar, Reykjavík Art museum- Ásmundarsafn, Reykjavík 2021.
Claying with type with Guðmundur Úlfarsson, Gallery Port, Reykjavík 2020
Crossovers by Adorno, Old Truman brewery, London design fair, London 2019.
Senseware -group exhibition. Ivana Helskinki house. Helsinki design week 2019.
Vicious Circle vol 02 with Raili Keiv, Reykjavík art museum- Kjarvalsstaðir, Designmarch, Reykjavík, 2019.
Now Nordic by Adorno, Reykjavík art museum-Hafnarhús, Designmarch, Reykjavík, 2019.
Now Nordic by Adorno, Old Truman Brewery, London design fair, London 2018.
Now Nordic by Adorno, Den frie centre of contemporary art, Chart art fair, Copenhagen, 2018.
Now Nordic by Adorno, Old Truman Brewery, London design fair, London 2018.
Another Dialog , solo show. The Culture house, Hverfisgata, Designmarch, Reykjavík 2018
Illikambur with fashion label Milla Snorrason, Harbinger project space, Designmarch, Reykjavík. 2018.
Fact based myth with Norwegian artist Mia Melvær. Icelandic design center, Reykjavík. 2017.
Viscious Circle with Raili Keiv. Estonian museum of applied art and design, Tallinn, Estonia. 2016
