The board of the Aurora Charitable Fund has made grants totalling ISK 111.5 million to six humanitarian, educational and cultural projects in Iceland and in Sierra Leone and Mozambique in Africa, including a grant of ISK 25 million per year to the Aurora Design Fund in Iceland.

The launch of the Aurora Design Fund is a landmark in design in Iceland, as the country has never before had a fund specifically to support designers. This three-year pilot project aims to strengthen the position of Icelandic design by providing financial support for promotion and marketing in Iceland and abroad. The Fund may also undertake projects on its own initiative which serve its objectives, e.g. it may present awards and hold exhibitions, and provide a forum for collaboration between designers and the production/business sector.

There is no lack of opportunities and creativity in the design world, but few Icelanders have established businesses large enough to compete internationally; they have lacked both finance and business expertise. The Aurora Design Fund and the Iceland Design Centre will share facilities.

Product designer Hlín Helga Guðlaugsdóttir has been appointed to a part-time post as director of the Aurora Design Fund.  
“There is no doubt that the foundation of the Aurora Design Fund is splendid news for design in Iceland, and I am sure all designers will be delighted,” says Hlín Helga. “We now have the long-awaited opportunity to support and strengthen the highly productive work that has already been carried out by Icelandic designers, based on high ideals and professionalism, and thus to enhance professionalism still further. All qualified designers will have access to the Fund, which will operate on a professional basis, guided by the creativity and passion of Icelandic design.”

An information session on the new Fund will be held on the 19th of February 2009.

The Aurora Board came to the conclusion that a special design fund is needed in Iceland, in order to provide support to promising designers, and equally importantly to promote grass-root work in design, and to provide a forum for ideas and creativity in the field. The Aurora board hopes that the new Fund will foster the growth and development of Icelandic design, and will be one of the pillars on which the Icelandic economy is rebuilt.

It almost seems that the Icelandic economic collapse has released a wave of creativity in Icelanders, including the design community. Designers see many new opportunities to contribute to the reconstruction. The Aurora Design Fund can become the forum which is required in order to put ideas into practice, in collaboration between designers and business.

Board of the Aurora Design Fund
•    Ingibjörg Kristjánsdóttir, landscape architect, chair
•    Jóhannes Þórðarsson, architect, Dean of the Iceland Academy of the Arts Department of Design and Architecture,  board member
•    Halla Helgadóttir, graphic designer, director of the Iceland Design Centre, board member
•    Þórey Vilhjálmsdóttir, temporary director of the Iceland Design Centre during Halla Helgadóttir’s maternity leave, substitute board member

Managing Director: Hlín Helga Guðlaugsdóttir

Advisory Board of the Aurora Design Fund
•    Áslaug Magnúsdóttir, TSM Capital, New York.
•    Eyþór Ívar Jónsson, CEO of Klak, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School
•    Eyjólfur Pálsson, furniture designer, owner of Epal.
•    Sigurður Þorsteinsson, industrial designer, owner of Design Group Italia.
•    Sigríður Sigþórsdóttir, architect, VA arkitektar.
•    Guðmundur Oddur Magnússon, Professor of Graphic Design at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.
•    Steinunn Sigurðardóttir, fashion designer