Two female friends crafting fashionable designs

Noteworthy for: The designers are inspired by their surroundings, the bleak colours and textures of the Icelandic environment, and the people. They strive to design classic utilitarian, yet beautiful clothes that can be worn for years, rather than trend-based pieces.

Most Icelandic women belong to a ‘saumaklúbbur’ (sewing club) they attend with the friends they’ve had since childhood. What’s now a collection of women gathering to gossip over drinks started with females bonding over the sewing machine and comparing designs. This tradition perhaps points to the reason why Icelanders make such provocative fashion statements.

The two women behind Sparks design clothes seemingly mirroring the harsh natural backdrops of the country’s extreme nature. Experimenting with their own unique patterns, Vala and Bjorg have developed a high-end line models would be comfortable wearing on the runways of Milan and Paris.