In celebration of Earth Day, April 22, 2020, we take a look at a few of our art pieces that are a tribute to the natural wonders of the world and all the beauty it has to offer.

Accent walls of obsidian rock and sand murals (pictured below) conceived by Minarc principal and artist Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdóttir pay homage to Sprengisandur, a forbidding inner desert plateau whose ancient road cuts a pass between the Hofsjökull and Vatnajökull glaciers, and complete the nature inspired Icelandic experience. 

The Ion Hotel emerges from the moss covered mountain base like an enormous post pile wrapped in a sheath of hardened lava.

The vision for the Ion Luxury Adventure Hotel was truly holistic, requiring a design that reflects the natural beauty of the region with clarity and simplicity, in a manner that is environmentally considerate. Our approach was to create a hotel experience as dramatic and otherworldly as the natural Icelandic surroundings, where the built and natural environments can coexist, integrate, even synergize.

Inspiring the Dropi chair, Erla wanted to fashion a seat that gave the sensation of flying in the air looking like a drop falling from the sky about to hit Earth. She collaborated with Scot Brown who was the metal-artist to help create the steel in the chair.  

With a strong focus on the continuous conservation of water, ReFlow was born to deliver yet another form of function. Its simplistic design is focused on sustainability and functionality. Allowing for the water to be reused by repurposing the greywater from washing your hands to flush the toilet.

A story behind our waterfall installation (pictured below) comprised of recycled plastic water bottles at A+D Museum in Los Angeles.

"There was a French tourist in Iceland gazing at a waterfall. She stared at it for an hour and wondered. Does it never stop? Not understanding how it can flow endlessly like this, for thousands and thousands of years, roaring into the canyon, not understanding how it could not drain the source, not understanding the incredible cycle of evaporation and rain and snow, the cycle we have been invited to join, with a palm specially designed or evolved to bring water from a creek to the mouth.

We have detached ourselves from the cycle. We drill for black sunlight trapped in the crust of the earth. We pack the cycle into plastic containers. We use the black sunlight to ship it to the stores in trucks and dam the rivers to produce electricity to cool it.

We brand the flow, we seek pride from the brand as individuals but neglect our collective forces, we could have clean water on every corner. For each thirst we satisfy we leave behind a bottle. 365 for each person a year. 365 million a year for million people. One billion a year for 300 million people. 365 billion a year – always roaring endlessly. A vicious cycle instead of the natural cycle and we should stare at the plastic waterfall, remember its roar and ask: Will it never stop? 

And she asked. Does it never stop?"

We hope for each and everyone of you to cherish our world and treat each day as Earth Day. Surround yourself in all of the beauty nature has to offer. Today and always.

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