Design Store of the Month, Iceland
Mikado presents a carefully curated mix of lamps, furniture, prints and more influenced by Japanese and Scandinavian design cultures.
An aesthetic fusion of Japanese and Scandinavian culture It is widely known that Iceland is home to an abundance of natural beauty, but the island has a deep well of man-made beauty to explore too. Mikado, a curated interior design store located in the center of Reykjavik, provides carefully selected items with mindfulness in focus. The store opened in 2020 and has turned into a hub for enthusiastic design lovers, providing the perfect lifestyle products for a sophisticated home. By Nina Bressler
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Photos: Mikado
What does the name ‘Mikado’ stand for? ”The name draws on many different influences - we wanted a name that embedded the various facets that we stand for, something that isn’t Icelandic nor English, yet easy to remember,” say Aron Heimisson and Einar Guðmundsson, the founders of the store. “Mikado means 82
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Issue 159
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October 2023
emperor in Japanese, it’s the name of our favourite colour - mustard yellow and it’s also the name of a popular game played all over the world throughout many cultures. It’s easy to pronounce regardless of language, memorable and we think it represents who we are in a subtle, perfect way.”
Graphic design as entry point The pair, who started out as graphic designers, were working in Lisbon when the idea for their own store arose. ”We moved from our home in Iceland to Lisbon for a change of scenery - and more sun - but decided it was time to return to our roots after a couple of years. We’ve been fascinated by the Japanese culture ever since art school and we’ve been passionate about design on a personal and professional level for as long as we can remember, and when we realised there was a big a gap in the Icelandic market for this segment of unique products, we decided to create something on our own; it’s been a dream of ours for a long time,” Einar says.