Katrin Olina

Born in Iceland, Katrin Olina studied Industrial Design at the E.S.D.I. in Paris before working in the European design studios of Philippe Starck (Paris) and Ross Lovegrove (London). Since then, she has worked predominantly as a graphic artist and illustrator in the realms of industrial design, fashion, interiors, print, and animation, as well as participating in several prominent museum and gallery exhibitions.

Olina has developed a rich visual language that serves as a vivid interface between reality and the subconscious mind.

Much of her work contains natural elements that combine the fairytale and the sublime, consisting of lush landscapes inhabited by real and fictional creatures, as well as characters tied to her own personal history.

Her most recent major project is Cristal Bar in Hong Kong, where her dream-like drawings cover every interior surface, enabling a new level of interactivity in three-dimensional space. Cristal Bar has won numerous international awards, including the Forum Aid Awards in Stockholm, SEGD merit prize in San Diego and the DV culture prize in
Iceland 2009.