Katrin Olina Petursdottir, born in Iceland, is a designer and artist whose work has been commissioned, produced and published by the National Gallery in Oslo, Print Magazine, Die Gestalten Verlag, Rosenthal, Fornarina, Mr. Teruo Kurasaki, Dupont Corian(R), Montreux Jazz Festival, 100% Design Tokyo, among others.
A graduate of product design at the E.S.D.I. in Paris, she worked for Philippe Starck's studio in Paris and Ross Lovegrove's studio in London. In 1998 she began a series of high-profile creative collaborations with industrial designer Michael Young, including products and interiors
Alongside such design work, Katrin Olina has steadily cultivated a provocative two-dimensional graphic language that lies between art, illustration and graphic design. The fantastical worlds it depicts are an imaginative expression of Katrin Olinas own inner landscape, at once supernatural, organic and dreamlike. Its flowing style combines the storytelling traditions of her native Iceland with a markedly contemporary expression rooted in computer graphics.
From large-scale graphic installations to snowboards, Katrin Olinas unique visual universe translates to a huge variety of products, designs, interiors and editorials. In 2007 Olina opened her own company, Katrin Olina Ltd, to accommodate her rapidly expanding client base.
In recent years she has been responsible for a wide range of high-profile creative projects, from large-scale commissions by the Oslo National gallery (2005) and 100% Design Tokyo(2007), exclusive interior design projects such as SKIN clinic (Italy), limited edition designs for fashion house Fornarina(Italy) and porcelain specialist Rosenthal(Germany), and visual identity for the 2007 Montreux Jazz Festival(Switzerland). She is currently completing the interior for an exclusive bar in Hong Kong (opening june 2008) saturated with her imaginative visuals.