Experience the magic of eiderdown season with Erla Friðriksdóttir and Rafn Rafnsson, the dynamic duo behind King Eider and The Icelandic Eider Center in Stykkishólmur, West Iceland.

"Being outdoors, the boats, the fresh air, and the eiders … there's nothing like it!" says Erla Friðriksdóttir of her favorite time of year – eiderdown season in May and June. She and her husband Rafn Rafnsson, run the  King Eider eiderdown company and The Icelandic Eider Center in Stykkishólmur, West Iceland. In addition to their own eiderdown, they clean the down from about 150–200 other farmers – 1.0 to 1.3 tons overall – and make duvets and other high-quality products.    

Erla's family maintains eider nesting sites on two archipelagos on Breiðafjörður Bay; there are between 4,000 and 5,000 nests on about 150 islands and skerries. It's a massive operation, and it takes the extended family, adults and children, 30 to 40 days to find all of the nests and collect the down. Even though it's a lot of work, it's like a big family reunion everyone looks forward to. "In the evening, we chat and play cards," says Erla. The children grow up helping out and love the connection with nature.  

Two islands used to be populated year-round. Now, descendants of island residents only come on vacation or to harvest eiderdown. One was inhabited until the 1990s, so it has electricity and is better equipped. In contrast, the other island, abandoned in the 1940s, relies on solar panels for electricity, cooking on a gas stove, and collecting rainwater from the roofs. "You go completely off-grid," says Rafn, or Rabbi, as he's called. They can walk between some islands at low tide, but getting to others is more complicated. "There's one islet we can only reach by boat if the weather has been calm for a week; otherwise, there's too much suction."  

Rabbi is also a hobby sheep farmer, keeping sheep in Stykkishólmur and on the islands. Eiderdown season always follows lambing season, so he's especially busy at this time. In the summer, Erla welcomes visitors to The Icelandic Eider Center, where people can learn more about the unique qualities of the eiderdown and the history of eider farming in Iceland. "We're open daily in summer and for groups in winter."  

Eider farming has been practiced in Iceland since the 9th century AD. The first written sources mentioning eiderdown date back to 1325, when it is explained that kings would sit on gold and sleep on down. Eiderdown was often used to pay land tax to the kings – in other words, it was a royal product. "To me, eider farming is not just work, I feel like I'm taking part in protecting our cultural heritage," says Erla.  

Erla Friðriksdóttir and her husband Rafn Rafnsson run the  King Eider eiderdown company and The Icelandic Eider Center in Stykkishólmur, West Iceland.