Icelandic Down is a new company established by Ragna Óskarsdóttir, her family, and local eider farmers in 2019. 

Icelandic Down was established in 2019 by Ragna Óskarsdóttir and her family, and an association of eider farmers in Loðmundarfjörður in East Iceland. Ragna is originally from Reykjavík but fell for Borgarfjörður eystri when she visited the East Iceland village on vacation with her husband. When they saw a house there advertised for sale, they bought it as a vacation home but ended up relocating and starting a business.   

The nearby fjord Loðmundarfjörður is the largest eider farm in Iceland, with around 6,000 nests. The eider ducks are wild and spend most of their lives at sea, but the females come to land during the summer (May-June) for nesting. Farmers create comfortable nesting areas in mutually beneficial relationship, to encourage the ducks to settle down and diligently protect them from predators such as mink and fox. The eiders purposefully seek out these safe nesting areas and return year after year.  

Eiders naturally shed the down from their chest while nesting, creating a brood patch to transfer heat to the eggs. The down helps insulate the nest, and the farmers collect it when the birds no longer need it. The down quickly grows back. Eider farming is a sustainable and a rare example of collaboration between man and bird. The tradition dates back to the first settlers of Iceland in the 9th century.  

Ragna saw an opportunity in the eiderdown to maximize its value by manufacturing duvets in Iceland—its country of origin—rather than selling raw down in bulk to manufacturers overseas. “Eider farming is more Icelandic than sheep farming. Eiderdown is our most valuable agricultural product and, dare I say, sea product—the eider spends ten months of the year at sea.” 

The down has superb insulating qualities. “I sometimes say eiderdown is our gold. One kilo of eiderdown is more valuable than 20 kgs of lobster!” Iceland produces 3,000 kgs (6,600 lb.) of eiderdown annually, approximately 75% of the world’s production, and is enough to make for 4,500 duvets.  

Ragna and the Icelandic Down team go to the isolated Loðmundarfjörður for a few days in June to help the eider farmers collect the eiderdown. “It’s like nothing else, being among the ducks and the ducklings, listening to the sounds of nature. There’s no internet, no phone. It’s unbelievably peaceful.”  

Icelandic Down is a new company established by Ragna Óskarsdóttir, her family, and local eider farmers in 2019.