In Reykjavik, Iceland, the design scene is hot

Katla Adalsteinsdottir was at a sewing machine, her eyes fixed on the bobbing needle, when I wandered into the Collective of Young Designers in Reykjavik, Iceland. Loops of down-tempo rhythmic whirring and electronic blips streamed from a small set of shabby speakers. She greeted me, glancing up quickly from her handiwork — an embroidered beige wool skirt that she would later add to the shop’s inventory of dresses, plush tunics and whimsical, flowing capes. The charming, cluttered shop is in a stone-walled subterranean level of a coffee shop that becomes a bar by late afternoon.