Anders Vange of Reykjavík Glass designed the 2024 Christmas cat, which is made from recycled glass in his workshop in Kjalarnes.
Rammagerðin started the tradition of entrusting an Icelandic designer with the creation of the Christmas cat in 2020. The first was by Stúdíó Flétta and then it was H anna Dís Whitehead who designed it in 2021. In 2022 it was designer Ragna Ragnarsdóttir who was chosen and in 2023 it was designer Björn Steinar Blumenstein. This year it is the Danish glass artist Anders Vange as mentioned above.
The Christmas cat is a well-known evil figure in Icelandic folklore. He was most famous for eating children who did not receive new clothes for Christmas. Although the cat has long been a bane to those who wish, he is still a strong part of Icelandic Christmas tradition.
“I started working with Rammagerðin shortly after I founded Reykjavik Glass in November 2022. I had visited the shop on Skólavörðustígur a few times and was very impressed with what Rammagerðin stands for. When I had finished making my first line, I went to them and was lucky enough that they wanted to work with me,” says Anders. For the 2024 Christmas Cat, he says he was inspired by a cat he met on the road. “I was walking my dog and we met a cat who was not at all impressed with the dog. I took a picture of him with a wrinkled face and a disheveled coat, and that’s where the inspiration came from.”
Anders has also been working on Christmas decorations and other glass objects for Rammagerðin. “I have been looking to design things that work well with recycled window glass, which has a shorter working cycle than regular blown glass. I try to work with the glass and not against it, which is why a lot of my designs show this fluid quality of glass.”
Only 30 numbered Christmas cats are produced each year, making them a unique collector's item.