Svavar Pétur Eysteinsson, known as Prins Póló, was a celebrated Icelandic musician and artist who passed away from cancer in 2022. To honour his legacy, the Icelandic Cancer Society has released special Mottumars socks inspired by his iconic crown symbol.
One of Iceland’s most beloved musicians
Svavar Pétur Eysteinsson was an Icelandic musician and visual artist, best known by his artistic name Prins Póló.
Svavar released five LP records and five EP records over the course of his career. París norðursins undoubtedly ranks among his most popular songs.
Svavar was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and passed away four years later.
Digital treasure trove
To commemorate Svavar’s life and work, the Icelandic Cancer Society has produced special socks for Mottumars (“Moustache March”), an annual campaign in Iceland to raise awareness about prostate cancer. The socks were designed by Berglind Häsler, Svavar’s widow, and Björn Þór Björnsson, a.k.a. “Bobby Breiðholt.”
Björn has spent recent years maintaining a collection of visual artworks by Prins Póló. In an interview with Mbl.is published today, Björn characterised this collection as a veritable treasure trove.
“Berglind provided us with the original design documents from Svavar, which is truly a digital treasure trove,” Björn remarked. “For example, only the colours defined and named by Svavar himself were used in the design of this year’s socks.”
Famous crown in the foreground
Björn also explained that it seemed only natural to base the design of the socks on Prins Póló’s crown, which was his most prominent and iconic symbol. “We then tried to find the colours that best matched the Mottumars theme,” Björn stated.
Berglind told Mbl.is that because of Svavar’s boundless creativity, she and Björn ultimately decided to offer three versions of the socks: “The energy was just too strong to contain, and stopping was difficult,” Berglind stated, encouraging people to mix and match different socks to reflect Svavar Pétur’s spirit.
In the below video, Berglind and Björn discuss the design process.
