Katrín María Káradóttir recently advanced in the position of professor of fashion design and is thus the first professor of fashion design in the school's history. She has had a large part in shaping university studies in fashion design in Iceland, but she has worked at the University of the Arts since 2005.
Katrín completed her studies in dressmaking and a journeyman's degree in dressmaking from the Industrial School in Reykjavík in 1999, a diploma from Studio Berçot in Paris in 2003 and a master's degree in art education in 2023.
From 2009 to 2013, Katrín was the chief designer and tailor of ELLA by Elínrós Líndal and had a role in shaping the philosophy of the company based on „slow fashion“ She was an assistant designer at John Galliano and Dior in Paris between 2004 and 2005. between 2000 and 2005, she also worked as a tailor at Modelor, Bali Barett, LUTZ and Thomas Engel Hart in Paris. Since 2012, she has been a freelance fashion designer, dress dressmaker and consultant, including for Andrea Maack, Andersen & Lauth, Geysi, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Landspítala-University Hospital.
Katrín has participated in interesting research projects that are still being developed inside and outside the University of the Arts. These include a project related to the reuse of clothing in collaboration with the Icelandic Red Cross Clothing Collection. In that project, second-year fashion design students have designed their first clothing line with materials they collect from the Icelandic Red Cross Clothing Collection and hold a fashion exhibition where the garments are displayed. Another research and development project that Katrín is currently working on is a study of marine leather from fish skin as an environmentally friendly option for the fashion industry. The project Fishskin, is carried out with international partners across subjects from both the university community, the University of the Arts in London, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Kyoto Seika University, the Italian Institute of Technology and working companies in the profession, including Nordic Fish Leather in Sauðárkrók and ArsTintoria and has been funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program.
In 2013, Katrín María received the Indriða Prize, which is awarded every other year to the fashion designers in Iceland who are considered to have excelled in design, where professionalism and quality are the guiding principles. In 2023, the University Women's Association nominated her for the University Woman of the Year 2022 award, and in the same year she received the Senior Researcher Award together with her co-authors for Fishskin at the IFFTI Kent State University Conference.
The Iceland University of the Arts sincerely congratulates Katrína María on her position as professor of fashion design at the department of design.