Typeface designer, researcher, and horticulturist in the making.

Graduating with a BA in Graphic Design from Iceland University of the Arts, Gunnar worked mostly on designing books and identities for the cultural sector before pursuing a Master’s degree in Typeface Design from the University of Reading. After graduating he worked for Monotype in London for a few years, before founding and running Universal Thirst, a global type foundry with a focus on developing fonts for Indic and Latin writing systems, from 2016 to 2026.

His roster of projects and collaborators includes Apple, Google, Instagram, Frieze Art Fair, Icelandair, Ford Foundation, Smekkleysa Records, Falcon Enamelware, DesignMarch, The Gourmand Magazine, Reykjavik Art Museum, Koenig Books, NatWest, Manchester Museum, Marks & Spencer, Revolver Publishing, British Fashion Council, and more.

Gunnar’s work has been featured in international books, magazines, and platforms like Taschen, Laurence King, Victionary, Gestalten, Creative Review, Print Magazine, It’s Nice That, The Brand Identity, and has received a Certificate of Typographic Excellence from the TDC, as well as the European Design Award and the FÍT Awards. He has judged international design awards including D&AD, ADC Young Guns, and ADC*E.

Gunnar has presented his work and research at events internationally and has been a sessional lecturer at the Iceland University of the Arts on and off since 2006. He was involved in the translation of Jost Hochuli’s Detail in Typography into Icelandic, co-edited The Universal Thirst Gazette, a journal on Indic type and typography, has presented and published articles based on his research on the Arabic writing style Ruq’ah, and is the co-author of ð-ævisaga, a book on the history and origins of the letterform ‘ð’.

Gunnar lives in Reykjavík, Iceland.