Icelandic Down is a new company established by Ragna Óskarsdóttir, her family, and local eider farmers in 2019. 

Ragna is from Reykjavík originally but fell for Borgarfjörður Eystri when she visited the village on vacation with her husband. When they saw a house there advertised for sale, they bought it as a vacation home but ended up relocating. In a nearby fjord, Loðmundarfjörður is the biggest eider farm in Iceland, with around 6,000 nests. 

The tradition of eider down harvesting dates back to the first settlers of Iceland in the 9th century.

The eider ducks are wild and spend most of their lives at sea, but the females build downy nests to insulate their eggs in the short northern summer. In a mutually beneficial relationship, farmers create comfortable nesting areas to encourage the ducks to settle down and diligently protect them from predators such as mink and fox. The eiders purposefully seek out these safe nesting areas and return year after year. Eiders pluck feathers from their chest, and the farmers collect them from the nests when the birds no longer need them. When the eider needs it again, the down grows back. Eider farming is, therefore, sustainable and a rare example of collaboration between man and bird. 

The tradition dates back to the first settlers of Iceland in the 9th century. Ragna saw an opportunity in the eiderdown to maximize its value by manufacturing duvets in Iceland—down's country of origin—rather than selling unprocessed down in bulk to manufacturers overseas. "Eider farming is more Icelandic than sheep farming. Eiderdown is our most valuable agricultural product and, dare I say, sea product—the eider spends ten months of the year at sea." 

The down has superb insulating qualities. "I sometimes say eiderdown is our gold. One kilo of eiderdown is more valuable than 20 kilos of lobster!" Iceland produces 3,000 kgs (6,600 lbs.) of eiderdown per year, at least 75% of the world's production, which can be used for 4,500 duvets. For a few days in June, Ragna and the Icelandic Down team go to the isolated Loðmundarfjörður to help the eider farmers collect the eiderdown. "It's like nothing else, being among the ducks and the ducklings, listening to the sounds of nature. There's no internet, no phone. It's unbelievably peaceful."  

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Icelandic Down is a new company established by Ragna Óskarsdóttir, her family, and local eider farmers in 2019.