About the name
The name of the brand, Hring eftir hring is actually the Icelandic term for "round and round" but in Icelandic it is also a word play as in Icelandic a ring is hringur. So "hring eftir hring" can stand for something like "endless rings" and of course a ring is an endless form.
On those terms here at Hring eftir hring, we would be referring to the fashion item or style coming back in fashion again, or when you see that something you thought was lost shows up again. But it can also mean to go round in circles, endless rings or be a term for the tendency of things to repeat themselves.
The woman behind Hring eftir hring is Steinunn Vala Sigfúsdóttir, an Icelander that studied civil engineering at the University of Iceland and worked for the well-known Batteríið Architects from graduation until forming her own design company in 2009.
As well as working for Batteríið Architects Steinunn Vala studied oil painting, drawing and model drawing at The Reykjavik School of Visual Arts for 3 years.
In 2008 she left her job at Batteríið Architects as she found the urge to further nurture her creative side and follow her passion for art and design. She got accepted into a diploma program at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts with the main courses being arts and philosophy. Her aim was to make a portfolio for herself but during her studies it became apparent that she had discovered what she wanted to make a career off.
Wearing her self-designed ring she received a lot of requests and questions where she had bought it from. With that she decided to start producing the ring that became the start of the Fairy Tale collection and form her own company. These rings from this collection became an immensely sought after item in Iceland and were copied by countless imitators.
″I’ve had the passion for making my own jewellery as far as I can remember. As a child I used to make hair decorations of paper napkins, feathers and flowers that I picked from my surroundings.
I never really thought about this passion or gave it any attention until my studies at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts. There, working on one of my projects I took notice of one of my teachers saying and decided to follow it: The saying was “Pay attention to what you pay attention to and then, make it count and act up on it. That is what I did.
The outcome of my diploma studies was a jewellery box, and my additional challenge was to proof to myself that I could make beautiful jewellery out of any material I would find around me, even the ones at the bottom of our list, things we usually throw away or step on, or find too simple and easy.
During this project one of the items I created in the jewellery box was a ring made of polymer clay, that later led me to the Ring of Leaves and the whole Fairy Tale collection.”
About the collections
All the collections of Hring eftir hring are made with the greatest care and passion by a team of skilled Icelandic craftsmen at the Hring eftir hring studio in Reykjavik, Iceland.
For each collection different specialists work together with the team of Hring eftir hring to create unique items. During manufacturing the items continue evolving and maturing, a process that makes each item different and unique.
The Fairy Tale collection is Hring eftir hring’s first collection.
When Steinunn Vala was studying at the Iceland Academy of the Arts the outlines of the Fairy Tale collection where created. The idea behind the collection was to make beautiful jewellery out of a simple material.
About the Ring of Leaves 
The idea of the pattern came to Steinunn one day when looking out of her kitchen window, she noticed the first leaves of spring, peaking up through the soil in her garden. She translated the form she saw into what is now known as the Ring of Leaves.
”I look at each ring as a bouquet of leaves.
I make each leave individually and put them together the same way you arrange flowers into a bouquet. That is why each ring is unique and to me more like a single piece of art rather than a replication of the same form.
The bouquets evolve and change by time, along with the person who makes it, so the rings we make today are different from the ones we made last year. Even though the idea and work behind the pattern is the same.
This change is inevitable and even if you would try to go back and do the ring as you did it before, you can’t. This detail I find adorable and makes the Ring of Leaves special.”
The Ring of Leaves and Earrings of Leaves are hand made of polymer clay and silver, by the team of Hring eftir hring at their studio in Reykjavík.