About Us – The Family Behind Kashima
We are the family behind Kashima: Dröfn, Sigfús, Margrét, and Valdís.
Creativity has always been part of our everyday life. We love to draw and color together, though until recently, it was simply something we did for fun. Over the past few years, however, Dröfn has started exploring creative practices more seriously, taking short courses in drawing, design, and other forms of visual art.
Our journey truly began in early 2022, during the height of the global pandemic. Dröfn was working from home, and our daughter Margrét would come home after school with time to spare. To keep her engaged, we decided she could design and sell handmade cards. It turned out to be a lovely project that we both enjoyed deeply. Margrét created the original drawings, and Dröfn would scan, lightly refine, and prepare them for print.
To this day, Margrét’s designs remain very true to her own artistic vision — Dröfn simply ensures they are ready for print production. What started as a small creative experiment has now grown into a family-run brand, where we design and print a variety of occasion cards and paper goods.
The Story Behind the Name – Kashima
The name Kashima carries personal and symbolic meaning for our family.
Sigfús is half Japanese, and our family lived in Japan for nearly two years when we were still just the three of us.
Dröfn grew up in Hrísey, a small island off the north coast of Iceland.
We wanted a name that would reflect both sides of our heritage — a connection between Japan and Iceland, between fire and sea, family and nature.
In Japanese:
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KA (火) means fire
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SHIMA (島) means island
Together, Kashima can mean volcanic island — a powerful symbol, as both Iceland and Japan are volcanic islands shaped by natural forces.
The two countries share more than geography. Both cultures value simplicity, connection to nature, long life, geothermal energy, seafood traditions, and a quiet strength in craftsmanship.
Interestingly, Kashima (鹿島) is also the family name of Sigfús’s relatives in Japan — written with different characters, meaning deer island.
Our Kashima logo combines the kanji for fire (火) above the symbol for island — a visual representation of this layered meaning.
We also love that the Japanese word KAMI (紙) means paper — a fitting link to our work with cards and prints.