Icelandic Eiderdown Duvets

We harvest the eiderdown in our island called Hrappsey in Breidafjordur according to our ancestors tradition since the 15th century. Our ancestor Jon Petursson born 1584 and a farmer discovered how to clean the eiderdown. Reference: Esp.3025, Lrm, Vík.IV.41, ÍÆ.I.130/III.246, Æ.A-Hún.321.5, Laxd.144,

We start harvesting the eiderdown by gathering the down manually, usually in June. The bird leaves the nest temporarily for a few minutes as we carefully approach the nest. Then we replace the eiderdown removed with a dry soft grass. Directly after, the bird lies down on the eggs again.

Eider down is a completely natural, sustainable material. Collection of the down causes no damage or distress to the ducks – they are not handled or restrained in any way. The ducks remove their own feathers to line their nests, and they return to the same nesting sites year after year. As eider farmers, we carefully protect the flocks that choose to nest on our land as we rely on them returning each year to provide a valuable, renewable, environmentally-friendly crop.