Diving In The Deep End: Rán Flygenring’s Book Explains What Makes Icelandic Pools Special

In the summer of 2015, Rán Flygenring embarked on a trip around Iceland. However, she set a specific goal for her trip: to visit as many pools as possible. Whether it was a public, natural (the latter sometimes ending up to be just a puddle), or even a swanky spa, Rán wanted to see and experience all that Icelandic bathing culture had to offer.

The well-lauded author and artist is known for her playful books and creative approaches to illustration. One of her latest books — she has two that have been recently published, both already nominated for awards — is Sketching Bathing in Iceland. The book is designed by Studio Studio, donning a book jacket that looks like a towel and holds a cheeky (literally) postcard. It presents sketchbook pages of Rán’s — with the edgings still on, seemingly freshly ripped out — depicting her experiences in different pools around the country, always documented right after the visit, while the memory was still fresh.
“I just really think it makes us better people, and it’s the key to Icelandic culture.”

“The main thing was to underline this thing of them being quick snapshots, that’s what I wanted, and that’s what this whole style of documentary drawing style is now,” Rán explains. “I did this project called ‘The Official Illustrator of Reykjavík,’ which was all about documenting the city as it was, as things were happening. And that’s where I got interested in this way of documenting with drawing,” she says. “So this was a continuation of that.” Overheads, funny moments, and her own thoughts while in a pool are captured in these quick sketches.

“After that summer of drawing, I did an exhibition in Spark Design Space,” she says. “And then the plan was always to make a book because I knew there was a storyline there that I wanted to do, but it just took a long time. And I got a bit shy, I guess? Because what new can you say about swim culture?” She laughs, “I guess the tricky thing was to find something to say, or what I wanted to say with the drawings.”

Pool for dummies

Then her eureka moment happened: “I thought it was fun to make it a guide book, ‘How To Go To The Pool 101, For Dummies.’ I think that’s content that I would want if I came to Iceland,” she explains. Rán set out to write the book in English. “I always tell people who come here to bring their swimsuit. And then you might be like, ‘Wait, okay, so let me explain: the pools in Iceland are not cold like in your country.’ Then you have to go through a whole thing, and hope that they take the bait and believe that this is something.”
“We are dancing around the big thing: getting naked.”

Rán explains bathing culture in Iceland to the uninitiated, emphasising its significance to residents, recommending pools, and teaching the rules. At one point, I ask Rán a bit more about what she hopes readers understand from the book, and she laughs. “I mean, we are dancing around the big thing: getting naked.”

Here, Sketching Bathing in Iceland is clear but not demeaning, explaining that there are “two main rules that go for all pools in Iceland.” In the book, she notes, “The first one is this: you have to undress completely and wash yourself without any swimwear before you get in.”

Later comes the second rule: “the no phone rule.” Rán emphasises that the public pool is one of the few places left where there are no phones. But she does draw a contrast between this and the “swanky spas.” Even a caption for a drawing of a swanky spa (where everyone lounges, sipping on drinks and taking selfies) reads: “In swanky spas, pool rule number 2 does not apply.” In Rán’s eyes, “it makes for such a different [experience] — having drinks and phones.”

Key to culture

“What I also wanted was to get to know the country better, all the groups and different places,” Rán explains. Through visiting so many pools, she had the opportunity to explore what exactly she loved about Icelandic bathing culture. “I found it interesting because it brings together nature and natural elements, and then people in all their entirety,” she notes. “I just really think it makes us better people, and it’s the key to Icelandic culture.”

Pools are fundamental in Rán’s lifestyle, and have been since she was a kid. “Now, I live 40 seconds away from the pool, and I don’t use the shower at home at all. It’s a community. Sometimes I even go two times — if it’s a hectic day, I will go twice,” she emphasises.

But through collecting these stories, she also hopes to articulate just how important pools are to Icelandic culture. “I heard in a meeting with an anonymous official that it’s not an obligation of municipalities to run public pools. It’s not something that is necessarily given in our future,” she says. “It made me think that this is something that I hope is a decision that we want to keep and invest in, and that’s why I think it’s important that we talk about it as something that is not only a recreational thing, it’s a community thing, it’s a public health thing.”

Sketching Bathing in Iceland is available in most bookstores, through publishing house Angústúra’s website, or on The Reykjavík Grapevine’s shop.