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Art Bicknick/The Reykjavik Grapevine
Sigríður Soffía Níelsdóttir's side hustle brings fireworks and profits
“I felt very strange that I was interested in flowers. I really thought this meant I was middle-aged,” Sigríður Sofia Nielsdottir laughs on the other end of the phone. I did. Having worked in her dancing and fireworks, she unintentionally launched a business from her newfound interest in gardening. Additionally, she has managed to turn her passion into a series of art projects.
Sigríður Sofia Nielsdottir, 38 years old, choreographer
My day job is as an artist. I am a choreographer who works at the National Theater and the Municipal Theater, and I mainly do choreography and stage production for the Icelandic Dance Company.
He is also a fireworks display designer. From 2013 he designed the Meningalnot fireworks show and the Barcelona fireworks show from 2013 to 2015. Then I worked on the Reykjavík city's floral installation, Ørdblom, in Harargarðurín by the pond. A beautiful flower bed that looks like a slow-motion fireworks display.
“I felt very strange that I was interested in flowers. I thought this was really me in middle age.”
When COVID-19 hit, I couldn't dance or do anything, so I created a box on how to grow your own fireworks show. We collected seeds, extracted tubers, and shared them with gardening experts. This project was supposed to be something small where you could buy seeds and grow your own slow motion fireworks show. But a lot of people bought flower cases, so it became my side job. Suddenly, I was doing product design and now I was selling seeds and tubers seasonally through my website. It was totally unexpected!
Since it is seasonal, we try to make it as thin as possible. Products are only delivered 4 months out of the year, but we also sell gift certificates that can be purchased at any time. We have to combine it with the shows we do in February and March, September and October.
calming ritual
Once in season, I usually wake up between 5 and 7 to deliver boxes and prepare orders before the kids wake up. I'm a dance artist and shows at the theater are scheduled by the theater, so I can't say “this is not very convenient”. Last year, I was working at the National Theater from 8am to 5pm, so I hired someone to help me out for a month.
Art Bicknick/The Reykjavik Grapevine
My daughter loves arranging the boxes and loves putting the tubers and seeds in the boxes and closing them. She also has fun building because she's stressed out with other jobs. She makes it so easy that it feels like meditation. I feel like she was able to deliver 20 boxes today. It's a sense of accomplishment. People always say this to me. “Why don't we have someone make these boxes for us?” That's a lot of work. ” But I always reply that this is the stress-free activity I need in my life.
What's my least favorite thing? It's silly, but when I get a crazy amount of orders, I get a little flustered because I have to deliver them all. Since it's a side job, I like it to be semi-smooth. Of course, I'm glad that things are going well. But to be honest, when things are going well, I get stressed out.
bloom boom
There's a stereotype that only middle-aged people like gardening, but I think hipsters are taking over. Everyone loves gardening.
At first, everyone told me, “You can't grow this flower.'' And I said, “Yes, I think you can.” It took me three years to figure out what kind of soil and nutrients I needed. I don't use any flower seeds. Mainly dahlias and peonies. This project centers around the flowers that inspired fireworks, so it's essentially growing a fireworks show. What you are creating is a choreographed seed program.
Art Bicknick/The Reykjavik Grapevine
I was obsessed with shapes until I realized that fireworks and flowers are connected. I didn't understand why until I did a project in Barcelona and noticed that all the fireworks I set off had flower names. I finally found a book with the proof I needed. In 1585, the word “fireworks” was first used in Japan. Hana means fire and Bi means flower. In other words, fireworks were originally designed to imitate flowers and trees native to Asia.
isolated flower
Art Bicknick/The Reykjavik Grapevine
Art Bicknick/The Reykjavik Grapevine
When I first started this side business, I had to grow flowers to get seeds. All dahlias had to be grown indoors because they cannot tolerate frost. Night frost occurs in Iceland until June 1st. So, in the midst of COVID-19, when everyone was isolated, we grew her 88 square meters of dahlias. Then, I received a call saying, “It looks like all the dahlias have died.'' There was no plan B as this was the only flower of this variety in Iceland. They were told they may have a contagious viral disease. I asked. “What do you mean? Can flowers get sick?” Thirty flowers had to be quarantined to prevent cross-contamination, and any flowers that became sick had to be removed. But then someone suggested that a magnesium deficiency might be the culprit, since the Icelandic soil doesn't contain the necessary magnesium. We decided to give them large doses of magnesium and see what happens. The short story is that there were no illnesses caused by viruses. Everyone did really well, just missing a few chemicals.
This was very memorable. But I panicked for two weeks and promised myself never to handle live plants. Fireworks just explode, so it's much better to work with them. But I've been doing this for almost 5 years now, so I'm a slow learner.
The rise of side gigs
I realized that all the flowers I've ever worked with are edible. So we started making a wine called Icelandic Spritz at the Foss Distillery. Currently I am working on a visual art show at the Icelandic Design Museum. There, I'll share a shape-shifting project that shows how everything is connected, including my side hustle. So, my side hustle is starting to take off. However, this is not my main interest or area of expertise, so I'm trying to keep this as a side hustle. My main focus is theater and dance. I don't want this to take over.
Grow your own fireworks: eldblom.com. To learn more about Sigrizzle's side hustle, check out her segment from this year's DesignMarch festival. Check the schedule at DesignMarch.is.
Want to share how you make ends meet? Email us at grapevine@grapevine.is with “Side Hustle” in the subject line. Your identity will happily remain anonymous.
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