Expat Next Door: Davíð From Iceland

Icelanders David Arnórsson and Gudbjartur Gudbjartsson teamed up in 2018 to open the popular Artic Bakehouse.

He is a foreigner who might live next door.

Co-owners Artic Bakehouse Davíđ Arnórsson (left) and Gudbjartur Gudbjartsson. Photo: Josef Horázný

1. Why did you decide to move, and how long have you been living in Prague?

It was the beginning of 2017. I and my best friend and business partner Gudbjartur Gudbjartsson decided to find a facility with a good location in Prague to open Artic Bakehouse. He already lived in Prague and I was more than ready to move here too. I had been here before and I loved it. In April 2018 we managed to open our first store on Ujezd 11, Artic Bakehouse.

2. Your very first impression after relocation. What had surprised you the most?

I’m from Iceland and had a good normal life there. House, car, and so on. The first year living here I needed to save as much money as possible, so I lived in a really cheap and small room with no extra money in my pockets. No luxury life whatsoever, BUT I was happy. It surprised me how happy I was. Prague was my new home.

3. What do you do for a living?

I am a professional baker. When I was younger I wanted to be like my father who is a baker, and that’s what I did. At 13 years old, I started working in a bakery with my father and now I’m running a bakery with my friend here in Prague called Artic Bakehouse, where we spend most of our time.

4. What’s one of the goals you want to achieve in your work?

Teaching the Czechs to eat good bread, and especially sourdough bread, is one of my mission. Baking good bread is actually easy. Yeast dough takes a lot of time and in addition to good ingredients, you also need to know how to mix and handle them. It’s a science and sourdough bread has nothing to do with supermarket loaves.

I think that the concerns about gluten and gluten-free eating are a result of consuming bread made of poor-quality flour. I’m not a doctor, but I don’t understand why gluten has become such a problem. Customers also come to us, asking if we sell something gluten-free. In Iceland, I had several customers who were really allergic to gluten. But then they tasted sourdough bread and they were fine. The share of gluten is lower in it.

5. Name one of the most bizarre things that have happened so far in Prague.

When I found out I drank beer like an average lady from the Czech Republic.