He is considered one of the most prolific interior designers in Icelandic history.
His parents were the important Icelandic painter Johannes Kjarval and Tove Merrild.
He lived in Iceland during his infancy but moved to Denmark when his parents divorced.
After the Second World War, he pursued postgraduate education in Denmark, where he learned interior design, and in 1949, he moved back to Iceland.
[2] At that time, there were few people educated in interior design in Iceland, so he became a pioneer in that field.