Our Story

A bit about our Icelandic tree roots…

Öskuhús was set up by Oddný Edwards, our MD, who was raised in the harsh but beautiful Icelandic landscape – a place where you’re forced to learn what’s edible from nature and how to minimise waste.

At sixteen, Oddný moved to Hawaii, immersing herself in an organic flower and herb farm called Hana Herbs. Here she learned even more about how to live off the land, and about the diversity of trees, their ability to feed and medicate us, as well as offer raw material for furniture.

Armed with this knowledge, Oddný launched Öskubox in the UK. Öskubox was a unique café set in Lymington on the south coast of England. Öskubox enjoyed a profound link to Norse mythology and Yggdrasil – the ‘Tree of Life’ – and was grounded in a deep respect for everything around us. Öskubox won awards year after year and gave the whole team a platform to explore creative ideas with trees influenced by Icelandic culture much to the delight of our customers.

When Öskubox closed its doors, a new branch of an idea was created and Öskuhús was born.

Our Core Values 

Ö – Öll (All) -We all believe in the overall business ethos

S – Samfélag (Community) – A shared interest of trees, nature, Icelandic ways, Viking history and being kind

K – Kostur (Choice and Value) – Having the choice and it being valuable

U – Uppgötva (Discovering and Learning) – A thirst for learning; discovering new things through foraging and fun facts about trees and how Icelandic people approach things. And importantly, how we can all make a difference to our environment. 

H – Hamingja (Happiness) – Be happy and find contentment inside and outside.

Ú – Úti (Environment) – Owning our impact on the environment and choosing compostable, biodegradable,  recyclable material. Re-using everything we can. Keeping our footprint small.

S – Saman (Together) – Let´s have fun while we all do our part together.

We’d love to have you as part of our Viking tribe. Please talk to us on any of our social media channels.