About Us

Jurtaapótek was founded in December of 2004 by the herbalist Kolbrún. The idea behind the shop was to reach a larger group of people and sell organic or wildly grown herbs. The quality and freshness of our herbs has always been a priority during our manufacture, to maximize their strength and healing power. Our products are hand made by our employees and it’s also possible to get a custom made herbal blend following an interview with our herbalist, Kolbrún. Her goals by founding the company were to educate people about the healing power of herbs, the impact of healthy eating and the rewards general good health gives. With that in mind, people would have an easier time making independent decisions regarding their health and lifestyle.

Kolbrún Björnsdóttir, founder and owner of Jurtaapótek, has been a certified herbalist for 24 years, or since she graduated from a herbalist school in Britain in 1993. During these years she has helped thousands of people by prescribing herbs and giving dietary advice. Her extended knowledge and experience can be seen in her latest work, a book called “A Better Nutrition – A Better Life”, which was on bestseller lists for a long time. In the book Kolbrún reiterates that a good digestion is the foundation of good health and wellbeing. The book is easy to read and understand and in it Kolbrún describes in an accessible manner how the digestive system works and how people can permanently improve its function and health. As well as describing how the healing process works the book contains interesting recipes made by Kolbrún and Sólveig Eiríksdóttir (owner of the health restaurant Gló).

In Iceland there has been a huge awakening concerning natural products in recent years, and we in Jurtaapótek work tirelessly to make products straight from nature, with emphasis on Icelandic herbs and other goods. We try to use as many Icelandic ingredients in our production as we can. Sadly some Icelandic herbs aren’t as abundant as we would wish they were, so it would be nice to see someone cultivate some of these amazing herbs, both for domestic and international uses.

Our company’s core values are:

• Helpfulness – Our aim is to help and encourage general health and wellbeing.
• Knowledge – We try to improve and utilize our employees’ knowledge base so they can give the best advice for various health related problems.
• Self-sufficiency – Our idea of self-sufficiency is to show people how to use the healing power of nature instead of pharmacological methods.