AW Designer of the Year 2023 – Exhibition Monica Förster in Berlin
Location: Polestar Space Berlin, Neue Schönhauser Straße 3-5, 10178 Berlin, Germany
Opening Hours: Mon - Fri 11am – 7pm & Sat 10am – 7pm
From 1st to 21th of June AW Designer of the Year 2023 Monica Förster will present a selection of her furniture designs and accessories from recent years at Polestar Space in Berlin. This exhibition catalog offers a comprehensive overview and information about all exhibited objects.
All exhibits at a glance:
- About Monica Förster
- Suit Chair for Artifort
- Savannah Light Series for Fredericia
- Dorotea Cutlery for Gense
- Dorotea Line Extension for Gense
- Tunes Collection for Georg Jensen
- Shell Acoustic Pendant for OKKO
- Reed Vases for Orrefors
- Esedra Poud for Poltrona Frau
- inWhite for Rörstrand
- Tucano Desk for Zanotta
- Nera Bowls for Zanat
- Unity Stool/Table for Zanat
- Nur Mirror for Zanat
- Branco Boxes for Zanat
- Sky Mirror for Zanat
- Unna Chair for Zanat
About Monica Förster
Creator of some of the most internationally renowned objects in contemporary Swedish design today, grew up close to the Artic circle in the very north of Sweden. Her work is characterized by a strong sense of pure form mixed with a never ending curiosity for new materials and technology. Always trying to work in a cross-disciplinary way, she invents and renews typologies in industrial, furniture and object design.
Monica Förster, one of the top names within Swedish design, has created some of the future’s classic designs. Monica Förster Design Studio is based in Stockholm and works on an international level with companies such as Volvo, Tecno, Alessi, Cappellini, Poltrona Frau, De Padova, Bernhardt, Whirlpool, Georg Jensen, Eric Joergensen, Offecct and Rörstrand.
Since 2015 , Monica works as a creative advisor for a number of companies in the design industry. She sees the importance of maintaining and developing tradition by creating furniture and objects with a modern cut in old craft techniques.
Monica has also been involved in launching the recognized Bosnian company Zanat, listed for UNESCO World Heritage Site. She strives to move the company on an international market, working with the vision, and initiating new collaborations.
She has been awarded many Swedish and international awards as the Designer of the Year and the prestigious Sweden’s Architect Association Award, The Golden Chair. Her work has been exhibited all over the world in museums and institutions such as Moma NY and VA Museum, London. Monica Förster has also been represented in The International Design Yearbook.
source: monicaforster.se
Suit Chair for Artifort
- Year Completed: 2020
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Ida Eklöf Johansson, Sara Asserlind, Harald Sundberg
The distinctive silhouette of the Suit, with its elegant open back and flowing lines, effortlessly matches the contours of the body. It’s a surprisingly comfortable and inviting chair, whose soft upholstery embraces the user like a chic tailor-made suit. This unique chair will add an exclusive elegance and individuality to any space.
Savannah Light Series for Fredericia
- Year Completed: 2015-2023
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Riccardo Paccaloni, Harald Sundberg
The Savannah series represents a merging of structure, softness and materiality. The outer frame in solid wood is wrapped in leather or canvas while the inside is upholstered with plush comfort. The Savannah series was designed as a modern interpretation of Scandinavian design principles. Savannah is perfect for corporate break-out areas, hospitality lounges or private homes.
Dorotea Cutlery for Gense
- Year Completed: 2011
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
Dorotea is a functional and timeless cutlery that combines Gense’s tradition and craftsmanship with design on an international level. The cutlery is distinguished by a solid, balanced look were the form lays in the contour and the cutlery’s characteristic rounded finish.
Dorotea Line Extension for Gense
- Year Completed: 2023
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Harald Sundberg, Johanna Fosselius
We have drawn inspiration from the shapes between the Dorotea Cutlery to create a new yet familiar extension to the Dorotea Cutlery Collection. Vases, jugs, bowls, dishes and candlesticks have been added to the range, made of ceramics and recycled stainless steel.
"The Dorotea cutlery creates interesting shapes in the space between them, that was the starting point for the expanded collection", says Monica Förster.
Gense has been the symbol of robust materials, stylish design and excellent functionality for more than a century. A passion for timeless Nordic styling is also evident in the new range. When creating the new collection we drew inspiration from the scenery around the little village of Dorotea, where Monica grew up. The meandering lines of its mountains and valleys are reflected in the soft, organic shapes of the design. The silky surface of blue, violet, green and yellow ceramics reflect the northern lights.
"I was inspired by glacial landscapes shaped over millennia, leaving soft, flowing silhouettes over the mountain ridges of northern Sweden, where I grew up."
The Dorotea collection is a good example of how collaboration between designer and producer can move mountains in production technology and sustainability efforts. The range is made of 91percent recycled stainless steel with packaging made from recycled FSC-certified paper and soy ink printing.
With its subtle, organic forms, the Dorotea collection by Gense unites design idiom with production technology and sustainability. Combined with the colourful interplay of ceramics, Dorotea’s clean lines in stainless steel look strikingly stylish.
Tunes Collection for Georg Jensen
- Year Completed: 2018 – 2020
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Sara Asserlind, Ida Eklöf Johansson, Zachary Hammersley
The Tunes Collection includes a low and a high candle holder, a stunning candelabra centrepiece, a pillar candle holder that doubles as a small serving bowl, a low tealight holder with an elegant, conical shape and a large serving bowl with a slim, sculptural silhouette. The designs are crafted from mirrored stainless steel and can either be used alone or grouped together for a bolder display.
A staple of the Nordic appreciation for "hygge", and a symbol of time spent together indoors, candlelight and candleholders are an essential part of the Scandinavian home: Tunes offers a delightfully pure and fresh take on this timeless tradition.
Shell Acoustic Pendant for OKKO
- Year Completed: 2021
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Harald Sundberg, Alicia Knight, Ana Rodrigues
Shell is an acoustic pendant that comes in a flat pack and is light and easy to hang. It has a negative carbon footprint and is 100 percent recyclable and nonallergic.
The sound absorbing art piece is constructed of sculptural shells that shows off the beauty of the natural hemp fiber sheets. When designing Shell we started with the flat sheets and experimented with different shapes by folding them into three dimensional objects resulting in an organic design constructed of several hemp shells.
Reed Vases for Orrefors
- Year Completed: 2023
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Harald Sundberg, Alicia Knight
Reed is a series of exclusive vases in clear and moss green glass and is the result of our first collaboration with the Swedish heritage glassworks brand Orrefors.
In the creation of Reed, we began the design process by creating three-dimensional sketches in cardboard where the vases were given a strong character by emphasizing the mold lines instead of hiding them. When the sketch was transferred to glass, the distinct lines took on a sense of organic movement with a gentle sway in the glass.
"In 2020 I spent time at Villa San Michele on Capri in a fantastic studio overlooking the Bay of Naples. During my time there I began to sketch and develop new forms inspired by Capri’s fantastic flora, where the idea for Reed was born. An interpretation of my own experiences of the landscape, where the grand and the barren meet the small and organic as a collective expression in this vase", explains Monica Förster.
Reed is molded in clear glass and moss green, the collection comes in three different sizes: a high one for twigs and bigger flowers, a medium one for meadow flowers, and a low one just right for tulips.
Esedra Poud for Poltrona Frau
- Year Completed: 2007
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
Esedra is a mix between the Swedish handicraft and the skill, elegance and knowledge of handicraft of Poltrona Frau. A detail with the plissé technique from the Chesterfield sofa is enlarged and made into seating pouf.
inWhite for Rörstrand
- Year Completed: 2014
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Riccardo Paccaloni, Astrid Elander, Natascha Sporer, Marine Hérisson
Inwhite is a new generation of porcelain perfectly adapted to the way we meet and dine today. The form is inspired by Blanche, one of Rörstrand’s classic services from the 1940s. It has a low profile, gently rounded lines and, of course, a beautiful white lustre decorated only with the Rörstrand hallmark in discreet relief. The subtle elegance of Inwhite serves as the ideal quiet companion.
Tucano Desk for Zanotta
- Year Completed: 2020
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Colm Keller, Harald Sundberg, Alicia Knight
The Tucano writing desk for Zanotta has an elegant and essential shape, it expresses simplicity and design synthesis. A bent tubular steel frame – painted in matt black – provides support for a thin top made of cowhide, consisting in one single piece which follows the frame but leaves some parts uncovered.
Nera Bowls for Zanat
- Year Completed: 2015 – 2017
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Riccardo Paccaloni, Sophie Cappe, Valentine See, Ida Eklöf Johansson, Per Samuli
Nera bowls were originally designed to be auctioned at a charity event aimed at protecting endemic trout in Zanat’s hometown. The product attracted incredible attention from design media, customers and some leading furniture design brands which have used it as a styling element for their catalogues and fair exhibitions.
The perfect proportions, materiality, lightness and sculptural refinement along with meticulously executed carving details are the essence of the product’s attractiveness. The bowls come in three different sizes and are available in natural and black-stained maple, as walnut woods. The bowls can also be customized with a choice of different carving patterns.
Unity Stool/Table for Zanat
- Year Completed: 2021
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Harald Sundberg
The Unity table/stool was designed in the context of Zanat’s 2020 Lockdown Dialogues project. The artistic idea behind the table/stool’s design was to portray inseparable links that connect humanity as a whole, a notion made clear to us throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
This sculptural object, made in solid wood, with hand carved details, is a piece of functional art that can be used both as a side table and stool. It is available in black-stained maple and walnut woods. The product’s timeless elegance and the quality of craftsmanship should guarantee its exceptional longevity and sustainability.
Nur Mirror for Zanat
- Year Completed: 2017
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Riccardo Paccaloni, Ida Eklöf Johansson
Nur Mirror is designed as a sculptural object with clear function. The mirror is detachable from its base and can be used as a hand-glass mirror. The base in wood can be personalized by choosing Zanat’s unique hand-carving techniques. These Black Nur Mirrors were shown at JUS Beyond Black Exhibition.
Branco Boxes for Zanat
- Year Completed: 2018
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Riccardo Paccaloni, Ida Eklöf Johansson, Sara Asserlind
Branco Boxes are versatile items made in the Zanat carving tradition with inspiration from legendary Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi. The sculpture-like boxes can, apart from storage, also be used as stools, side or coffee tables.
Three different sizes and colours with individually carved patterns fit in many interiors. Alone or in combination, the boxes are spectacular and multifunctional objects and pieces of art.
Sky Mirror for Zanat
- Year Completed: 2020
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Alicia Knight, Colm Keller
Sky standing mirrors are simultaneously modernist art sculptures, hand-carved in solid wood, as well as a set of functional mirrors. Contrary to most mirrors, they are equally beautiful from all angles, making them perfect centerpiece objects for a multitude of different settings and environments, placed either as singular objects or in groups of two or more, which also turns them into room dividers.
These large self-standing mirrors come in two different semi-oval sizes and two round sizes and both in walnut or maple with different stains and finishes.
Unna Chair for Zanat
- Year Completed: 2015
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Riccardo Paccaloni, Sophie Cappe, Valentine See.
Unna is a stackable dining chair with soft, minimalistic, yet humanistic expression. The lightweight structure represents the highest end of wood craftsmanship and its elegant joints support a sturdy seat and backrest. The chair can be customized by applying Zanat’s exquisite carving techniques. Finding inspiration in nature, we have modernized the carvings, preserving the genuine technique.
"We wanted to make a piece that had a classic timeless touch and at the same time, an aura of rawness and contemporary approach."
The care for details can be found in the riveted corner joints connecting the two cowhide flaps folding on the front and sides. A textural and ethereal design at the same time, the cowhide will get a patinated surface over time, a specific coat that will tell the "history" of the object. This project, a small writing desk suits the smart home office.
Pointe Table for Zanat
- Year Completed: 2022
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Harald Sundberg, Johanna Fosselius
Pointe table is a design statement of ballet-like elegance expressed in a graceful, multifunctional object made in solid wood. En pointe ballet dancer supports their entire body with tips of their feet creating a vision of balance, precision and beauty.
This exquisitely executed round table can be used as a sculptural centerpiece in a hall, small bistro/dining/coffee table, or a side table.
The table’s base resembles a tree-trunk due to both its shape and the tree bark hand-carved pattern on its surface, which takes us back to product’s origin. The neck of the table sits in contrast to the base, with its smooth surface and elegantly curved shape of a trumpet bell.
Table top is available in two sizes: 64 cm and 86 cm diameter. Pointe will be offered in several different woods and finishes, with table tops in solid wood or a choice of ceramics.
Pedestals for exhibition pieces: Dekton Pietra Kode by Cosentino
- Year Completed: 2023
- Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
- Creative Director: Monica Förster
- Team: Harald Sundberg, Johanna Fosselius, Aleks Rasztawicki
We wanted to use deconstructed architecture as a red thread through the exhibition. In Cosentinos new family of stone composites, Dekton Pietra Kode, we saw the opportunity to work with minimalistic shapes that let the material speak. Stairs, pillars and floor fragments form beautiful compliments to the furniture they frame.
