Karin Mannerstål
Karin Mannerstål has spent decades shaping Swedish home culture - as a designer, as a host on Sweden's long-running home design television program "Äntligen hemma" ("Finally Home") and as a collaborator with brands from IKEA to Åhléns.
Her Animal Friends cutlery for Gense brings her signature warmth into a piece designed for the youngest hands at the table.
- The children's cutlery that turns mealtime into a story -
A multi-disciplinary career
Born in 1963 in Finspång and raised in Karlskrona, Mannerstål studied graphic design and advertising at Beckman's School of Design in Stockholm from 1986 to 1989. She has built a versatile career across product design, rugs (for Kateha and Klippan Yllefabrik), and television.
Her design philosophy, in her own words, is defined by warmth, playfulness, and a sparkling energy that reflects her own personality. That sensibility is rare in children's tableware, where most products lean disposable and impersonal.
The Animal Friends collection
Designed for children aged one to four, Animal Friends features four characters — a rabbit, a bear, a cat, and a monkey — rendered in high-grade stainless steel.
It's a complete departure from disposable plastic kids' cutlery: a real, lasting set, made with the same care as the rest of the Gense range.
In Scandinavia it has become a beloved gift for new families, and a piece that often outlasts childhood as a sentimental keepsake — the kind of object a child grows up with and a parent keeps.
A real cutlery set, designed for the smallest hands at the table.
Animal Friends Cutlery Set of 4
