Monica Förster
Sweden's most internationally recognized living designer
Monica Förster grew up in Dorotea, a small village in northern Sweden, where ice-sculpted mountains, deep winters, and her father's career as one of Sweden's leading chefs shaped a lifelong relationship with form, food, and the table. The Gense collection that bears her village's name is drawn directly from that landscape — and is made from 91% post-consumer recycled steel.
The only designer in Swedish history named
"Designer of the Year" five times
A designer with a global studio
Förster studied at two of Sweden's most prestigious design schools — Beckmans and Konstfack — and founded the Monica Förster Design Studio in Stockholm in 1999. Her clients today include Alessi, Georg Jensen, Poltrona Frau, Volvo, Whirlpool, and Orrefors.
Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the V&A in London, and is held in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Sweden and the Nasjonalmuseet in Norway. She has been named "Designer of the Year" in Sweden five times — a Swedish first.
The Dorotea collection
Launched in 2011, Dorotea is named for Monica Förster's home village and shaped by the landscape that surrounds it: glacial valleys, soft transitions between mountain and meadow, the open quiet of northern light. In matte-polished stainless steel, the collection holds a balance between minimalism and warmth.
German Design Award 2025
Dorotea Salt & Pepper Grinder
The Dorotea Salt and Pepper Grinder won the German Design Award. The full collection is produced from 91% post-consumer recycled steel — a material that can be recycled endlessly without losing its properties.
