Monica Förster

The 2021 Bruno Mathsson Prize is awarded to Monica Förster, one of Sweden’s internationally most established designers. Since the founding of her studio in Stockholm over 20 years ago, she and her team has collaborated with over 50 different producers in 10 different countries. She is drawn to craft oriented industries, where the knowledge is in the hands, and in the interaction between skilled practitioners on the factory floor. In parallel, she is deeply engaged in technical development and how she as a designer can make its progress accessible.

Förster undertakes a variety of commissions that stretch from furniture and objects to interiors and industrial design. Each project is dealt with based on its unique conditions and purpose, with a strong focus on sustainability, socially as well as environmentally. The work often begins by examining the technical possibilities of the factory where the object is to be produced. After analysing and developing the concept, a gentle transformation from idea to construction and design takes place.

Förster’s work entails a freedom and variation of expression that makes her unique. She has never let herself be affected by international trends or felt constricted by the traditions of furniture design. Instead she employs advanced experiments with materials, techniques or crafts, and combines them with a poetic and organic design, occasionally inspired by the nature of Lappland in northern Sweden, where she grew up. Her objects often have a soft, sculptural silhouette, inviting a tactile approach.

Each object’s interplay with the human and the surrounding environment, is always the starting point for Förster. The exhibition at Vandalorum is dominated by one of her most interactive works: the inflatable mobile room Cloud from 2003. The exhibition’s responsive light design enhances the natural changes of the sky and highlights how every object exists in relation to its surroundings.

Monica Förster (b. 1966) studied at the Beckmans College of Design and the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. She has exhibited at MoMA in New York City and V&A in London, among other places, and is represented in the collections of Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg. She has received a number of awards, including three times announced The Designer of the Year by Elle Decoration, Sweden, and twice by Residence Magazine, Sweden. She has been awarded The Golden Chair by Architects Sweden and received international awards from, for example, Time Magazine and Interior Design Magazine in the US, and Wallpaper in the UK.

Thanks to: Bertil & Britt Svenssons Stiftelse för Belysningsteknik, Bengt Julins Stiftelse, Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse, Swedish Arts Council, Region Jönköping County, Värnamo Municipality, Vandalorum Partners: Hamrin, Liljedahl, Svenstig,

^{Lighting design: Kai Piippo, Light Bureau/AFRY. Graphic form: Henrik Nygren Design. Photo: Patrik Lindell}