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Interview with Monica Förster |
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The way I learned about silicon is that silicon is used for a mold to make other things. With this material, I thought I could make something. So I called David, and he looked at it, and he brought it to Milan for the furniture fair. And it got good attention. But you cannot just make one thing. You have to prove yourself as a good designer over and over again.
PD : After that, what happened?
MF : I was already working with other projects. I never believe in so-called "breakthroughs". It was just part of my work. It was just part of my journey. It is still...
PD : There are so many design students in Sweden who are really struggling to establish themselves as designers. What do you think about their situation?
MF : Some people are happy just repeating the same project. It depends on what kind of goals you have. That's fine as well. But I want a lot more than that. I still do. I had absolutely no money when I was a student. How did I survive? I worked as a designer for free. I was serving tables at the same time. It was a mad life. But I was younger and I could do it. They didn't pay me, but I still learned a lot in design. In the long term, another ten years, I will be okay with money. Now it is okay. Of course, I get by. I get invited to give a speech etc... But they don't pay me. At a furniture fair, for example, if the context of the speech is important, they don't pay you. On the other hand, if the context is not important, then they pay you! (laughs)
That is the case with most designers. For example, Patricia Urquiola - even she cannot get anything. Before you finish school, you have to understand the structure of this design world. I do earn some money now. I have 10 different projects. The situation is slowly getting better.
PD : But you still feel like it will take a long time for you to feel comfortable financially?
MF : The thing is that you will probably never reach the point where you feel financial comfortable as a designer.
I know designers who are much older and considered one of the best designers, but they are still not comfortable financially. But that is also a drive as well. You try to do something new, reinvent yourself... but it is hard.
PD : I would imagine that it is hard at the beginning, but I thought that it gets much better after you get a job from big companies such as Offect and Swedese...
MF : Offect and Swedese are not big by the international standard. They are very small. That is why you have to work internationally. David Design, Offect - they look like big companies because of their marketing, but actually they are very, very small companies by the international standard. If you want to survive as a designer, you need to work internationally.
PD : Now you work with some international companies, right?
MF : Yes, I work with two Italian companies. I work with a Japanese company E&Y. There are many other small companies I have been working with. But it is not very easy. When you are working with a producer, he takes lots of risk, he puts lots of money for the marketing, etc... It is not just drawing something that someone likes. We have to understand the whole concept. For example, I designed a chair for an Italian company. Eero [Koivist] said it wouldn't work, and I had an argument with him. The Italian company said "Mamma mia!", but they never said it wouldn't work. They said that it will be a big challenge. These companies can afford taking on such challenges because their market is huge.
Also, there is difference in how they work depending on which country they are from. The Italians are working in a certain way. We work differently. For Italians, I send 10 emails, but they don't answer. They answer when they want to answer. It is not like they are not working. That's the way they work. It would be a little bit rude in Sweden. Japan is also different. They don't really say "No" (laughs), they just don't say anything. But I love it. I like meeting different kinds of people and develop things with different cultures. When I work with an Italian company, I feel like they brought me in a family. I really feel that way. It is fun in a way.
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