
ROSTI – FROM BACK ROOM TO INTERNATIONAL COMPANY
Our story starts in the early 1940 when a two-crown loan becomes the start of a lifelong partnership and friendship. In 1944, during the difficult times of the Second World War, Rolf Fahrenholtz and Stig Jørgensen founded Rosti. During and just after the war there was a shortage on many materials. After creating some products in Bakelite Rosti started to pioneer with melamine from the US. This was a completely new production material for that time and a big adventure for the founders. It resulted in a new melamine tableware collection; the production was kick-started and Rosti received its largestever order when the Danish Armed Forces discovered melamine’s extraordinary durability and ordered melamine plates for its food services. In the 1950’s Rosti was the only manufacturer of melamine in Denmark.


ROSTIS history
The Margrethe bowl fairy-tale
Rolf Fahrenholtz and Stig Jørgensen wanted to
add a set of mixing bowls to Rosti’s range of
melamine products. In 1947 Rosti purchased
mixing bowl samples in all imaginable sizes,
shapes and materials and asked a large number
of housewives about the bowls advantages and
shortcomings. The results revealed that housewives
wanted a curved bowl that was spacious
and yet high enough to allow whipping and
stirring without the contents spilling over the
sides. The bowl should also have a pouring lip and
a good handle for a perfect use.
The next step was to find a designer who could
reconcile these requirements with a timeless
and functional design. The choice fell on Acton
Bjørn and Sigvard Bernadotte’s design studio
in Copenhagen, which at the time was one of
the few studios in Scandinavia working with
industrial design. There wasn’t a great deal of
money available for the fee, so not much time
was to be spent on the brief, according to the
studio’s internal instructions. Fortunately the
designers got it right the first time round, and
with four colour suggestions for a small extra payment,
the task was completed. Rosti now had a
bowl that united function, quality and design.
Named after a niece
In 1950 the bowl went into production. Some years
later, Sigvard Bernadotte wanted to give it a special
name. Bernadotte was the son of the Swedish
King Gustav VI Adolf, the brother of the Danish
Queen Ingrid and thus the uncle of Princess
Margrethe. In 1953 the law governing the
succession to the Danish throne was changed,
and suddenly 13-year-old Margrethe’s name was
on everyone’s lips. Bernadotte asked the Danish
court for permission to use the princess’s name
for the bowl. He received permission to do so, and
the next year the bowl was given its name: the
Margrethe bowl.
The bowl was subsequently introduced for
Christmas 1954 in three sizes, 2, 2.5 and 3 litres
in white and pastel colours yellow, blue and
green. The collection was expanded throughout
the 1960s to include many different sizes and
colours and the bowls were fitted with rubber
rings at the base. Lids were also manufactured
for all bowl sizes.
The Margrethe bowl has become an awardwinning
Danish design icon that has been
depicted on stamps and which also has a place
in the permanent collection of the Museum of
Modern Art in New York. On a worldwide basis,
more than 25 million Margrethe bowls have been
sold.





