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.