This is a shortened version of an article published in Matter vol 6.1, a publication of Material ConneXion.

Material ConneXion is the leading global platform for material innovations and solutions.

Chatting over coffee one day, I discovered Claudia's background and decided to feature her here on Faces of Design. Claudia's background involves an unusual job profile in combination with a lot of aspects that we value highly here at Faces of Design: she's got an international, interdisciplinary mindset, as well as great curiosity and drive.

There are few areas of design that still serve to polarise quite as successfully as sex toy design, yet it is a fascinating design area to look at: a sex toy is one of the products that will ultimately be closer to one's body than any other object, that is interacted with in the most intimate moments and ways, and which thus has to meet design challenges of the most extreme kind.

This article looks at the topic from two viewpoints: the Creative's, and the Suit's, and we believe there is an attractive window of opportunity for young designers in the mix as well.

Monica Förster is one of Sweden's most internationally renowned designers. Her work is characterised by a strong sense of pure form combined with, and fuelled by, a never-ending curiosity for new materials and technology. Always working in a cross-disciplinary way, Monica invents and renews typologies within industrial, furniture and object design.

Monica has been awarded Designer of the Year, Sweden, 2006 and 2007; Excellent Swedish Design; Design Plus in Germany; and was awarded the FutureDesigndays Award in 2002. She has also been represented in the International Design Yearbook.

Once again, I've been able to enjoy the great privilege of visiting the Domaine de Boisbuchet for a week during the workshop season.

In recent years, Carina Seth Andersson's work has been displayed at a variety of international exhibitions. Her pieces are part of the permanent collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 1994, Carina Seth-Andersson was chosen to represent Sweden at the Triennale in Milan. In 1998, she designed a glass object for the collection Quite Simply, as part of the Cultural Capital City project.

Frans Joziasse is one of the two founders of PARK advanced design management, and is regarded as one of the pioneers of design management consulting.