Monica Förster grew up in Dorotea, in northern Sweden, and studied at Beckmans College of Design and Konstfack in Stockholm, graduating in 1997. She later founded her own studio, Monica Förster Design Studio, based in Stockholm.

Her early breakthrough came with Cloud, an inflatable room-within-a-room installation for the Finnish company Snowcrash, in 2002. She has since worked internationally with companies including Cappellini and Poltrona Frau, and her work has been exhibited at MoMA in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Förster is the only designer to have been named Designer of the Year in Sweden five times. Her honors also include the Bruno Mathsson Prize and the Golden Chair award from the Swedish Association of Architects.