Pioneering Difference: Founder of FOREO, Filip Sedic, Brings Vision to Beauty

Time to put a face to everyone’s favorite beauty tech brand: meet Filip Sedic, the CEO and founder of FOREO, and brains behind LUNA, ISSA and UFO.

Relentlessly inquisitive, to date, Sedic’s thirst for invention has seen him file more than 200 international patents across multiple categories. Now, as part of a proven track record of investing in industries long overdue an overhaul, the inventor is turning his attention to transforming the beauty tech industry not just for good, but for better.

Ever since establishing FOREO in 2013, Sedic, a Bosnian-born Swede, has been active in all aspects of the now multinational brand. In particular, this consummate ideas man plays a pivotal role in product development, heading up a team of R&D professionals collectively known as the FOREO Institute. Although the name may conjure images of a centralized, secretive laboratory, the brand’s technical experts are based across no fewer than ten countries. Why? Because FOREO is for everyone, and wellbeing knows no borders!

The team’s achievements include the LUNA range of facial cleansing brushes. On the debut model’s release back in 2013, its material - medical-grade silicone - marked a world first for a skincare tool of this kind. However, as Filip himself explains, the story behind FOREO's very first product is refreshingly human: 

“My wife, Ivana has always been passionate about skincare. In 2012, she started using a well-known brand of facial brushes, but found that the so-called “best” product out there actually made her skin worse. When I took a look, I couldn’t see how it could possibly be better than just washing with hands - its nylon bristles and detachable brush head could harbor bacteria, and it was clearly too abrasive. But to our surprise, a gentler and more hygienic alternative simply didn’t exist. So this frustration, our conversations, and her insights led to the LUNA design. We haven’t looked back since.”

One year later, in 2014, the FOREO Institute made the biggest, boldest step forward in toothbrush design in 60 years with ISSA: a sonic, silicone brush combining comprehensive cleaning with a gentle, non-abrasive touch.

With Sedic as inventor-in-chief, the FOREO Institute has established a reputation for disrupting beauty world conventions. That could be packing high-end technologies into handheld at-home devices, as is the case with the ESPADA Acne-Clearing Blue Light Pen; or more recently, challenging the widely (not to mention blindly) accepted efficacy of sheet masks to create a 90-second smart alternative. Called UFO, the puck-shaped device beautifully debunks the myth that professional-level skincare demands a hefty investment of both money and time, and is illustrative of one of FOREO Institute’s driving principles: “Why not - and what if?”

As you’d expect, Sedic’s path to creating extraordinary devices is similarly unorthodox. Long before founding FOREO, he headed up one of Sweden’s first digital marketing agencies, before applying his lateral approach to problem-solving to developing early iterations of mobile 3G networks for the telecommunications company, Ericsson.

Inspired by Sweden’s tradition for innovation, seen in the success of names such as Skype, IKEA and Alfred Nobel of the Nobel Prize, FOREO stands at the forefront of the beauty-tech revolution.  With one product sold every 3 seconds in 2017, and more than 100 awards won, Sedic’s inventions continue to make a profound impact on millions of everyday lives.

It’s that ‘making a difference’ that characterizes the entrepreneur and inventor’s proven track record. An inspiring leader to work with, and for whom ‘good enough’ never is, Sedic is FOREO’s driving creative force. With this professional pundit and inventor at its helm, beauty fans should continue to expect the unexpected from the FOREO Institute - so watch this space!