snipnet.net

Design

Three new public buildings in Rotterdam, Arkansas and Weil am Rhein that are elevating urban life

2025-12-22 02:01:01

We have high expectations of public structures for good reason: they are essential for community life. At their best, they provide a welcoming physical framework for socialising, learning and reﬂection. Here are three benchmark buildings that do all that and more.1.Anthony Timberlands CenterUSAMany buildings draw their sense of place from their architects’ use of local materials. The University of Arkansas’s newly ﬁnished Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation is one of them. Designed by Grafton Architects, a Pritzker Prize-winning Irish practice, with US ﬁrm Modus Studio and landscape design by Ground Control, the building uses timber sourced primarily from Arkansas forests and mills. “Our design envisions the building’s timber as the structural bones and the enclosing skin,” says Yvonne Farrell, co-founder of Grafton Architects. The cascading roof ﬁlters natural light into the interior and is positioned to mitigate the effect of intense winds and seasonal rainfall. The result? A structure that houses classrooms, studios and a lecture hall, while serving as an education in itself.uark.edu; graftonarchitects.ie(Image: Tim Hursley)2.Doshi RetreatWeil am Rhein, Germany(Image: Julien Lanoo)The ﬁnal building designed by the late BV Doshi has just been completed on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. It was inspired by a visit to the Modhera Sun Temple in India. “I showed Balkrishna Doshi a photo of a small shrine I had seen there,” says Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra’s chairman emeritus, who commissioned the project. “I then asked whether he would be willing to design a place of contemplation for the campus.” Doshi accepted. The result is a winding path, deﬁned by weathering-steel walls, that leads to a small pavilion with two stone benches and a gong. “It is sound, resonating through the visitor’s body, that erases the boundary between self and structure,” says Doshi’s granddaughter, Khushnu Hoof, who helped oversee the project’s completion. “The building reﬂects the sound, transforming the chamber into a resonant instrument.”vitra.com3.FenixRotterdamOn Rotterdam’s city harbour, the Fenix art museum opened in May as a cultural space dedicated to migration. The ﬁrst commission for a public cultural building in Europe for Chinese studio mad Architects, the structure weaves together narratives of past and present. Its main structure is a 100-year-old former warehouse. Here, 1920s windows and postwar sliding doors blend effortlessly with new sculptural additions.Highlights include a swirling stainless-steel “Tornado” staircase that rises in a double helix from the ground ﬂoor to the rooftop, which overlooks the Maas river. A vast green roof also reduces the museum’s impact on the environment. Sustainable and experimental, it’s an architectural testament to the museum’s mission: to bridge Rotterdam’s past and future.fenix.nl; i-mad.com(Image: Hufton + Crow)

Fenix Originals, the family-run furniture dealer championing forgotten Iberian design

2025-12-06 00:29:53

If you head to Barcelona’s northeastern outskirts, where the city starts to give way to countryside, you’ll find yourself in the residential neighbourhood of Horta. And if, like Monocle, you have messaged ahead to signal your geographical discombobulation, you might just spot Pau Pibernat standing in the street, scrutinising the passing cars in search of a missing-in-action visitor. After a quick greeting, he will produce a remote control from his pocket and retract a roll-up metal door. Then he will take you through a passageway that leads to the hidden treasure trove that he and his father, Carles, have amassed since they started their business in 2021.Rationalist walnut sofa with leather straps from the 1960s, alongside two 1965 globe pendant lamps by Miguel Milá for PolinaxWith assistance from Carles’s partner, industrial designer Constanze Schütz, the Pibernats run Fenix Originals, dealers in Catalan and Spanish furniture from the 1940s to the 1980s – though the occasional piece from, say, Herman Miller or Le Corbusier is allowed to sneak into the line-up too. That might not sound particularly unusual but it is. While these furniture makers were as skilled as their peers in the Nordics, France and Italy, many of them have only recently begun to receive the recognition that they deserve. This is thanks to people such as Pau and Carles, as well as a new generation of collectors, growing institutional interest and even film director Pedro Almodóvar (two chairs borrowed for his latest picture have just been returned).“Part of this project is about putting the names of these designers on the table just as people in Scandinavia, for example, have done for their designers,” says Carles.Father-and-son business partners Pau and Carles PibernatBut there’s another reason that explains why these designers have sometimes been overshadowed by their contemporaries. “During the dictatorship [of Francisco Franco], Catalan designers weren’t selling much even in Spain and the production runs were also not very large,” says Pau. “Some of them were often just selling to the bourgeoisie in Barcelona.” He cites the example of pioneering industrial designer Jordi Vilanova, whose work combined elements of Scandinavian and Mediterranean design and was mainly popular with well-to-do Barcelonès. In recent years, however, his canon has been reappraised. “We’ve just sold some of his pieces to a key gallery in Holland,” says Pau.So while, say, Danish mid-century furniture dealers are commonplace, their Iberian cousins are harder to locate (in every sense, it turns out, if you’re bad with a map). But first things first. Let’s look around this hidden-from-view, appointment-only gallery.The Fenix Originals gallery with a 1986 ‘Soviet’ rug by NanimarquinaIt’s a little overwhelming – in a good way. At the front of the space on white industrial racking sits chair after chair, all gently restored by the Pibernats and the artisans in their network. Then you come to a space with rooms set with furniture by designers including Joaquim Belsa Aldea and Vilanova (we spot a handsome walnut-and-marble side table from 1970 that could swiftly be rehoused), and lighting, such as Miguel Milá’s well-known work for Santa&Cole. Then there’s a repair station where, when we visit, Carles is in the throes of fixing a graceful Barceloneta armchair by Federica Correa and Alfonso Milá (Miguel’s elder brother). And last, we peek into a large storeroom filled with finds that have yet to be primed for sale. It’s a collection that has been put together with extraordinary knowledge, much of it gleaned by father and son after visiting archives, tracking down rare brochures from when the furniture or lighting first went on sale.Part of the chair collection, including the 1959 Riaza armchair by Paco Muñoz for DarroWhite organiser, Uten.Silo I by Dorothee Becker for Design M (1969), which was produced in the 1970s by Design M, Ingo MaurerAs the duo show Monocle around, their delight in what they have amassed is palpable. Carles produces a utilitarian folding metal chair with an orange frame and a shiny steel seat by Rafael Carreras Puigdengolas, from about 1960. “It’s the only one that we have found,” he says. We stop to inspect a Riaza armchair designed by Paco Muñoz in 1959 and produced by the firm Darro; it has a walnut frame that supports a back and seat stitched from a single piece of leather. There’s something reminiscent of Brazilian tropical modernism about its sturdy stature. “And look at this,” says Carles, stroking the black metal form of a fireplace, designed by architect José Antonio Coderch in 1952 for the company Polinax.Both men are also champions of the work of Joaquim Belsa Aldea, whose output was aimed less at the middle classes than the masses and relied on the use of robust, artisan-style materials. They have coat racks made from loops of cane, a folding pine dining table, chairs with bright-blue frames constructed from tubular metal contorted to reflect the designer’s goal of making products with a single, continuous, flowing outline.Room with a 1960s oak French armchair and a 1974 Arquímedes floor lamp by Gemma Bernal and Ramón Isern for TramoAnother thing to admire is the relationship between Pau and Carles. They started the company at the height of the coronavirus pandemic when the latter decided that it was time to step away from his career as a graphic designer as it shifted from the craft that he had loved to the more pacey world of digital. Already a modest furniture collector, he saw an opportunity. Meanwhile, Pau, who was undertaking a doctorate in modern history, was wondering whether he really wanted to pursue an academic career. So they teamed up. “It was organic – my father had the idea and started setting up the business, and I said, ‘How can I help?’” says Pau. They bought a van and started tracking down pieces, giving themselves the target of amassing 100 items before launching their website (they took their Horta gallery space in 2023).A 1938 Butterfly chair by three Buenos Aires architects including Antoni BonetPair of blue tubular metal chairs by Joaquim Belsa Aldea for Lamper (1971)Tharsis table lamp (1973) by Luís Pérez de la Oliva for Madrid-based FaseAs for a name, in the 1980s there had been a design shop in Girona called Fenix Originals run by US designer Nancy Robbins. When it shuttered in the 1990s, Carles bought the sign and always said that one day he would launch a business with the same name, even using the same art deco-inspired font. Here, it rises again.What next? Carles is clear. “To find better and better pieces, to discover forgotten designers and to focus on the cultural potential of this project. We want more time to do research, to tell these lost stories.”

How Bofill’s radical ‘living space’ became one of Europe’s most visionary design headquarters

2025-12-04 06:18:45

It’s difficult to visit Barcelona and not experience the work of Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. The design studio, commonly known simply as the Taller (pronounced “tayer”), is responsible for Barcelona Airport’s Terminal 1, whose sweeping, wing-like roof welcomes international travellers to the Catalonian capital. During your descent, you might spot the Taller’s sail-shaped W Hotel at the edge of the Mediterranean, one of the defining features of the city’s new port area. Then, on the drive from the airport into central Barcelona, you may see a surrealist red structure. Named Walden 7, it’s a striking housing project that combines public and private realms. Though the Taller’s founder and namesake designer, Ricardo Bofill, died in 2022, the firm still looms large in Catalonia.“But we don’t belong to Barcelona,” says Ricardo’s son Pablo, as he welcomes Monocle to the Taller’s headquarters, La Fábrica, which sits beside Walden 7. The practice, which Ricardo founded in 1963, might be based in Barcelona but Pablo is keen to point out that it has always had a global footprint. (Its projects range from Les Arcades du Lac, a social-housing complex near Paris that was completed in 1982, to Tokyo’s Shiseido office building, finished in 2001.) Pablo has been the firm’s CEO since 2010; under his direction, it has grown from about 50 to 250 people and is now working on projects in new regions, such as West Africa and the Gulf.La FábricaThe Taller HQ is a former cement factoryPablo BofillFor many, working for a celebrated father might have felt like a natural step. Pablo, however, initially never gave much thought to the idea of building on his family legacy. “I had an education in France, where they taught us that the worst thing possible was to work with friends or in a family business,” he says. “We learned that if you work with friends, you’ll end up with none – and that if you work with your family, it means that you aren’t able to do anything on your own.”Pablo took that advice to heart. During his twenties, he worked as director of extension at Mixta Africa, which was developing affordable housing in Senegal, Mauritania, Tunisia and Egypt. One of the shareholders was the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank Group. Ironically, it was an experience that inadvertently set him up to run the Taller. The wheels were set in motion when project opportunities for his father’s studio began drying up after the financial crisis of 2008. “It got to the stage where they only had two or three months of work in the pipeline,” says Pablo. “That was the worst thing possible because my father was someone who lived through the work that he was doing, rather than through his hobbies. Closing the practice would have been a kind of death.” Family discussions naturally turned to what to do with the firm – as well as La Fábrica, a building that had been a near four-decade labour of love for Ricardo – should it be forced to shut up shop.Ricardo was born in 1939 to an architect-builder father and an arts patron mother. In 1957, during the authoritarian regime of Francisco Franco, he was expelled from Barcelona’s architecture school as a result of his left-wing beliefs. Undeterred, he completed his education in Geneva before returning to his hometown in 1963. Here, at the age of 23, he established his own practice, radically breaking from tradition by assembling design teams composed of artists, poets, engineers, philosophers and sociologists. Within a few years he had built a reputation as a renegade in his field, creating structures that sought to tackle housing shortages and lift spirits.Meeting spaceBy the early 1970s, Ricardo was on the hunt for a live-work space in which to continue edging his architectural vision forward. His planning concept defied Barcelona’s bylaws, so he looked to the metropolis’s periphery. There, he came across a cement factory that was due to close in mid-1973. He quickly acquired the entire complex: 30 silos, subterranean galleries, cavernous engine rooms and some surrounding acreage. Over the next two years, he oversaw its transformation into architectural offices, archives, exhibition spaces and a private residence. The ambitious renovation involved strategic demolition, subtle additions and the extensive planting of eucalyptus, palm and cypress trees. To enhance the monumental feeling of the industrial building, Ricardo cut tall windows into the space, flooding it with Mediterranean light and creating an atmosphere of contemplative calm. The building incorporated elements from his personal and professional lives, and combined the old and the new. It was a kind of architecture and an approach to work that Pablo eventually decided that he wanted to preserve. “I felt that I had the responsibility to give part of my life to my family and transform the Taller and La Fábrica into a new reality,” says Pablo. “My brother Ricardo Jr, an architect, made the decision to join my father in 2010 and so did I.”With Ricardo, Pablo and Ricardo Jr (who has since left the practice) steering the ship together, things turned around quickly. They won a major project in Morocco: the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Benguérir, which was completed in 2016. This was followed by competition win after competition win and the firm’s workflow improved.“The most important thing for me during that period was to give life to my father,” says Pablo. “And the only way to do so was to return to the origins of the office. So we started bringing people from different backgrounds and disciplines around the table. At the time, we had no money and not many projects. That actually made things easier because then you can only call on people who are as crazy as you – people who are very passionate about what they want to do and don’t mind some instability.”In the 15 years since, this motley group has helped the firm to build a portfolio of work that spans continents. When Monocle visits, there’s a meeting for furniture firm BD Barcelona, helmed by its founder, Catalonian furniture designer Oscar Tusquets Blanca. (Pablo is a newly minted shareholder in the venture.) They are gathering in La Fábrica’s El Jardín de las Delicias (Garden of Delights), when artist and architect Guillermo Santomà floats through. An independent creative, Santomà is collaborating with the Taller on a project in Georgia. “I have my own studio but I also work here,” he says. “It’s a place where you share information and grow together.”Central workspace ‘the Cathedral’ with mezzanine aboveA floating staircase leads to a previously vacant mezzanine areaFollowing closely behind Santomà are students from Porto Academy, who are being given a tour of the space (“Students dream of coming here,” says Taller architect Tamar Briones, who is leading the cohort). Meanwhile, a French design practice has joined some of the Taller team in an open-plan meeting room, where the two firms are exchanging ideas for upcoming projects. “We are always trying to bring interesting people in to help us be better,” says Dimitri Davoise, a partner at the Taller, who is helming the meeting. “The Taller’s outlook today comes from its early years. It’s all about bringing people from different origins and disciplines together to build a project. Influences come from philosophy, poetry and art.”The return to such an outlook is mirrored in the way that La Fábrica is evolving. Despite making the space usable after its initial two-year renovation in the mid-1970s, Ricardo never saw the complex as a finished project. “It’s a living place – not something that you need to preserve or protect,” says Pablo. “This was defined by my father and transmitted to me. It’s a space where we need to have no nostalgia. It needs destruction and reconstruction, demolition and change.”Hernán Cortés agrees with the sentiment. “La Fábrica has always been a living space,” says the Taller partner. He has been working with the practice for almost 20 years and says that a surge in projects since 2020 has seen the complex’s physical spaces completely revolutionised. “Everything has changed over the past four years. Private living areas and gallery spaces have been turned into offices to accommodate the growing workforce. This has shifted the energy. Before, it could sometimes feel like a museum. But now it’s really living.”Living quartersRicardo Bofill’s private bedroomCortés has been at the helm of some of La Fábrica’s most significant recent renovations. A new exterior staircase, engineered to appear as if it’s floating, leads to a once-abandoned mezzanine area that is now a studio for the Taller’s landscape designers. With no direct access previously, the space had long hovered vacant above La Fábrica’s biggest workspace, which is known as “the Cathedral” and contains four rows of desks furnished with lamps by French manufacturer Jieldé and desk chairs by Denmark’s Engelbrechts. Here, industrial ducts from the mid-20th century have also been given new life as air-conditioning systems. “The factory is active,” says Cortés. “It’s living. Everyone who comes through La Fábrica leaves some of their DNA in the project.”The kitchen has been completely refinished too, with its original Antoni Gaudí chairs retained, alongside Alessi kettles and cheese graters, as well as bentwood pieces by German firm Thonet. Meanwhile, Ricardo’s private residence has undergone its own transformation. While the bedroom – complete with a bathtub at the foot of the bed – received a simple restoration, other areas were more comprehensively reimagined. The cube hall, which once served as Ricardo’s private space for hosting concerts and dinners, now functions as a full working area with clusters of desks. Above this is a dining space that has been repurposed as a meeting area, while a private rooftop garden has been democratised with a sunken conversation pit, making it the perfect spot for intimate staff lunches beneath the Catalonian sun.In collaboration with Barcelona-based painter Claudia Valsells, the Taller has developed a new colour palette specifically for its projects, with experiments unfolding across the complex. In one grouping of four interconnected silos, an entire floor has been painted a deep emerald green. The exteriors haven’t been forgotten: the Taller’s resident painter, Panxo Juli, is almost continuously giving the walls a fresh lick, ensuring that La Fábrica’s concrete surfaces continue to experiment with the Mediterranean light. “We painted the façades a few years ago and now we’re trying something different,” says Juli. “So we have been conducting tests to see how we want to reinvent it. The good thing is that at La Fábrica we don’t work as architects with plans but collaborate directly with artisans. We reinvent and destroy until we like it.”Experiment in colourFreshly paintedImpromptu workspaceAll of these spaces are animated by members of the Taller. Desk assignments don’t necessarily correspond to projects, which means that staff are often on the move between buildings, stopping for lunch beneath a grove of olive trees, practising yoga together on a lush lawn or taking smoking breaks in a central courtyard, balancing cigarettes on the edge of Cubo ashtrays by Danese Milano. It’s a sociable approach to work that leads to chance encounters. In this way, the spirit of the workplace responds to the studio’s ambition that no two days – or, indeed, no two projects – be the same.“We don’t want to define our approach because then we might end up repeating something that we have previously done,” says Pablo. “We want to work in a way that means that we can give new answers to questions. And La Fábrica embodies this: it’s a laboratory of expression, not a place of conservation or patrimony. On the contrary, it reinvents itself through the reality of what we live through.” By responding to the needs of its users and paying respect to the vision of the practice’s founder in the process, La Fábrica is – like all of Bofill Taller de Arquitectura’s work, from airports to public housing projects – a place to be lived in.bofill.com

Why Donald Trump’s ‘beautiful architecture’ mandate could make Washington look worse

2025-12-20 07:13:48

In August the US president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order titled Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again in which he declared that future federal buildings nationwide – from courthouses to office blocks – must employ and be built in approved historical styles. From now on in Washington, the default language of public architecture will be classical, unless an exception can be justiﬁed.While Trump’s taste has often been called into question, this move, which solidiﬁes an order issued in the ﬁnal weeks of his ﬁrst presidency, shows that he’s well aware of the capacity of architecture to unite, divide, project power and create a link to an imagined past.Supporters, including the National Civic Art Society, frame the order as simple common sense. Classical architecture, sympathisers insist, is America’s God-given birthright. Its colonnades, cornicing and corbels carry the weighty associations of legitimacy, inspiration and timelessness. There is much to be said for classical architecture but surely it’s faintly ridiculous, short-sighted and lacking in imagination to mandate it as the capital’s only permissible style? Such sweeping edicts politicise taste and curtail conversation or innovation. Washington has long been a showcase of contrasting styles and, by extension, a democracy of ideas played out in its structure and streetscape since it was ﬁrst planned (on a marsh, not a swamp) in the 1790s. We have come a long way since then, in engineering and thought, and the built environment should reﬂect this.Classical forms have projected power and purpose since antiquity…(Image: Pere Sanz/Alamy)…but leaving a little space for creativity wouldn’t hurt Washington.(Image: Kevin Carter/Getty Images)The city’s strength has always been its pluralism, in architecture as in politics – from Henry Bacon’s Lincoln Memorial and Edward Durell Stone’s Kennedy Center to IM Pei’s National Gallery of Art East Building and Gordon Bunshaft’s Hirshhorn Museum – reﬂecting a diversity of expression. Privileging nostalgia over experimentation risks producing pastiche: a watered-down echo of the countless times when bullies have tried to impose a uniﬁed architecture on cities. See Mussolini’s attempts to link his fascism with the grandeur of Rome or Saddam Hussein’s Babylonian-inspired reworking of Baghdad. Today, there are other strongmen hard at work reforging their capitals and seats of power, from Putin’s Cathedral of the Armed Forces to Erdogan’s Ak Saray palace in Ankara (about four times the size of Versailles) and Modi’s new-look New Delhi that replaces colonial associations with historic Hindu and nationalist motifs.It’s too early to see the results in Washington but Trump’s mandate asserts centralised control over federal aesthetics and seeks an architecture portraying hulking power with precious little nuance. Instead of leaving it to competitions or a respected advisory process, the White House now dictates which forms are worthy of housing American democracy. It’s a patently subjective and problematic idea: are the president and his yes men now suddenly qualiﬁed to rule on what makes a building work?That said, a return to classical architecture could well create good, even great, buildings, providing that architects respect traditional craft, proportion and materials, which is not a given in today’s uncertain construction market. The risks such sweeping legislation possesses are literally colossal too. From botched efforts to corner-cutting or projects palmed off to cronies, commissions might quickly descend into over-scaled kitsch, boring imitation or ill-suited structures aimed to appease aesthetically rather than serve, elevate or enlighten.Without true architectural investigation and denied the freedom to disagree in the debate around urbanism and public buildings, the architectural discourse – much like the political and social ones – could stray from thoughtful invention into blind partisanship. Columns, pediments and porticoes might look like progress to some but making them the only option will drag architecture back to antiquity.Sam Lubell is a New York-based architecture writer and book editor.Read next: Trump biographer Michael Wolff on the ‘moron’ president’s ‘incredible incompetence’

Preserving Lomé’s modernist legacy: A call to protect Togo’s architectural heritage

2025-12-21 21:54:59

We sometimes make assumptions about cities that shape the ways in which we view them – but these are often wrong. Lomé, the capital of Togo, isn’t usually considered architecturally interesting. But the city centre is home to a fascinating array of brutalist buildings. Some are still in use, while others are in disrepair.In the West, modernist architecture tends to be celebrated. That’s not the case in West Africa. The region’s postwar heritage is either completely overlooked or dismissed as outdated and cumbersome. Togo’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale is our way of introducing this underappreciated and little-explored inheritance to the world.Our research started a few years ago, when we became interested in the country’s attempts to forge a new national identity. Togo was under German control until 1914, after which it was administered by the UK and France, before gaining independence in 1960. The architecture of those eras has been well documented by institutions in these countries. Even in Togo, people use colonial-era buildings as a reference point for the nation’s architectural identity. Yet there’s a dearth of information about Togolese modernism.Our exhibition forgoes the better-known colonial examples in favour of the ancient vernacular and post-independence modernism. We look at Nôk cave dwellings, Tata Tamberma earth castles and Afro-Brazilian structures built by freed slaves who returned to Togo from South America. We want to draw parallels between these buildings and what came later. We want you to ask yourself, “What is Togolese architecture?”In our exhibition we showcase 13 of Lomé’s most iconic modernist buildings, some still in use, some renovated, some abandoned. One of our favourite landmarks is the Hôtel de la Paix, a 1970s-era five-star property that was abandoned in the 2000s. The hotel plays a major part in Togo’s pop-culture scene – many music videos have been filmed here – but it is constantly under the threat of demolition. Some modern gems, such as the Hôtel Sarakawa and the Boad bank, are still in use.So what sets these buildings apart from modernist structures in cities such as Marseille and Melbourne? In the 1970s one of the first architecture schools in French-speaking Africa opened in Lomé. Togolese architects designed many buildings in the capital, including the Bourse du Travail, which also features frescoes, mosaics and artworks by Paul Ahyi. The Hedzranawoe market, by Da-Blèce Afoda-Sebou, was built in the shape of a three-leaf clover, the Togolese national emblem. The West African Development Bank is a striking brutalist building designed by French architecture firm Durand Ménard Thibault in collaboration with local architect Raphaël Ekoué Hangbonon. Research suggests that he provided the idea for the cylinder forms on the building’s exterior, which resemble the Tata Tamberma, an ancient type of Togolese earth architecture.Togo’s modernist buildings are often discussed in unflattering terms and depicted as concrete monsters. But a closer look reveals that they are subtly – and beautifully – adapted for the climate, from their orientation to ventilation features such as brise-soleils. We can, of course, question the use and volume of concrete in these projects. Even so, they look more advanced than many of today’s designs. We live in a time when we’re building glass skyscrapers without any consideration for the environment. Such structures lack identity, no matter whether you’re in London, Dubai or Lomé.For us, this exhibition is a call to action. Lomé still has a particular architectural character but it’s at risk of disappearing. Love them or hate them, these buildings make the city what it is – and this matters. We must take notice: when they’re gone, they’re gone.About the writersFabiola Büchele and Jeanne Autran-Edorh are the co-founders of Studio Neida. They curated Togo’s inaugural National Pavilion, titledConsidering Togo’s Architectural Heritage, which is on show at Squero Castello during the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.As told to Monocle’s design correspondent, Stella Roos, in the fifth edition of The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas on Architecture, Design and Building Better’, out now – buy your copy today.

Pritzker Prize winner Riken Yamamoto on creating spaces that connect people and generations

2025-12-07 08:00:22

Riken Yamamoto was born in Beijing. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, he moved with his family to Yokohama, where they lived in a home modelled on traditional Japanesemachiya– long wooden townhouses with a shopfront and interior courtyards. His mother’s pharmacy faced the street and the living quarters were at the rear. “The threshold on one side was for family and, on the other side, for community,” says Yamamoto. “I sat in between.”It’s a position in which the 80-year-old architect still ﬁnds himself: his long career has been deﬁned by an architectural approach that reconsiders such boundaries. His portfolio – which includes Yamakawa Villa (1977), a residence that is open on all sides, and The Circle (2020), a mixed-use hub at Zürich Airport – expresses his design outlook physically. The architect is also articulate when it comes to explaining his ethos.“The current architectural approach emphasises privacy, negating the necessity of societal relationships,” he said when accepting his Pritzker Prize in 2024. “But we can still honour the freedom of each individual while living together in architectural space, fostering harmony across cultures and phases of life.” In short, the blurring of indoors and out, public and private, has the potential to build not only better personal spaces but stronger communities too.The notion of community often comes up when you discuss what drives you in your work. How can architects help to create feelings of belonging?It’s important to speak with the people who will be using the building or space. Communication is the most crucial thing for me in my work, because it allows me to understand what I should create, what kind of architecture the space is calling for and how it can contribute to dialogue. The work of an architect is to foster communication – with a client, with the user and even with tourists who are visiting a space temporarily. This is the power of architecture.You have worked in many countries and markets, blending this notion of public and private. Are there any speciﬁc challenges associated with having a global practice?I don’t ﬁnd it challenging because the ﬁrst thing that we do with every project is decide what public and private mean in that context: in other words, we ask what the relationship is between the building and what’s outside. This applies to everything, from a client wanting us to deliver an airport to creating a small house for an individual. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big tower, a different country or a new culture. The basis is always the same: to understand what the meaning of public and private is.Earlier this year, when you received the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, you mentioned that architecture acts as the memory of a community. Can you explain this?Architecture is powerful because our built environment is a manifestation of our collective memory. And architecture is the present community’s touchpoint for the next generation – we might come and go but what we build remains. Many generations will use the same building; they will be born and die with that space as part of their lives and it will be a symbol, a memory of the community that inhabited it before us. Architecture allows and encourages people to remember.Do you ﬁnd that is the case for all architecture?Architecture can either foster and help to build a community or not. That is a decision entirely made by the architect. I’m always trying to help instil that philosophy, the sense of community and belonging. Doing so is what brings people back to their community. Think of your hometown or the house where you grew up. Many would like to go back to a certain place from their past because there is a memory of the community there – not just their family but how life was together with their neighbours. It’s crucial that we create spaces where people can live together because that’s the true meaning of community.This conversation is timely, given that there are wars in Europe and the Middle East that are currently tearing groups of people apart. What role can architects play in rebuilding communities?It’s difficult because everything is being destroyed – not just buildings but entire villages. That’s very dangerous in terms of the continuity of a community. When the time comes, we should keep the architecture and rebuild, even if it’s a very small thing. Doing so brings back important elements. For instance, right now, almost all of the architecture in Gaza has been destroyed and in Ukraine places are also disappearing. But something similar happened in Japan after the Second World War when many places were destroyed by US bombing. After that, we had no tradition left. It changed the way we think. From that moment onwards, we knew that we needed to preserve and ﬁght for architecture because otherwise you’re destroying memory.What is the one thing that you would like to pass on to the next generation of architects?Honour the plight of the community. And ask yourselves, “How do we keep ﬁghting?”

10 transformative ideas from the Venice Biennale

2025-12-23 23:53:59

The Venice Biennale’s International Architecture Exhibition is the world’s most significant showcase dedicated to the discipline. Its 19th edition, running until November, sees more than 750 participants present projects and research inside the Arsenale – a cavernous renaissance-era former shipyard, housing multiple displays – and the historic Giardini della Biennale (Biennale Gardens). Here, in their country’s respective pavilions, national delegations share innovations and ideas that respond to pressing regional concerns.The resulting showcase is a global collection of work from the industry’s leading lights, offering a glimpse into the architectural paradigms that could potentially shape our built world for decades to come. Monocle picks 10 proposals on show, from the simple to the radical, that illustrate how we might all build – and live – better.Entrance to the GiardiniSpace to gather in the Giardini1.Confound expectations‘Porch: An Architecture of Generosity’, USAGiardini della Biennale‘Porch’, USAGiven its current administration’s stance on immigration and international imports, the US contribution to the Biennale raised a few eyebrows with its themes of openness and generosity. “The timing is coincidental but this type of architecture rises above the historical moment,” says co-curator Peter MacKeith, an Arkansas-based architect. The exhibition is an ode to the porch, a design feature that bridges public and private spaces. The US’s neoclassical pavilion has been extended with a timber porch of its own. “A porch is a liminal space,” says MacKeith. “It’s in between absolute privacy and the public world. This is where encounters can occur, formal or serendipitous. The porch as a concept has value on the civic scale.”2.Make space for conversation‘Traces’, OmanArsenale di VeneziaOman’s curator Majeda AlhinaiAs it makes its debut at the International Architecture Exhibition, Oman puts the focus on conversation. Led by architect and designer Majeda Alhinai, an exhibition titledTracesdraws on the principles of thesablah, a traditional and informal gathering space found across Oman. A modern iteration of this communal setting, with perforated panels of raw aluminium that have been cut and folded to resemble woven palm leaves, takes centre stage. “We wanted to create a space that was open and inviting so there are no fixed interior or exterior elements,” says Alhinai. “It’s a space where people can congregate and hold more intimate conversations.” The result is a debut that proudly explores how tradition can inform the architecture of our time.3.Sometimes the answer already exists‘(Re)Invention’, BrazilGiardini della BiennaleBrazilian architect Matheus SecoWhy not reinvent the wheel? This year’s Brazilian contribution to the biennale explores how ancient solutions could help to cure our contemporary urban ailments. Curated by Brasília-based collective Plano Coletivo, the South American country’s exhibition is aptly entitled(Re)Invention. It includes new archaeological findings of Indigenous infrastructure in the Amazon, as well as 12 different case studies on how this new-found-yet-foregone knowledge can be applied to improve urban environments, from water drainage in favelas to the use of native plants in architectural contexts. “The new findings on the Amazon show that human occupation can be balanced [with nature],” says co-curator Matheus Seco. “This idea of a symbiosis between nature, humans and cities is possible.”4.Develop a metabolism‘Build of Site’, DenmarkGiardini della BiennaleIt’s no secret that new construction is a significant source of carbon emissions. It’s appropriate, then, that the Danish Pavilion, which is currently undergoing renovation, is looking at ways to address the issue. For the duration of the biennale, the space will become a paused construction site, with its displaced materials used to provide temporary walls, furniture and flooring in the pavilion. “I think there’s a future where buildings start to reconfigure themselves in a metabolic process, using their own materials for renovations,” says curator Søren Pihlmann. “This isn’t just about being more resource-aware, it’s also about amplifying some of their past qualities of an architecture in new future configurations.” In short, the Danes see reuse as not only a question about sustainability but also one about retaining a sense of place.5.Feel the heat‘Stresstest’, GermanyGiardini della BiennaleGermany’s Venice Architecture Biennale pavilion tackles urban climate change head-on with contrasting “stress” and “de-stress” rooms. In the former, a sweaty, claustrophobic atmosphere is created by artificially heated, ceiling-mounted mats, replicating the unpleasant nature of an urban heat wave.Germany’s pavilionDirectly opposite, the curators offer respite in a bright “de-stress” room with three resilient common hornbeam trees standing in large burlap pots as a reminder of simple strategies available for urban cooling. “We wanted to create an uncomfortable atmosphere to elicit emotion,” says co-curator Nicola Borgmann. “We know that there’s a problem but we think that you can only connect with this if you really feel the effect of rising temperatures. There is a gap between knowledge and emotion and if you don’t bring both together, we won’t take action.”Germany’s curatorial team6.Find the funGateway to Venice’s WaterwayArsenale di VeneziaNorman FosterIt can be a challenge to walk across Venice, with only a few bridges spanning its Grand Canal. It’s something that the Norman Foster Foundation has addressed in partnership with German automaker Porsche. Together, they have collaborated on a shimmering 37-metre-long bridge on the edge of the Arsenale that extends to a floating pontoon, which is currently being used as a mooring point for water bikes. “It’s about showing people that exploring new forms of mobility can be fun and enjoyable,” says Norman Foster, the UK-born architect and president of his namesake foundation. “If you get on one of these water bikes and start to pedal across the lagoon, you’ll find yourself smiling.” The Foster and Porsche collaboration is a reminder that we can – and should – find simple ways to bring joy into our built environment.Gateway to Venice’s WaterwayWater bikes at the ready7.Get hands on‘Master Builders’, SloveniaArsenale di VeneziaCan everything be automated? The commissioners of Slovenia’s pavilion don’t think so. Its showcase,Master Builders, is a celebration of the bond between architect and craftsman. Curated by Ana Kosi and Ognen Arsov, it features four symbolic totems, made from materials as varied as tiles, air-conditioning ducts and lighting, which represent specific techniques and knowledge employed by Slovenian construction workers. “Not all construction sites are new, and the best way to work with old buildings is with skilled human labour,” says Arsov. “It’s about the head and hand coming together. We need intelligence on a construction site.” By putting construction workers on a pedestal, Slovenia reminds us of the human ingenuity and material intelligence, even as technologies evolve, that craftsmen bring to architecture.8.Novel interventionsThe Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain by Jean NouvelFondazione Giorgio CiniJean NouvelOpening this autumn, the Fondation Cartier’s second Paris location by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel is a masterclass in how to contrast the old with the new. A 19th-century Haussmannian building next to the Louvre is being modernised through Nouvel’s distinctive steel-and-glass style and the addition of five mobile platforms that can modify the enormous surface area of the exhibition space. “Any commission for culture in Paris is a challenge,” Nouvel tells Monocle when we meet at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, where an exhibition that delves into the intricacies of the project is taking place alongside the biennale. “The vision was to pierce through the Haussmannian shell of the building to create an invitation to come inside.” The project, combined with Nouvel’s vision, is a prime example of how building interiors can be given new life through novel additions.9.Time and place‘Migrating Modernism: The Architecture of Harry Seidler’San Marco Art Centre (SMAC)Penelope SeidlerCo-organised by the San Marco Art Centre (SMAC) and the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum, this retrospective honours the late modernist architect Harry Seidler. The exhibition traces Seidler’s life, from fleeing Nazi-ruled Vienna and his studies in the US under Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, to his relocation to Australia, where his bold geometric forms, clean lines and honest expression of structure – often utilising glass and concrete for a sense of lightness and transparency – defined Australia’s mid-century modernism. The showcase features architectural drawings, sun-soaked photos and handwritten correspondences between Seidler and his collaborators. “What’s intriguing is that this work took place before the internet or even fax: everything was conducted through letters,” says architect Penelope Seidler, Harry Seidler’s widow, who now runs the family firm. “He designed buildings that were of the time.” And maybe that’s the lesson here: Seidler’s timeless work shows that buildings with longevity can still bear the mark of their era.10.Talk more‘Home’, AustraliaGiardini della BiennaleThe Australian Pavilion draws inspiration from the knowledge-sharing traditions, known as “yarning”, of its Aboriginal people. Featuring a curving earth and plaster wall and bench – a physical form that encourages dialogue – it incites visitors to look at ways in which an Indigenous understanding of landscape can be shared with Western approaches to architecture. “It’s about coming together and telling stories about who you are and what’s important to you,” says Michael Mossman, one of the Australian exhibition’s seven First Nation co-curators. “If architects can develop a deeper relationship with the client by doing this, then we can connect with culture and really bind people together.” The effect, believes Mossman, could be architecture that people feel strongly attached to as well.

Three new branding projects raising the bar for graphic design

2025-11-30 00:19:41

1.The Studio: Land + Form by Studio Mimu, Australia“Landscape architects are seen as the ‘hippies’ of architecture.” This was the feedback given by the team at Sydney-based landscape studio Land + Form to branding specialists Studio Mimu. The latter had been charged with delivering a new identity to the former and, rather than seeing this countercultural feedback as a bad thing, the creative team saw it as an opportunity. “We knew that this was a great jumping off point for creating something that emphasised nature over ego,” says Mike Souvanthalisith, who co-founded Studio Mimu with Muriel Ann Ricafrente.The resulting identity, brand guidelines and website design features an earthy suite of colours that draw inspiration from native Australian landscapes – plus a new logo, created by cutting a custom version of the “Reform” typeface from digital foundry Source Type. “The pairing of chamfered shapes and sharp corners [on the logo] was inspired by the team’s philosophy around creating harmony between people, place and country,” says Ricafrente. Hippies, sure – but certainly ones with good taste.land-form.com.au2.The neighbourhood: Dumbo by DNCO, USHow do you capture the essence of an entire neighbourhood? This was the challenge faced by London and New York-based branding agency DNCO when rethinking the visual identity for Brooklyn’s Dumbo district. “The challenge was to reassert Dumbo’s character – not as a backdrop but as a bold, layered and forward-thinking neighbourhood,” says Luis Mendoza, DNCO’s managing director for North America. “For us, it starts with deeply understanding the place. Dumbo, home to our New York studio, is full of contradictions: industrial and imaginative, historic and future-facing, polished and rough around the edges. You don’t brand that with a single logo or slogan. You build a system that can hold all of that tension and express it dynamically.”Keeping the original logo for continuity, DNCO created a graphic-tape motif, inspired by the humble cardboard box, which was invented in the area. The tape visual directs the eye, adds movement and makes for a satisfying piece of motion design as the logo is pulled away. It’s a crafty nod to local history. A chunky sans-serif typeface sits on bold, bright colours and the result looks simple yet refined. “We never wanted the identity to feel sterile or over-worked,” adds Mendoza. The new design is in use across a range of communications, from civic planning and social media to street signage and cultural programming. Playful and versatile, the rebrand successfully represents Dumbo as, in Mendoza’s own words, “a different side to New York”.dnco.com3.The restaurant: Primo Posto by Panglossian Studio, Hong KongThose looking for a slice of Milanese hospitality in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan neighbourhood would do well to stop by the trattoria Primo Posto (First Place). Beyond serving beloved classics such as cotoletta alla Milanese and riso al salto, the ristoro boasts a vibrant new graphic identity by Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Venice-based Panglossian Studio. Drawing inspiration from Italian futurism, particularly painter Fortunato Depero’s bold, rhythmic visuals, the new branding is dynamic, active and playful. Case in point is a “P” logo defined by overlaid linework and a palette of contrasting yet harmonious tones.Depero’s influence can also be seen in the illustrations of classic Italian hand gestures, which are cleverly woven into everything from the menus to the wine list. “The gestures are a playful nod to the clichés that people often associate with the Milanese. It’s a way to make guests smile, to have a point of connection with something familiar,” says Sara Biancaccio, Panglossian Studio’s Milan-born co-founder. “These motions are then elevated through a graphic system inspired by Depero’s striking visual language. The result is a brand that’s rhythmic, expressive and full of character; something that invites curiosity and connection rather than simply replicating tradition.”wearepanglossian.com

From cement factory to creative hub: inside Bofill Taller’s adaptable architectural practice

2025-12-09 15:08:13

I’m hurtling along the N-340 highway on the outskirts of Barcelona when, suddenly, the skyline of the Sant Just Desvern township is punctuated by a series of tall chimneys painted in a range of colourful hues. The structures – part of a former cement factory – are the headquarters of Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, who I’m visiting ahead of Monocle’s Quality of Life Conference, taking place in the Catalan capital from 4 to 6 September. We’ll be visiting the buildings, known as La Fábrica, as part of the conference line-up but I’m here to meet some of the team and more about their radical approach to architectural practice.The firm was founded by Ricardo Bofill in 1963, a man who was as much activist as architect. He was expelled from Barcelona’s design school in 1957 for his opposition to Franco and his early work included social housing that looked as if it was lifted from surrealist paintings. By the early 1970s, he had purchased La Fábrica and turned it into a live-work space, defying the city bylaws of the time. The space – according to Ricardo’s son Pablo, who is now the firm’s CEO – has evolved with the practice. “It’s a living place – not something that you need to preserve or protect,” he told me as we walked the complex. “This was defined by my father and transmitted to me.” It’s a philosophy that has been paying dividends. Since 2020, the firm has grown from 50 to 250 people and La Fábrica has been changing to support the work. Private galleries have become offices, abandoned mezzanines converted into studios and former dining rooms now host work meetings.But physical adaptability is only half the equation for Bofill Taller’s recent (and historical) success. What also made Ricardo’s vision in the early days particularly radical was his insistence on building architectural teams with engineers, sociologists, writers, filmmakers and even philosophers. Dimitri Davoise, a partner at the practice, says that ethos has been doubled down on. “We are always trying to bring interesting people in to help us to be better,” explains Davoise. “Bofill Taller’s outlook today is coming from its early years. It’s about bringing people from different origins and disciplines together, to build a project. Influences are coming from philosophy, poetry, art.”This isn’t just architectural romanticism – it’s smart business. When Pablo joined the firm following the 2008 financial crisis, the practice was down to two months of work – now its multidisciplinary teams are leading projects from West Africa to the Gulf, and creating work that is not about repetition (Bofill Taller doesn’t have a visual trademark) but distinct and rooted in place.The lesson in all of this? First, that it pays to shake up layouts and hierarchies in an office, serving users and not an outdated commercial vision. Second, that outcomes can be particularly powerful when a team’s expertise spans different areas and disciplines. At La Fábrica, both qualities are being combined to great effect. Don’t believe me? Why not join us in Barcelona, when you can hear from the Bofill Taller team and see its headquarters for yourself.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Why a Trump tower in Belgrade would reopen Serbia’s war wounds

2025-12-23 06:17:02

Missiles rained down as US warplanes made controversial airstrikes on key targets in a country that Washington had deemed a “rogue state”. For many residents of Belgrade, this week’s news headlines have a queasily familiar feel to them. Tehran might have been the target this time but Belgrade still bears the scars of the 1999 Nato airstrikes that hit what was still the capital of the then-Yugoslavia. It’s bizarre, then, that the current US president’s extended family is behind a controversial project to redevelop the Serbian capital’s most prominent bombsite: the Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building. Indeed, the crowning glory of the plan proposed by the well-connected Affinity Global Development would be a Trump Tower. There might well be some people who are champing at the bit to check in at Jared Kushner’s latest venture – but I have yet to meet them. On the other hand, outraged architects, baffled real-estate brokers and disgruntled heritage experts seem extremely keen to voice their objections because the Defence Ministry complex occupies a very particular place at the nexus of a smorgasbord of Serbian concerns. It is simultaneously a memorial and a shining beacon of the best of Yugoslav architecture. Meanwhile the proposed development raises familiar concerns about transparency, corruption and the authorities’ approach to urban development.The damaged former Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building in Belgrade(Image: Alamy)The shattered-but-still-standing complex of buildings provide a visual crash course in Serbia’s tumultuous recent history. Architect Nikola Dobrović designed the structure to resemble a canyon in Bosnia’s Sutjeska river, where Partisan forces had held out under a fierce Nazi assault – and shifted the course of the Second World War in Yugoslavia. To reflect that, Dobrović created two structures on either side of Nemanjina Street. The tiered buildings were constructed in an eye-catching contrast of reddish-brown stone and white marble slabs. Viewed together, they took the form of a gate, greeting visitors to the city coming up the hill from Belgrade’s main railway station.Nato commanders saw them as a prime target in 1999, when they successfully pressured Yugoslav forces to end their persecution of Kosovo-Albanians. But many Serbians still view the airstrikes as illegal, with the damaged Defence Ministry complex serving as a memorial to the victims, including civilians, of the 78-day bombing campaign. From its prominent position on the main route into the city, the buildings have, for the past 26 years, been delivering a jarring welcome to unwary new arrivals. During this time, numerous ideas for the structures’ future have been mooted, from a full restoration to a new development that reflects on the past while allowing Serbia to look forward. The Affinity Global project would include a “memorial room” alongside the Trump Tower. But critics see that as a mere sop – and point to the lack of an open tender process before the government granted Jared Kushner and his associates a 99-year lease on the site.Whether Kushner’s project goes ahead is open to question – the heritage official who had approved the lifting of the Defence Ministry complex’s protected status was arrested last month. Affinity Global Development said it would “review this matter” but has otherwise kept its counsel. So, for now, the former Defence Ministry’s shattered visage is an enduring reminder of what it means to be on the receiving end of airstrikes. Perhaps there is still a chance for wiser heads to come to a consensus and ensure that the complex is reshaped to serve the city – instead of the extended family of a US president.Guy De Launey is Monocle’s Balkans correspondent. For more news and analysis, subscribe to Monocle today.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

The old-school way of keeping the summer heat out of your home

2025-12-23 10:51:45

On hot summer afternoons, Mediterranean cities go quiet. The streets are emptied by heat so intense that even the shadows seem to move slowly. The climate has inspired regional traditions such as the Spanish siesta, which is as much about respite from oppressive temperatures as it is about resting.The same logic once informed architecture too, giving buildings cooling physical features including shutters that allow in light while keeping the heat out. Today, in our glass-sealed, climate-controlled structures, it’s easy to forget that both our daily rhythms and our architecture used to work with the weather, not against it. As the effects of climate change intensify, we need to reconsider more humble forms of temperature control. Here are five shutter designs that are well worth revisiting.1.‘Persiane alla genovese’, ItalyIn the busy alleys of Genoa, thepersiane alla genoveseprotect from the heat while also enhancing privacy. These shutters consist of louvred panels divided into two parts, which are opened in sequence: the bottom at dawn and the rest near dusk. The lower part is calledgelosia(“jealousy” in Italian), a nod to the idea of protecting what’s inside from the gaze of the street. The shutters are painted green, making the streetscape look balanced and uniform. From inside, you can look out when either the top or bottom is open, while passersby on the exterior side see only a coherent landscape of green windows.2.‘Jalousies’, FranceThe French had a similar idea and came up withjalousieshutters. The name also comes from the word for “jealousy” but, unlike the Italianpersiane, these shutters are more voyeuristic and have a greater focus on looking out without being seen. Those inside are able to peer through the gaps, with the slats deflecting any gaze from the street.Jalousiesfirst appeared in Marseille, where they were often painted white or in a sun-faded sage. Both were practical selections, with the white reflecting the sunlight and green hues hiding dust from the eye. By the 19th century, they appeared across Parisian façades too – more for atmosphere than climate control, but the soft light they create has become a symbol of romantic French interiors. 3.Bahama shutters, CaribbeanBahama shutters, also known as Bermuda shutters, developed in response to hurricanes in tropical climates. Designed to open and close vertically as opposed to horizontally, they are hinged from the top of the window and function more like fixed canopies, casting deep shadows while allowing the aperture to remain open through downpours, their angled slats deflecting rain and helping to control light and airflow. Once made from lightweight materials such as bamboo and palm fronds, today they come in more robust materials such as aluminium or wood. 4.‘Muxrabija’, MaltaA timber box latticed with geometric patterns, themuxrabijawas introduced to Malta during Arab rule in the ninth century. These structures, which protrude from buildings, were originally used as ventilation screens and tools to create a sense of privacy. Their dense geometric pattern reflects Islamic aesthetics and clever design, filtering sunlight and allowing those inside to observe the street without being seen. The muxrabijais typically carved from pine or cedar, while dark-green and brown colours help to blend with the shadows inside. This shutter doesn’t open or close but, in essence, forms a breathing façade that is fully integrated into the skin of the building. 5.Stone screen, GreeceBefore louvres and hinges, there were stones. In ancient Greece, from about 800 BCE to the Hellenistic period, there were either no windows or aperures were sealed with semi transluscent materials, such as thinly cut marble. The marble wasn’t adjustable but would let in light while blocking wind, dust or rain. Today, we have replaced many traditional shutters with plastic shells and loud motors – but could we learn something from the simplicity of this ancient design? Perhaps there is an opportunity to revive the idea of slow, seasonal architecture with shutters that are put up as the climate demands and are made from materials that speak to the locale in which they are found.

What can postwar monuments teach us about the role of architecture in shaping nations’ memories?

2025-12-10 11:12:12

To encounter a spomenik is to experience design’s ability to foster a state of contemplation. Dotted throughout the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, these concrete or steel memorials are often monumental in scale, brutalist in style and symbolically abstract. They resemble relics from a dystopian future or the result of a time warp that took place exclusively in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.Spomenici– Serbo-Croatian and Slovene for “monuments” – were built between the 1950s and 1990s as Second World War memorials. They commemorate unspeakable horrors: a period of occupation by Axis powers, mass killings and the imprisonment of political opponents (partisans and communists), and a genocide committed against ethnic Serbs, Jews and Roma people. In the decades immediately after the war, the question of how to acknowledge this history while forging a path forward resulted in a nationwide programme to build spomeniks – from the mountains of Montenegro to the Adriatic coastline of Croatia. Though precise numbers are unknown, it is estimated that between 20,000 and 40,000 structures were erected as part of this state-led effort under the administration of Josep Broz Tito, the Yugoslavian communist revolutionary turned dictator.The Monument to the Detachment in Brezovica Forest near Sisak, CroatiaWhile the principal purpose of these spomeniks was to preserve memory, the programme was equally an exercise in manifesting the spirit of a new nation, defined by the socialist values of unity, equality and welfare for all. The process of selecting designs for these monuments involved competitions organised by regional and local authorities; for many young architects, being chosen to build a spomenik represented opportunity.“It was a period ablaze with enthusiasm,” says Ljubljana-based architect Marko Mušic. “We were able to realise our architectural visions – and all of the participants were fuelled by the prestigious nature of the task.” Now one of Slovenia’s most revered designers, Mušic launched his career in the 1960s working on commissions to build memorial complexes (spomen-doms) in the towns of Kolašin, Bitola, Bosanski Šamac and Nikšic. “Though I was only in my twenties at the time, the political representatives who led these projects would respect the architect’s authority,” adds Mušic. “Sometimes, we even had the privilege of purchasing foreign products, which was otherwise prohibited by law in those days – for example, the large, dark-blue glass panels for Nikšic.”The Seagull Wings Monument in Podgora, CroatiaBy involving regional authorities, the spomenik programme encouraged the disparate identities that existed within the borders of Yugoslavia to come together. Though the events that are commemorated all took place during the Second World War, what a specific spomenik honours varies widely. In Croatia’s Brezovica forest, the Sisak spomenik is an ode to the elm tree that sheltered a meeting of the partisan youth brigade that took place there. The winged monument in Tjentište, in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republic of Srpska, sits dramatically on the crest of a hill where Tito outsmarted German battalions by escaping through the mountains during the 1943 battle of Sutjeska.Elsewhere, history is harder to confront. Serbian architect Bogdan Bogdanovic’s Flower Monument in Jasenovac, Croatia, sits on the site of a former concentration camp run by the Ustaše militia of the Independent State of Croatia. Instead of literal depictions of the pain and suffering that took place on these grounds, Bogdanovic opted for a stylised flower that recalls a lotus – a symbol of forgetfulness in Greek mythology but also awakening in Buddhism and Hinduism. The towering concrete lotus possesses an unexpected gentleness. But leading up to the memorial is a path made from railway sleepers repurposed from the track that carried those facing their death to Jasenovac.The Monument to the Revolution of the People of Moslavina in Podgaric, CroatiaSometimes, a museum or an archive accompanies a spomenik. Many of the structures were intended as spaces for education, hosting vigils, events or school trips in an effort to pass down stories of the war to the next generation. In some cases, such as at Petrova Gora in Croatia, little remains of this educational component. Others are better maintained, though most spomeniks display the unforgiving signs of time, exacerbated by the chaos of the Yugoslav wars. At times you see efforts to cover graffiti with white paint; at other times not.For contemporary visitors, these structures have a tragic undercurrent. They were erected to ensure that the horrors of the Second World War would never happen again – but history repeated itself in the 1990s with further bloodshed. After Yugoslavia’s implosion, the spomeniks became almost dormant, artefacts from a failed social experiment. The focus shifted from unification to the redrawing of borders.The Monument to the Revolution in Kozara National Park, Republic of Srpska in Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija in CroatiaThis period was followed by growing international interest, culminating in the 2018 exhibitionToward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948-1980at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Suddenly, spomeniks were the subject of articles bearing inane headlines such as “No, these are not made by aliens!” Meanwhile, US historian Donald Niebyl wroteThe Spomenik Monument Database, a comprehensive guidebook. His research moved the conversation beyond mere aesthetic curiosity and towards an understanding of the significance of the spomenik programme.“It’s interesting thatspomenicihave become a topic of objectification or Western fetishisation,” says architect Vernes Causevic, who works in the UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and across the Balkans. “The conversation has been more about their visual appeal than what they symbolise, which is more important: the anti-fascist movement of the Second World War. These structures aren’t just objects. They also provided regular educational programmes to build a unified state. To see them as mere structural forms is a limited way of looking at them.”The Battle of Sutjeska Memorial Complex in the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Monument to the Fallen Fighters of People’s Liberation War in Bosnia and HerzegovinaWith his partner, Lucy Dinnen, Causevic runs Project V Architecture, a practice that weaves layers of history into its projects, be it the Most Mira peace centre in Bosnia and Herzegovina or a residence in Sarajevo. “Political context matters,” says Dinnen. “We talk about architecture as a methodology for peace-building. At Most Mira, we’re bringing together engineers and builders from different parts of the country and mixing building materials that include earth from sites in divided communities in the area. It’s a message to start anew, to find a way forward by working together.”The Flower Monument in Jasenovac, CroatiaIt’s an approach to architecture that echoes the idealism of the spomeniks. Today, their future remains uncertain as the issue of preserving them moves in and out of public consciousness. Though their fate is in limbo, the lessons that they offer remain relevant at a time when overcoming societal division is becoming a greater priority in the Balkans and beyond. “Forgetting a memorial is tragically ironic,” says Causevic. “The abandonment of the spomeniks is disappointing because they are a crucial part of our heritage.” Of course, the Tito regime that sought to commemorate the struggle against a murderous ideology itself became brutal. But the need to contend with the history that these monuments embody remains urgent. As they have always done, the spomeniks contain stories of hardship and peace, horror and forgiveness – the past and the future all at once.

Interview: Norman Foster on what good design really means when reinventing cities

2025-12-17 19:34:53

Norman Foster is one of the world’s most celebrated architects. He established his namesake practice, Foster + Partners, in 1967, pioneering high-tech architecture through iconic structures such as Berlin’s Reichstag dome and London’s Gherkin. The Pritzker Prize laureate has redefined skylines globally over the course of five transformative decades of practice. Monocle sits down with Foster in Venice to discuss what the world should be thinking about now.Norman FosterWe’re meeting you in Venice. Why is an event like the Biennale important?I remember being at a gathering in Aspen, Colorado, and one of the participants was Paul MacCready, who invented a device that tells pilots the best speed to fly a glider depending on conditions. I complimented him on the achievement of his man-powered flight and he wagged his finger and said, ‘What we should be talking about are the people who set the challenge of glider flying, which we have responded to.’ Venice is setting the challenge.And what is that challenge in Venice?That nothing happens by accident or chance – everything around us is designed. Things are either designed well or badly. It can be done casually and without too much thought – but it’s still designed. Good design is not about how much you spend, it’s about how wisely you spend it. It all comes down to attitude. It’s important because we know that we can improve the quality of all lives through good design.Why is quality of life an important consideration for you?We should be talking about the quality of urban life. Cities are the future and we have to improve the quality of life in them. This is also about our pleasure and enjoyment. It’s also about beauty. All of this relates to everything from architecture and infrastructure to energy. We need to ask if we are going to get a kick out of looking at a countryside completely covered by wind turbines? Are we going to get a kick out of solar panels that have destroyed a meadow?What are some good infrastructure and energy solutions that ensure quality of life too?We should think about nuclear. If we come down to data and we take emotion out of it the facts are clear. Depending on the estimate, between seven and 10 million people die every year through invisible, noxious fossil-fuel fumes. A lot of those are kids burning fossil fuel for heating and cooking. As an alternative, you can take a compact nuclear battery and deliver energy that can power an entire Manhattan city block. In doing so, you take out all the dangers of centralising energy. Such an option is still by a huge margin the safest, cleanest, most compact energy solution – and you have total control of the waste from cradle to grave.You’re in Venice showing a project created in partnership between the Norman Foster Foundation and Porsche. Why was it important for you to establish a foundation? It’s about bringing the best of academia together with an extraordinary network of world experts on every aspect of urbanity and combining that with hands-on experience in a city that’s now developing into specialities. One example is city science – the use of digital tools to explore the effects of design decisions such as planting more trees and the effects that might have on air quality and both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. We want to pass on knowledge from professionals to those who serve at a political level and at an expert level, while preserving archives for future researchers.The project with Porsche is a shimmering 37-metre-long bridge on the edge of the Arsenale in Venice. It extends to a floating pontoon on a lagoon that is currently being used as a mooring point for water bikes. What’s the ambition behind this?We want to show that exploring new forms of mobility can be fun and enjoyable. If you go down there and you get on one of those water bikes and start to pedal across the lagoon, I bet that you’ll find yourself smiling. It’s about asking questions and looking at alternatives. What if this was an alternative mode of transport to a boat in Venice?What are some of those alternatives for this project?We can ask lots of questions. What if you can go to the edge of the lagoon and an app calls one for you on demand, and then when you get to your destination there’s a land-based version to take you elsewhere? What if there’s a machine that’s between the conventional automobile and a bike, a machine which can go on a motorway as well as in a walkable neighbourhood? These projects should stimulate thoughts about the future. The future is now. Today is the first day of the future.

Architects in Iceland are showing us how to build with molten lava

2025-12-13 17:27:12

Arnhildur Pálmadóttir has always been fascinated by the power and majesty of volcanoes, having grown up not far from one in Húsavik in northeastern Iceland. But it wasn’t until later, once she had trained as an architect, that it occurred to her that volcanic eruptions have the potential to be used to help lay the foundations of entire cities, while lowering atmospheric emissions in the process.The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. The problem with Iceland, she says, is that it lacks resources to construct things with. “We don’t have much wood or clay that’s suitable for bricks,” says Pálmadóttir, who, with her architect son, Arnar Skarphéðinsson, has been researching the idea of building with lava as part of a project called Lavaforming. “It started with a shift in thinking. We realised that we needed to use the materials that we have, not just import things.”Iceland is one of the most volcanically active places on Earth but locals have learnt how to manage the eruptions, which happen every five years on average. In 2024 rock and earth barriers were built near the town of Grindavík when a risk of imminent volcanic activity became apparent. As lava poured from a fissure later that year, threatening inhabitants and the surrounding area, including the Blue Lagoon, the barriers diverted the flow away. But Pálmadóttir and Skarphéðinsson want to harness the lava for sustainable construction. “The important thing is that eruptions happen anyway,” says Pálmadóttir. “The emission of co2 happens naturally but it’s much, much lower than what humans produce [during construction, which is responsible for more than a third of the world’s annual carbon emissions].”The pair propose several possible ways to use lava, from channelling its flow into trenches to form foundations and extracting it from pockets of magma to 3D-print organically shaped building elements or bricks. What’s more, lava has different properties depending on how it cools (if it’s quickly, it becomes glass-like; if it’s slowly and under pressure, it assumes a solid form). “We aren’t thinking about removing it or adding anything to it,” says Pálmadóttir, who lives in Reykjavík. “It’s more about shaping it. And we don’t need an energy resource to produce it.” She heads up her architecture studio as well as the Icelandic outpost of Danish firm Lendager, which specialises in reusing materials. “What we’re proposing is to use the lava when it is molten, then shape it into structures instead of just letting it run over the landscape.”(Illustration: Jon Arne Berg)So what would building with lava actually look like? To answer this, the architects are bringing their project to the Venice Biennale with Iceland’s national pavilion, where they illustrate the science and potential of the material. They have also produced a film that’s set in an imagined future city, Eldborg, that is built entirely from shaped lava. “In the beginning, when the city is fresh, it’s kind of brutal and a little scary,” says Skarphéðinsson. “But then, with time, moss begins to grow on the lava, like it does in Iceland’s fields. People plant trees and it starts to be seen as more friendly.” No one would hate living there, he hastens to add.Throughout history, Iceland’s volcanic activity has been experienced as an existential threat. But the architects hope to change this perception. “We are talking about taking a local danger and turning it into an advantage, a little bit like we did with geothermal energy 100 years ago,” says Pálmadóttir. “It was something that people lived close to but didn’t use because it was dangerous. And now we have learnt to use it to warm houses and swimming pools. But the wider concept of the pavilion is not just about lava. It’s about addressing a risk and changing perspectives, hopefully inspiring conversations.”The project also touches on an important point about resource ownership. “One of the core concepts is that there is no private ownership of lava in Iceland,” says Skarphéðinsson. “If we create a city out of this material, then it would be owned by the people who live in it. And in this respect, we’re also thinking about places such as the Congo, where there are so many riches, so many minerals, but the people who live there don’t get any of the rewards. We want to put forward these questions that aren’t really being asked.”The project is a call to action over environmental challenges and rethinking outdated practices. “The idea of the film is to help people get used to the idea of something that could happen in the future and figure out how we could achieve that from where we are today,” Pálmadóttir tells Monocle. “We hope that this kind of speculation can be helpful as a tool. It’s important that creative designers, architects and scientists work to visualise a future that’s for the common good, instead of just an investment opportunity.”About the writerRussian-born, London-based Sonia Zhuravlyova is a sub editor at Monocle. Pálmadóttir’s project Lavaforming is part of the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This article originally appeared in the fifth edition of The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas on Architecture, Design and Building Better’, out now – buy your copy today.

How do you design a warm and welcoming home? Villa Housu in Finnish Lapland has found the answer

2025-12-14 08:55:51

Architects working in Finnish Lapland have long grappled with how to create spaces that can uplift the soul in a cold, dark climate. One eloquent answer can be found near Ylläs, 115km north of the Arctic Circle. Designed by Helsinki-based studio Fyra with architecture practice Ark Helsinki, Villa Housu serves as the second home of Fyra’s CEO, Hanna Neuvo, and her family.The villa is a study in Finnish pragmatism. Wrapping around the building are boards of finely sawn spruce. “The aim was to make it look as though it had always been there,” says architect Otso Virtanen of Ark Helsinki. The timber, treated with iron sulphate, will eventually fade from blond to silver-grey. “In Lapland, the weather writes its own patina,” he says. “That’s how the house will find its place among the pines.”Windows invite the outside in at Villa HousuFire keeps the cold at bay at Villa HousuVilla Housu is built for year-round use. The north demands flexibility: weeks of sun alternate with months of half-light, while temperatures swing from 30C to minus 35C. “A home should offer safety without cutting you of from nature,” says Eva-Marie Eriksson, a partner at Fyra, when we meet her at the firm’s new studio in central Helsinki. The villa achieves that balance through texture and tone, rather than colour. “In winter, glossy surfaces become mirrors,” says Elisa Ryhänen-Derrett, an interior architect at Fyra. Her solution here was to use matte finishes that create warmth. Nothing gleams and everything invites touch.The residence’s floor plan is simple: a long sweep of space that faces the treeline. The entrance, kept tidy thanks to a separate storage area used for skis and outerwear, opens into a living area framed by broad panes of glass.Natural materialsThe interior feels cocooned and comfortably warm. The structure is wrapped in cellulose insulation; the floors, connected to a geothermal system, emit a low, even heat. “The best technology is the kind that you can forget about,” says Virtanen. Lighting is also discreet. Helsinki’s SAAS Instruments supplied the LEDs integrated in the fitted furniture so that illumination seems to emanate from the materials themselves.For all its elegance, Villa Housu is a home built for living in. Fitted cabinets accommodate snowboards and guests’ accoutrements with quiet practicality. This sensibility extends to the furnishings. The kitchen features tasteful light-grey Viitasaaren granite countertops from stone refinery Loimaan Kivi, while Artek pendants hang overhead. Sitting in a corner nearby is a vintage chair by midcentury designer Ilmari Tapiovaara.Fyra’s partners (from left): Hanna Neuvo, Tiina Närkki, Eva-Marie Eriksson and Niina SihtoLapland’s architectural identity has long been caught between extremes: the faux-Alpine chalet on one side and imported urban minimalism on the other. Villa Housu offers a third path that taps into the region’s vernacular. “People sometimes build here as though they were in the Alps,” says interior architect Ryhänen-Derrett. “We wanted to create something that fits the scale of this place.” For her, minimalism is less about empty spaces than about proportion and calm. “Here, comfort comes from the balance of things, not from decoration.”Interior of Fyra’s Helsinki officeIn summer, the house changes character. The midnight sun filters through the same spruce walls that glowed amber in candlelight in winter. “The seasons bring their own palette,” says Erikson. “You don’t need to add colour when the world does it for you.”Designing for the chief executive could have been tricky. By all accounts, however, the process went smoothly. “It was more like a dialogue than a commission,” says Neuvo. “They know us and how we live. There was no need to explain.” For Virtanen, making decisions about Villa Housu was natural and unhurried. “We’d sketch over coffee,” he says. “There were no long presentations, just conversations.”The result was a house that immediately felt lived-in. The materials will weather and age – but the house will only grow richer for it. The approach of accepting nature, rather than resisting it, is what makes this country’s design so adept in the Arctic. Where others might see limitation, Finns see opportunity.fyra.fiHow to design for cold climatesFounded in 2010, Helsinki-based Fyra has built a reputation for creating inviting environments, from hospitality, residential and retail spaces to work environments and cultural institutions. Here are three tips for cold-climate architecture.Out of sight:When designing the views, consider both what you want to see and what you don’t. Keep light pollution outside the frame and bring as much nature as possible into it.Inner light:In addition to the need to insulate against the cold, lighting and materials should create a warm atmosphere.For all seasons:Cold places aren’t cold all year. So forget the Christmas look – design for every kind of weather.

Jose Gourmet’s canned fish delights both palate and eye

2025-11-29 08:04:15

Few food and beverage packages reflect the feeling of sun and sea quite like the branding for fishconservas. Canned seafood has long been a headline act in summer lunches throughout the Mediterranean and on Europe’s Atlantic coast, used in everything from niçoise-style salads and bruschetta to pasta dishes. Capturing this sunny outlook is Portuguese brand Jose Gourmet, whose tins stand out on shelves across the globe – and not just because of the quality of the product within (which is outstanding).With packaging made from grey card, brown paper and recycled materials, every can features artwork made in collaboration with designers, artists and illustrators. Alongside the simple typography is an eclectic variety of styles, some clear and colourful, others cartoonish or abstract – but all distinctive and personal. “It is gratifying to see how every illustration has become an object of appreciation, both as individual pieces and as a whole,” says Luís Mendonça, designer, partner and art director of Jose Gourmet. “They have become indispensable because of the differences between them.” (Image: Courtesy of Marlene Couceiro)Mendonça founded Jose Gourmet with his friend Adriano Ribeiro in 2008. Early in their enterprise, the duo recognised the power of packaging to elevate their offering and invited 12 prominent Portuguese children’s illustrators to work with the brand, in an attempt to widen appreciation for canned goods. This list has now ballooned to almost 90 contributors and includes the founders’ friends, alongside students, established artists and designers who are at the very beginning of their careers.For those involved, the commissions have become projects that connect them to Portuguese heritage through a community of local artists. “The brand stands out not only for the excellence of its ingredients but also for its bold and thoughtful design strategy,” says Marlene Couceiro, a graphic designer based in Porto who created the artwork for Jose Gourmet’s small sardines in tomato sauce.She saw the collaboration as a chance to share artistic space with a group of designers whose work she already admired. “The fact that Jose Gourmet chooses to collaborate with local artists, giving visibility to different voices and a range of styles, makes for a powerful gesture of cultural affirmation through design.” The project is an imaginative, thoughtful way to build an authentic and personal brand identity, while championing local heritage. What more could you want from a can of tinned sardines in lemon and olive oil on a summer afternoon?josegourmet.com

The architects of Sydney Modern: How SANAA redefined the city’s skyline

2025-12-23 03:25:56

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa are the formidable duo behind Tokyo architectural studio SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates). Founded in 1995, SANAA has been an extraordinarily successful partnership. The pair are famed for their light, fluid structures that sit at ease in their particular landscapes. Memorable works, such as the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and the Rolex Learning Centre in Lausanne, earned them the Pritzker – architecture’s highest prize – in 2010. Sydney Modern has established itself as one of Australia’s most ambitious cultural landmarks, a stunning extension of the Art Gallery of New South Wales with commanding views across Sydney Harbour. The project, which was certainly one of the most significant since the Sydney Opera House, has become a testament to the vision of its creators, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.Their solution for the historic site, which straddles a highway and incorporates two vast Second World War oil tanks and a grass-covered land bridge, is a series of pavilions that cascade down the sloping ground towards the waterfront. It is certainly one of the most ambitious cultural landmarks to open in Australia since the Sydney Opera House almost 50 years ago. SANAA has two other big projects under construction: New Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium in Japan and Suzhou Shishan Square Art Theatre and Museum in China. Monocle speaks to Sejima and Nishizawa in their waterfront office in Tokyo on the day that they are announced as the recipients of yet another award, the 33rd Praemium Imperiale.Ryue Nishizawa (left) and Kazuyo Sejima (right)How was it working on Sydney Modern during the pandemic?Ryue Nishizawa:It was the first time we’ve had to work remotely. We were lucky that a member of our team went to Australia before it shut down and she just stayed there. As soon as the country opened up, Sejima-san and I went to visit the project. Seeing it in real life for the first time was an amazing experience.Kazuyo Sejima: During the pandemic we had regular online meetings with the museum people and more frequent ones with the project team. We met Kathryn Gustafson [who designed the landscaping] in Europe. Somehow it all worked out. The museum is in a remarkable location, right on Sydney Harbour. What did you think when you first saw it?KS:Honestly, I was a bit hesitant about the site at first. With the bridge over the road and the oil tanks [that had to be preserved], we weren’t sure. But then we realised that it could be an exciting project. We spent a lot of time talking to the museum about how we could make some continuity between the existing [19th-century] gallery building and the new one. We also proposed turning one of the oil tanks into a gallery and that is now an incredible space.RN:This peninsula is really beautiful: you have the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens and a big park called the Domain. There were also many historical elements to consider. I wouldn’t say that we felt pressure exactly but we wanted to do something good on one of the most beautiful sites in the city. We thought, “How can we make it better?” It was a good challenge. How did you come up with this idea for a series of pavilions?RN:Since the ground slopes down, it would have been difficult to make one big box. We made multiple galleries so that people can go down gradually. KS:And we fit them between spaces so that people can experience the surrounding topography. They can also walk on the roof, which is exciting. I wanted to design a building that creates new experiences for visitors. RN:One of the interesting things about this museum is that it’s built in a park. Inside and outside are both public. It’s also a thoroughfare: there are people who pass by every day from Woolloomooloo to downtown. You [Nishizawa] once said that a museum is ‘more than a place to store paintings’. What is the role of an art museum today? RN:The primary role is still to show art but recently museums have become more multipurpose. They’re also about learning, research and talks. There are so many events at the gallery – both cultural and business – in the lobby and in the restaurant. That’s a new side to museums; they function more like cultural centres. Sydney Modern is the first museum to be given Australia’s top rating for sustainable design. How important is sustainability in your work?KS:Sustainability is often judged from the point of view of energy efficiency; it’s important but we’ve tried to look at the issue from different angles by using existing materials and features, and protecting trees. Those considerations affected the design: the entrance pavilion was positioned to accommodate a tree [a moreton bay fig planted by the artist Joseph Beuys]. With the oil tank gallery, we made use of its high ceilings and columns. We tried to respect what was already there.What is the process of working as a duo?RN:We always work as a team, as many as 10 people. It’s normal for us. Everyone brings their own ideas. When somebody suggests something good, someone else might take over and make it better. There are many streams of thought. Some of them die; some of them survive; some of them are integrated. It’s very interesting. Nobody knows which one will win. Everything is done through discussion. Sejima-san is like my teacher; we share a language. The pandemic gave us time for discussion. Sejima-san stayed here from morning until evening so that we had time to talk through ideas. It’s a rare situation, which we’d never had before. Before, she was always busy, always travelling. Now I feel that we have too many meetings. The downside of the pandemic was that we couldn’t visit the Sydney site. When we did Louvre-Lens in France, I was there almost every month. You had an exhibition in Tokyo this spring that looked at the relationship of your work with the landscape – is that an essential ingredient?RN:Architecture doesn’t move; once it’s built it becomes a part of the landscape so we have to think how we can make them work together, especially in this kind of situation where everybody can see and visit it. Architecture isn’t sculpture. With an object, you think about how to make it look good. Architecture has to become one with the landscape. Your work has evolved from what you’ve called ‘box architecture’ to more organic shapes. How has your work changed over the years? RN:During the 1990s our architectural thinking was two-dimensional; we would take a flat drawing and turn it into a building. The big change is our computer tools. Back then we used Cad to draw plans and it was really two-dimensional. Now we have special programmes so we can think about new designs in three dimensions from the beginning. In the old days, everyone came to meetings with a plan to express their ideas; now they bring a rough 3D model.KS:I must admit that I still like a plan. I don’t design on a computer. Our forms have become more complicated compared to the old days and in terms of the number of engineers we work with. We have to think from many different points of view. We listen to the engineers’ ideas and opinions, and then we develop the design. It’s a collaborative effort. What are the challenges of building overseas in locations you don’t know?KS:Every site has its own characteristics. People who have grown up in a place know it best but sometimes an outsider can see something different. It can be challenging [to work in a new place] but it’s also interesting finding what’s possible. This is our first building in Australia. The weather and nature are beautiful but the scale is a lot bigger than Japan and the lifestyle is different. I was surprised to see so many people out running at lunchtime, close to the museum. The way people use a building is different too. Why do you think that Japan has produced so many good contemporary architects? RN:It’s not just Japan – there are so many great architects all over the world. Perhaps it’s that Japan isn’t Western so we take a different approach to design. When I go to Europe, I feel architecture is made with four walls. In Japan, this isn’t the only way. In traditional architecture, you don’t have those [solid] walls, which leads to a very different way of thinking. Continuity of space is very important in traditional Japanese architecture and for us too. With Sydney Modern we wanted the architecture to give people the opportunity to walk outside, even on the rooftops.Last word about Sydney Modern?KS:When we last visited, the experience on the first and second day was so different. Dark one day, sunny the next. The light conditions make for a very different atmosphere so it will be a changing experience for visitors. We want the museum to be part of the environment, even for people who are just passing or sitting on the terraces. RN:With the Kanazawa Museum of Contemporary Art, one of our dreams was that people in the city would accept the museum, that it would be a place that they want to use and become part of their town. That’s an important part of architecture for me. sanaa.co.jp

The architecture of empathy: Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara on building for communities

2025-12-21 07:15:08

Soon after graduating from University College Dublin in 1974, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara began teaching architecture at their alma mater and, shortly after, co-founded Grafton Architects on the Dublin street of the same name. In the ﬁrst few decades of their practice, they predominantly worked on projects in their homeland, from schools to public housing, but a competition to design a lecture hall at Università Luigi Bocconi in Milan (completed 2008), launched them onto the global stage. They have now worked in cities from Lima to London. Additionally, they have curated the Venice Biennale’s International Architecture Exhibition (2018), picked up a World Building of the Year award and were awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2020.When Monocle visits their studio, models and maquettes are being prepared for competition entries and team members are poring over drawings. Awards and trophies, from Silver Lions to Prix de l’Équerre d’Argent, are set on shelves. Despite the accolades, the duo remain committed to building with clients and communities in mind. “Architecture, whether it’s a door or a huge campus, has the capacity to be everything,” says Farrell. “If it’s done properly, it’s a gift to humanity. And if it’s an afterthought, it’s absolutely horrible because it affects everybody’s life.”How did your early life shape your desire to work in architecture?Yvonne Farrell:I grew up in Tullamore in the middle of Ireland. It was a small place but it had a public swimming pool, which was unusual for an Irish town at the time. Every child would cycle to it in summer. I saw a freedom in having that generous public infrastructure. That’s why architecture is amazing: it’s building the world. It’s misunderstood as a discipline, with people seeing it as a series of Taj Mahals instead of the infrastructural web that makes community possible. Shelley and I talk about it as built skin.Shelley McNamara:I grew up in Lisdoonvarna, a spa town in County Clare. For a month every year, I would watch farmers come after the harvest to have their sulphur baths and massages. What I loved about it was that all ages and income groups would use the same place in the same way. It shaped my views. I saw the mixing of people in towns and cities as the secret that brings an exchange of energy that everyone beneﬁts from. Architecture provides the framework for this.Tell us about your approach to practice.YF:For us, one of the lovely components of architecture is that it’s a social and cultural responsibility, where the work is usually initiated by the client. You don’t go off and think up a design irrespective of the people who commission you. Instead, they come with their hard-earned money and say, “Can you translate my words – the brief, the list of needs and requirements – into space? And can that space have some cultural value?”SM:We start by trying to articulate how a space might feel, not how it’s organised. With the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation at the University of Arkansas, for instance, we loved the idea of creating a big hall, in the form of a workshop, as the heart of the space. The result is a beehive of activity where you’re never separated from the process of making.How important is it for your projects to have a strong sense of place?YF:It’s about cultural continuity, which is what anchors us in the world. If you’re not connected with your culture, you’re ﬂoating. Even nomadic people have a home. It might not be a physical one – maybe it’s a memory, a person or a thing. We need to consider the geological and landscape aspects of culture too. That might be remembering that there’s a breeze from the ocean that a contemporary work could possibly absorb.SM:The interesting thing about this outlook is that there isn’t just a building and then culture – there’s an interconnectedness of it all at multiple levels.How can a work of architecture reﬂect this view?SM:One of our projects that captures this is the headquarters that we designed for the Dublin Electricity Supply Board. It was on a site where Georgian-era townhouses had been knocked down in the 1960s. People were very sensitive about their loss. Our design embedded a new tiered structure along the street, with façades at the same height as the original streetscape, referencing the original language of that part of the city. The question was how to make something authentic that’s also directly linked to the past. We found the answer by learning from an Italian architect about how to make a beautiful door and steps that feel as though they’re from the 18th century, referencing the doorways that were once there. The key to this was being true to the craft – making real brick walls and not brick cladding like so many buildings.YF:Architecture is a spectrum of good, ordinary and, sometimes, gorgeous. It’s important to remember this – and that there’s a place for it all. There is, for instance, a spectrum of decent housing. You can have a lovely place to live with a terrace looking out over a beautiful bay or an ordinary, light-ﬁlled home within walking distance to a good school. You can look at it in the same sort of way as you would the joy of ﬁction: you can readThe Grapes of Wrathor poet Eavan Boland’s work. It’s like that with architecture.

How a Swiss architecture duo transformed a dilapidated farmhouse into a light-filled, modern home on Lake Geneva

2025-12-07 23:40:01

“How we ended up here is a fairy tale,” says Ueli Brauen. The co-founder of Lausanne-based practice Brauen Wälchli Architectes is referring to the home near the small village of Noville that he shares with Doris Wälchli, his partner in business and life. The fairy tale started here at the eastern tip of Lake Geneva in the early 1990s, when the couple had a client whose mother painted landscapes. “I saw one of her works featuring a little house in a field and said, ‘That home has some character,’” says Wälchli. “The woman told us that it was an actual house nearby.”The renovated 18th-century stone farmhouseThe architect duo promptly visited the property, finding a dilapidated structure in the middle of a clearing – an 18th-century stone farmhouse combining a barn, stable and living quarters. It had been abandoned for more than four decades. “We contacted the local community, who were the owners and had been leasing it out to farmers. They said that if we were interested, we could have it.” The commune owned a demolition permit for the crumbling building, which had vast cracks in its walls and damaged roof-tie beams (a previous tenant had sawn through them).Despite this, both parties recognised the significance of the structure, a traditional Savoyard agricultural building with a square floor plan and boxy, mostly windowless façades. “It was once a common typology but now it’s very rare,” says Wälchli. “A lot of farmhouses in the region are abandoned because it’s not easy to receive permits to rezone these houses for purposes other than farming.”The architects and commune came to an agreement whereby Wälchli and Brauen would have a free lifetime lease on the property on the condition that they rehabilitated the home. “The authorities also listed it as a historic monument, which gave us subsidies from the canton and Swiss governments.”Its light-filled interiorThe successful listing ultimately funded the renovation of a structure that is now a love letter to the region. The duo, while being Swiss-German, felt themselves drawn to the French-speaking cantons in the west, first to study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, and then by the lifestyle. “In Bern, where I’m from, we say that the people here drink too much wine and are always late – and we have adapted to that quite well,” says Brauen, laughing, before adding that the landscape is a pull too. The area around Noville is defined by the flat Rhône delta that transforms rapidly into mountains. “There’s no transition between the two landscapes. It means that when you see our home in this low clearing with steep mountains in the background, it’s like a rock, a strong form – a monument.”The brief that the duo set themselves was to enhance this existing character. “We wanted to give this place its splendour back,” says Brauen. “So we asked the house what it could be.” Its answer? A modern take on the traditional tripartite farmhouse layout. The stable was transformed into a living space, the ground-floor hay barn was reformed as a patio enclosed with sliding glass doors with bedrooms added upstairs, while the original kitchen maintained its function but was given a contemporary overhaul. “We adapted the project to the qualities of the existing building,” says Brauen. “The living room is small and the bedroom large. Normally it’s the other way round but the house wanted the layout to be like this.”Key structural adjustments were made. The roof was restored with beams straightened and joints repositioned, allowing the exposed structure and rafters to be retained. All the roof tiles were replaced and crumbling walls repaired using rubble found on site. Modern conveniences were added: an insulating mineral render was applied to the walls and new underfloor heating is powered by a heat pump drawing energy from the water table below. Interior elements, except for two masonry walls, were stripped out, inviting light into the open-plan home. Mezzanines functioning as a reading room and study space hover above the ground floor, which includes a double-height living room, defined by a custom four-metre-high bookcase.Exposed roof beamsCustom shelvesCosy zones created with shutters“It’s a reference to Pierre Chareau’s bookcase in Maison de Verre, the modernist glass house in Paris,” says Wälchli, who adds that the bespoke work serves a dual purpose. “The glass door for the patio can slide behind the bookcase, opening up the space.” It’s proof of a subtle efficiency now built into the house, with interventions allowing its original atmosphere to remain intact.A case in point is the lack of windows. Three small openings were inserted in the upstairs sleeping quarters, with the local authority authorising the architects to make additional openings in the roof to bring in more light. They declined. “We said no because of the existing presence of the house,” says Wälchli. “We wanted to keep it as strong as possible.” As a result, they glazed the gaps between the roof and wall structure, which originally ventilated the barn, bringing light to the upper floor without altering the structure. A creamy Jura gravel was also laid around the house and in the patio space, reflecting additional light into the interiors.Iconic furniture is dotted throughout the home: Le Corbusier armchairs; a small table by Pierre Chareau that sits in front of the bookcase that he inspired; bentwood dining chairs by Josef Hoffmann, a Jean Prouvé table; Eames side tables; Louis Poulsen pendant lights; and simple timber stools to the design of mid-century Swiss carpenter Jacob Müller.Living spaces that invite the outside inAll of this complements custom in-built furniture, including a long daybed sitting in a nook that can be sectioned off by sliding horizontal lamellas. “It’s a reference to the mihrabs of Arabic architecture – Ueli worked in the Middle East,” says Wälchli. “The daybed corner is perfect for coffee on winter mornings when the sun comes through the space. In summer we move out to the patio; we live in the house according to the changing seasons.”Despite this inbuilt seasonality, the house remains visually connected to itself year-round. “Wherever you are, you can see the whole volume,” says Wälchli “When you’re in the ground-floor kitchen, you can see the top of the roof. It feels generous. There are high spaces and compressed spaces, and there are few windows, but all of the openings have views like paintings.” It’s an appropriate observation, given that a painting first drew Brauen and Wälchli here. Some 30 years on, the duo have transformed the home on that original canvas into a living work of art.

Inside Hanaholmen, the secretive Nordic retreat where diplomats shape Europe’s future

2025-12-16 13:38:56

It’s a crisp autumn morning on Hanaholmen as military officers, politicians and think-tank members sip coffee beside the icy Baltic waters. All are either Finnish or Swedish and are performing a ritual that has taken place here every few months for the past 50 years. This small island, a few minutes by boat from downtown Helsinki, is home to the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre, a literal (and littoral) manifestation of the two Nordic countries’ rock-solid ties.Hanaholmen Cultural Centre on the island of Hanasaari in Espoo, FinlandMonocle is here to attend the Hanating defence and security policy forum, an annual event that aims to further sync already close defence ties. Inside, sheltered from the chilly winds behind floor-to-ceiling windows, attendees – who include both countries’ defence ministers – are discussing drone warfare, hybrid threats and the state of Nordic defence co-operation. Outside, on a terrace lined with stone sculptures and fringed by tall pine trees, the air feels lighter, as does the conversation. “I took a dip in the sea last night, followed by a sauna – that’s how you do it, right?” we overhear a Swedish diplomat ask a Finnish counterpart.Sunrise over the BalticHanaholmen has always been a place where serious discussion takes place in a calm environment. “It’s not just a building,” says Charly Salonius-Pasternak, the CEO of geopolitics consultancy Nordic West Office and a longtime visitor. “It represents the bilateral relationship. It’s a place where ministers, researchers and bankers meet, but it’s also somewhere you can go and dip your toes in the water. It’s not an embassy or a government office. It’s a neutral third space with rich cultural layers.”Founded in 1975 on a verdant island in the Gulf of Finland, Hanaholmen was created as a gesture of reconciliation and trust. Sweden had forgiven a substantial chunk of Finland’s postwar debt and Helsinki’s way of saying thank you was to invest its goodwill in something lasting – a shared space for dialogue and co-operation. The result is extremely Nordic: a low-slung, honey-toned complex of modernist glass-and-concrete buildings designed by Finnish architect Veikko Malmio. It’s a notable example of 1970s design from the region that still looks contemporary.Sweden’s defence minister, Pål Jonson, being interviewed by the Finnish mediaFinland’s defence minister, Antti HäkkänenDelegates listen to a talk in the main auditoriumSpeakers at security-policy event HanatingSitting in an orange Yrjö Kukkapuro Junior 417 chair, Hanaholmen’s CEO for more than 20 years, Gunvor Kronman, reflects on the centre’s mission. “Hanaholmen was founded 50 years ago to make sure that the relationship between Finland and Sweden continues to grow,” she says. “It covers all parts of society. We were called a cultural centre for practical reasons during the Cold War but our mandate has always been broad. It includes everything from defence and security to economic development.”Over the years, this mandate has been expanded further. Kronman describes Hanaholmen as “semi-official, semi-private”, an organisation that can discuss things that are too sensitive for statespeople to speak about publicly but too important to overlook. “We can take initiatives that governments can’t,” she says. “If we fail, it’s our failure. If we succeed, it’s our partner’s success.” Among its programmes are the Hanaholmen Initiative, a crisis-preparedness scheme launched during the coronavirus pandemic; Tandem Leadership, a year-long training network for emerging decision-makers; and Tandem Forest Values, a research collaboration on sustainable forestry. “We believe in personal relationships,” says Kronman. “When people know each other, there’s trust. Trust is the Nordic gold.”Gunvor Kronman has been Hanaholmen’s CEO for more than 20 yearsConcrete relief by Finnish sculptor Heikki Häiväoja in lobbyInside Hanaholmen’s in-house restaurant, PlatsThis is built not only through conversation but also setting. Hanaholmen’s interiors exemplify Nordic simplicity: pale wood and clean lines, with furniture and fittings designed by Finnish and Swedish icons. The island houses more than 300 unique artworks, its own gallery and a sculpture park. “Each artist spends time here and picks their location,” says Kronman. “It takes about a year from idea to installation. We don’t want to rush the process.” A recent renovation, completed in 2017 by Helsinki-based design studio KOKO3, honoured the building’s 1970s identity while updating it for 21st-century use. “Moving from the centre of Helsinki to Hanaholmen feels like entering into a different rhythm,” says Jukka Halminen, a partner at KOKO3. “It’s similar to a Finnish sauna ritual: you slow down, breathe and calm down. We wanted the design to support that feeling.”KOKO3 used natural materials such as brass, oak and stone to keep the original texture of the place, while adding touches from classic Swedish design house Svenskt Tenn to brighten and warm the interiors. The result is neither nostalgic nor sleekly new; it feels lived-in, timeless and quietly Nordic. “We wanted to keep the dialogue between Finland and Sweden visible in the design choices,” says Halminen. “It’s about balance: heritage with lightness, seriousness with joy.” You can feel the same balance at Plats, the island’s restaurant. Hanaholmen’s in-house fisherman, Christer Hackman, catches perch and pike, forages mushrooms and berries, and supplies the kitchen with wild herbs. The menu marries Finnish ingredients with classic Swedish dishes, served in dining rooms that glow with light timber and the burning logs of fitted fireplaces. “Food is an essential part of Hanaholmen,” says Kronman. “It creates a different atmosphere. Sharing a meal changes the tone of a political discussion.”Yrjö Kukkapuro’s Junior 417 armchairs at Hanaholmen’s anniversary exhibitionDiplomats and Finnish conscriptsSwimming pool with floor-to-ceiling windowsFor those not lucky enough to be a Nordic diplomat, Hanaholmen is also a hotel. The swimming pool and glass sauna, which looks out to sea, are among the most popular in the Finnish capital. “We might be small [66 rooms] but we’re a significant meeting place,” the hotel’s director, Kai Mattsson, says as he shows Monocle around the building’s top-floor suite. “Every weekday there’s something happening. It can be 200 delegates one day and a honeymooning couple the next.” Mattsson describes the hotel as both an engine and enabler. “The commercial side helps to finance the cultural side but it’s also part of the experience,” he says. “People come here for seminars and to discover the art, the design, the nature. It’s not your typical conference hotel.”Hanaholmen’s blend of architecture, art and natural beauty reflects the belief that soft power becomes tangible through space. “No matter how tough the subject, we try to maintain integrity and decency in conversation,” says Kronman. “That’s how we contribute to an open, democratic society.” At the Hanating forum, that spirit is writ large. Finland’s defence minister, Antti Häkkänen, and his Swedish counterpart, Pål Jonson, are engaged in discussions that mingle military strategy with cultural diplomacy. “Hard defence must be strong,” Häkkänen tells Monocle. “But the political landscape – how voters and politicians perceive the world – that’s soft power and it’s very important. Institutions such as Hanaholmen keep our societies aligned over issues such as Russia and European security.” His Swedish colleague adds, with a grin, “I mostly work with guns, bombs and hard military power but I still value the cultural exchange that Hanaholmen represents.”Perhaps no one captures this exchange better than Sweden’s hirsute ambassador to Finland, Peter Ericson. “It’s a tremendous asset for the relationship,” he says, referencing the staff and resources at Hanaholmen’s disposal. “I call it a symbiotic relationship: Hanaholmen is the elephant and we at the embassy are the little bird sitting on its back.” He gestures towards the centre’s lobby, which displays photographs of distinguished visitors, including monarchs, ministers and artists. “It’s independent,” he says. “It isn’t part of official diplomacy. Sweden and Finland supervise it together but it is its own foundation. And it has this formula: bring people from both sides, house them, feed them and give them the space to work together. Fifty years ago, it was mostly a cultural exchange; today, it involves anything from defence and civil preparedness to youth issues or the environment. That’s its strength.”Sweden’s ambassador to Finland, Peter EricsonWarm welcome from reception staffThe seasoned diplomat struggles to think of a similar institution anywhere else in the world. “Hanaholmen is unique,” he says. “An embassy symbolises a country. Hanaholmen symbolises the relationship itself.” This distinction might explain its lasting significance. In a world that is increasingly driven by summits, video calls and transactional diplomacy, it represents something older and subtler – the gradual building of trust through shared experience and conversation. At Hanaholmen, diplomacy isn’t performed but practised. “We believe in identifying the right people who should know each other,” says Kronman. “From that, many good things will come.”This approach resonates beyond Finland and Sweden. The centre has hosted a range of figures, including the Nordic royal families, prime ministers and popular actors such as Mikael Persbrandt. Fifty years after Hanaholmen was opened by the Swedish king, Carl XVI Gustaf, and Finland’s then-president, Urho Kekkonen, the Nordic region, once viewed as a quiet corner of Europe, now finds itself on the front line of geopolitical change. After decades of neutrality, Finland and Sweden are now NATO members. Defence committees from their respective parliaments meet here regularly; they are doing so on the day that Monocle visits. Amid discussions on deterrence and hybrid warfare, soft power is still the centre’s guiding light. “Hard power is obvious – Ukraine reminds us of that,” says Ericson. “But soft power is what keeps our societies attractive and resilient. We don’t have to deceive people to be liked. We just have to be our best selves.”Table is set for diplomatic talksDigital diplomacy and rotating presidencies can’t replace the continuity that is offered by a physical site. Hanaholmen’s architecture, art and cuisine aren’t just decorative – they’re part of the dialogue. As the afternoon light dims over the Baltic, the conversation on the terrace shifts from air defence to pan-fried Arctic char. It feels both ordinary and extraordinary – the kind of quiet, human-level contact that supports deep Nordic co-operation.

How Acne Studios turned a historical Paris building into a playground for creativity

2025-12-15 07:58:21

“The customer is addicted to design in whatever shape it takes,” says Jonny Johansson, the creative director and co-founder of Acne Studios. The Stockholm-based fashion label’s attention to the spaces that it inhabits, from runways to its shops and offices, is indicative of the increased overlap between design, architecture and fashion. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Paris, where part of its womenswear team and a sewing atelier are based, and where the Acne Paper Palais Royal – a permanent gallery space owned by the house – opened in the first arrondissement in June. Now it is consolidating its Parisian presence with a new, design-forward headquarters on Rue des Petites Écuries.Johansson led the repurposing of the former 1930s laboratory of French cosmetics brand Gomenol, in collaboration with Swedish design studio Halleroed. “We talked about everything, including the sinks,” he says, adding that, having known Christian Halleröd, co-founder of Halleroed, for more than 30 years, there was an ease of understanding to their collaborative process.About 80 employees work in the Paris headquarters, spanning womenswear, merchandising, buying, finance, HR and wholesale, as well as part of the Acne Studios atelier. “We planned the layout so that there was a flow from one department to another, from the fabric developers to the designers, for example,” says Johansson. The structuring of the building’s spaces needed to account for a showroom and a fitting area, as well as the more traditional office set-up. Communal spaces such as a courtyard with a seating area and a canteen were central to his vision of what a headquarters should provide for its employees: a place to gather and discuss creative ideas. “Conversations and employees interacting make a company interesting,” he adds. “I always think that it’s a good investment.”Throughout the space, original features such as parquet floors, a vaulted glass-tiled ceiling and gold-painted mouldings have been preserved and juxtaposed with exposed concrete and modern furniture by the likes of Lukas Gschwandtner and marble sculptures by London-based artist Daniel Silver. A pair of sofas upholstered in light-pink vinyl by UK designer Max Lamb sit in the showroom; an ultra-contemporary series of light fixtures by French artist Benoit Lalloz illuminate the canteen. “I like contrasts and buildings with history, where the past, present and future are contained in one space,” he says. “To gut out a building is like erasing history.”“In the future, if you looked back at our brand and why we did certain things, you would see that it wasn’t just to sell clothing,” says Johansson. “There’s also the idea of being a sign of the times in a way. I’m not saying that we’ve succeeded yet but that’s the obsession.”acnestudios.com

Mexico’s fantastical fortresses: From a nearly invisible structure to a concrete cube in a forest

2025-12-05 04:30:03

A desire to feel secure and out of view is a common theme in the design of Mexican homes. It explains why so many of them are complex and have an air of mystery. Pablo Landa, an anthropologist and the director of Museo Experimental El Eco at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City, says that the work of Luis Barragán is a case in point. “You have to go inside his buildings to fully understand them,” says Landa of the famed architect, who has been the benchmark for architectural excellence in the country for decades.There is also a romantic component to this design ethos: a belief that a Mexican residence should not only protect but also enrich the occupants’ interior world, nurturing their dreams. “It’s all about the modulation of light and space, the balance of containment and openness, with patios, gardens and vegetation,” says Landa.It’s with this in mind that Monocle has set out to assess the modern Mexican home, starting in the outskirts of Morelia, the capital of the central state of Michoacán. Here, a residence rises gently from the tall grass and merges with the verdant landscape, becoming almost invisible. This disappearing act isn’t just for aesthetic reasons, says HW Studio’s Rogelio Vallejo Bores of the building, poetically named The Hill in Front of the Glen. “The client wanted to feel safe,” he explains with a sigh. “Unfortunately, in Mexico, violence persists.”The Hill in Front of the Glen by HW Studio is set in a wooded enclaveBores takes an unusual approach to clients: they must first pass a psychological test before his studio takes them on. “It’s a friendly test,” he says. The assessment has been devised by his long-term partner, neuropsychologist Vera Sánchez Macouzet. “Vera is essential to the process,” he says. “We need to understand our clients before deciding whether we can truly help them.”Born and educated in Morelia, Bores is rooted in the city, proudly identifying as a Mestizo, someone with European and Indigenous heritage. HW Studio deliberately keeps a small portfolio, taking on just four projects per year. “It’s vital for us to maintain human contact – with our clients, the builders and, above all, with ourselves,” he says.One day, says Bores, a man wandered into his office, curious about his studio, which is based in a white building attached to a disused factory. “We didn’t discuss architecture at first,” he says. “We just became friends.” Later, the man mentioned buying a plot in the countryside and asked Bores to visit. The psychological test revealed that he and his wife were unusually open to new experiences and well-suited to HW Studio’s collaborative way of working.A narrow passageway has been cut into a manmade moundAn open-plan kitchen, dining and living area has forest viewsThe result is The Hill in Front of the Glen, which is entered through a narrow groove cut into an artificial mound, just wide enough for one person. A path curves around a tall tree, descends a few steps and finally reveals the home. To the left of the entrance, an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area frames forest views beneath a saucer-domed concrete ceiling. To the right, three bedrooms sit side by side. A narrow terrace shields them with a high concrete wall, while letting in natural light. The living room is sparsely furnished. The dining table – an unpolished metal sheet on chunky pine blocks – becomes the focal point, while the benches are raw logs, with their bark intact, cut flat for stability. The coffee table is a pine trunk. On both tables, a single branch has been carefully placed. Bores calls himself an “essentialist” rather than a minimalist. “Minimalism is too European,” he says. “Essentialism is about balance.”It’s an approach to work that can also be seen in Fernanda Canales’s pared-back portfolio of work. An architect with a doctorate from Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (The Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid), Canales is based in Mexico City and echoes Bores’s belief that security is important and that people should feel safe in their own homes. She is renowned for her public projects in underserved border towns and she understands the importance of promoting security while balancing her designs with a sense of openness. Her family’s weekend house, Casa Terreno, in Valle de Bravo, is a case in point. The house has a four-sided plan with four patios. A patio at the entrance, with a curved concrete wall, acts as a transition from the wild landscape to the vestibule. The central courtyard is split into two zones – the first paved, storing a cistern below, the second left to vegetation. The final patio is reserved for the guest wing.Casa Terreno’s living room features a curved concrete ceiling and a fireplaceCasa Terreno features an undulating rooftop along one edge of the quadrangle, echoing the surrounding mountains and the Nevado de Toluca volcano. Four bedrooms and a study occupy this wing, each crowned with a curved concrete ceiling and furnished with a wood-burning stove. Lightwells punctuate the bedrooms’ en suites, while partition walls of broken bricks rise like sculptural elements, separating sinks, toilets and showers. Sliding doors open onto small patios, connecting every room to the landscape beyond. Framing views is very important, says Canales, because once we get too used to our environment we stop looking. “By framing certain views, we can get people to notice more, to engage more with their surroundings.”Casa Terreno’s undulating rooftop along the edge of the quadrangleAs a protected nature reserve, La Reserva Peñitas enforces strict building regulations. Only 5 per cent of purchased land can be developed; perimeter walls are prohibited. Structures may not exceed six metres in height and white paint is banned. “The use of natural, preferably locally sourced, materials is encouraged,” adds Canales. “Bright lighting is restricted at night too, under the area’s dark-sky policy.”All of the houses in La Reserva Peñitas are built off-grid. Rainwater is collected into a cistern on the site so residents “must be careful about what kind of soap is used”, says Canales. “It must all be organic.” Solar panels provide electricity; a composter processes organic waste. “We are respectful to nature, to the animals that live there,” she says.La Reserva Peñitas is framed through a large window inside a bunker-like study at Casa TerrenoThe house embodies a contradiction. “It’s both open and enclosed,” says Canales. “The environment here is rugged. We have snakes, heavy rainfall and extreme temperatures: hot by day, almost freezing by night. I wanted the interior to feel cosy and comfortable.” Outside, a rough façade of jagged bricks adds raw texture, while inside, marble flooring in the loggia and oak flooring in the bedrooms lend a smooth, refined counterpoint.Surprisingly for a house amid wild terrain, there are no steps inside. “This is the first time that I’ve got to do this in a project,” says Canales. “You never encounter any divisions between different areas of the house, even in the courtyard. This changes our perception, creating a sense of continuity.” The entrance is topped with a pyramid-shaped roof and Canales cites the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal in Yucatán as an influence. Acelosia(lattice) wall hints at the existence of a courtyard inside the house. The steel gate, which functions as the front door, is also perforated. Throughout the house, Canales punctures the interiors with celosias to connect the indoors with the surrounding wilderness beyond. They also help to create a microclimate within the enclosure, encouraging the movement of air while keeping the house cool and protected.View of Casa Terreno’s open dining and living room through a sliding door“Our society is built upon different cultures,” says Canales. “We have layers. These consist of the Spaniard layer and the Indigenous layer, as well as the layer made from international influences. Historical legacy informs Casa Terreno in a symbolic way.”Click to expandMarble flooring in the loggia lends a refined counterpoint to a rough façadeThis celebration of differences, this embracing of “the other”, is also seen at Casa Cometa in Oaxaca, designed by Taller Rocha Carrillo. Perched on the Punta Cometa peninsula – the southernmost point of the state of Oaxaca – it comprises an eclectic mix of towers and pavilions. Built for the owner of the Grupo hotel company, two tall pillars, clad in local stone, rise above the dense forest. According to Gabriela Carrillo, then a partner at Taller Rocha Carrillo (she has since gone on to establish her own namesake studio), the towers reference the medieval architecture of San Gimignano in Italy. “We worked on it for many years,” she says.Casa Cometa comprises an eclectic mix of towers and pavilionsOne tower contains the client’s double-height bedroom, whose interior is also clad in stone. Underneath this space, a void has been carved out to create a semi-outdoor kitchen and dining room that opens out to a terrace. The other tower contains a studio and a spa with a Japanese bath. From the rooftops of the towers, you can see both sunrise and sunset. Windows are sparsely but intelligently placed to make naturally ventilated air-conditioned rooms.“Architecture has to do with generosity,” says Carrillo. “You are working with things that are essentially free – light, air, wind, water – and you are articulating space using these elements. We architects also bring ambiguity. We are different from estate agents or politicians in this way. It’s not all about making money. We retain the freedom to experiment. That is an important part of being an architect. It’s a big responsibility.”Close-up of a screen that helps to keep the house naturally coolA timber-framed palapa, a covered outdoor living space – a prominent feature in Mexican houses in this region – comes with a thatched roof. A raised terrace, which intersects with a long, rectilinear swimming pool, connects the palapa with one of the towers. Another terrace runs parallel to the first, emerging through the underside of the swimming pool, extending out to become a roof over four additional bedrooms and a living room that hang below it. These rooms are then accessed through an opening on the terrace with a set of floating stairs.Carrillo says that the “hanging wooden rooms” came about because of the need to create extra space within the dramatic topographical incline of the site but also because the architects were interested in using timber structurally. These rooms hang at up to eight metres above the ground with windows that can pivot wide open to the elements.Working with local artisans was also crucial. The ceramic tiles on the terraces were made in the region, as were the bedsheets. “We asked women weavers to match the quality of sheets from France and they ended up producing something that’s even better,” says Carrillo.A double-height bedroom is clad in stones, mirroring Casa Cometa’s exteriorCarrillo’s appreciation for the handmade is shared with Ludwig Godefroy, a French architect based in Mexico City. “Everything in this country is handmade,” he says. “You work closely with the artisans. The process is industrialised in Europe and, with that, you lose freedom.” Godefroy is aware that things often don’t go smoothly here but, he says, “You have to take that risk because the upside is that almost anything is possible in Mexico. When you have an idea, no matter how crazy it is, people will always tell you, ‘Yes, of course we can do it.’”“The labour-intensive way of working is not unusual in Mexico,” says Landa. “Labour is still cheap here and the process is not fragmented like it is in the West, where you have a consultant for everything and the architect does the envelope, defining the general concept and floor plans.”Hanging wooden rooms create space within a dramatic topographical inclineBy contrast, says Landa, Mexican architects have a more intimate understanding of the site and project, from the space requirements for an elevator to the workings of a sewage system. “There is an integration of the process, which means Mexican architects have a greater influence over a project.”Casa Alférez, designed by Godefroy, stands tall in a pine-forest clearing less than an hour from Mexico City. Its cubic concrete exterior belies a complex interior dominated by a zigzagging staircase, from which cantilevered floor plates jut in multiple directions. Sunlight streams through the gaps, reaching the sunken living room below, which features a wood-burning stove with a six-metre-long flue. The ground floor also houses two bedrooms, while the first flight of stairs opens onto a kitchen and dining area. Both the concrete worktop and dining table appear to float.Casa Alférez, designed by Ludwig Godefroy, was inspired by Second World War bunkers and Archigram’s Walking CityCasa Alférez is a holiday let. “The house is like another trip inside your holiday trip,” says Godefroy, who grew up in Normandy, playing in and around Second World War bunkers. After studying architecture in Paris, he took jobs in Spain and the Netherlands before heading to Mexico City, where he worked with Tatiana Bilbao. He remained there for several years, then founded his own studio four years ago. “Compared with Europe, I experienced so much in Mexico and learned more in a few years than I expected,” says Godefroy.View of Casa Alférez’s living room with a sunken sitting roomCasa Alférez’s rooftop brings pine trees within reachDespite the steep learning curve in Mexico, architectural practices are greatly respected in the country. It’s part of the reason why practitioners – from Bores and Canales to Carrillo and Godefroy – are given both time and space to experiment and dream. Architects here also draw on diverse cultural influences from home and abroad – but they are not copycats. They are comfortable in their own skin, with a focus on the people who will inhabit their houses. The cream of the crop considers comfort and how occupants and visitors will feel in the space.It’s an outlook that means Mexican architects are keen to ensure that the fit is perfect for every client. And if some of the resulting homes flirt with the fantastical, it’s perhaps because they embody a yearning for a parallel world – one that is more peaceful than the real one outside. And while this longing isn’t unique to Mexico, the architectural expression of this pining is always distinct.

Ten iconic European design pieces to cosy up your living space this winter

2025-12-06 00:04:56

1.Topan VP13 lampby&Tradition, DenmarkThe distinctive Topan VP13 lamp by designer Verner Panton was conceived in 1959 as a pendant. This tabletop version by&Tradition retains the original’s sculptural appeal.2.Trio of stoolsbyVitra, SwitzerlandThis Charles and Ray Eames trio once furnished the lobbies of the Rockefeller Center in New York. With nipped-in silhouettes, in chestnut or walnut, the 1960 design is ageless.3.Torii Love dining tablebyTacchini, ItalyFor this lacquered table, Milan-based Studiopepe was inspired by the stately and sculptural language of Japanesetoriigates. It will bring a welcome sense of ceremony to your mealtimes.4.Crystal carafe setbyThe Vintage List, UKMade in the UK, this carafe set is dotted with hand-engraved stars. We suggest keeping one as a twinkling bedside companion or in the office to keep you rehydrated throughout the day.5.Soho side tablebyFendi Casa, ItalyThe design branch of the Italian luxury fashion house tapped Milan-based Toan Nguyen to create its Soho series. This leather side table, with buckled side straps, speaks to Fendi’s heritage and house codes.6.Vanguard lounge chairbyStudio Brocky, UKThe glam-rock flair of this low-slung armchair is no accident – it borrows its shape from electric guitars. Its seat is upholstered in a rich crimson velvet and rests on a polished chrome base.7.Trinidad dining chairbyFredericia, DenmarkFor the elaborate, cut-out back of this chair from 1993, Danish designer Nanna Ditzel looked to the fretwork of the “gingerbread-style” architecture found in Trinidad and Tobago.8.Medallion chairbyDagmar, UKDesigned in 1952 by Danish duo Nils and Eva Koppel for Slagelse Møbelvaerk, this sculptural armchair now has a new lease of life, thanks to UK manufacturer Dagmar.9.Superwire T table lampbyFlos, ItalyFor this light, Milanese design studio Formafantasma worked closely with the R&D team at Flos to develop a new type of thin, flexible LED strip that emits a warm glow. The best part? The strips are easy to remove and repair, ensuring longevity for this glass-and-aluminium piece.10.Marenco sofaby Arflex, ItalyThis 1970 design by Mario Marenco is everything that a sofa should be: plush, stylish and roomy. More than half a century old, it remains a design classic.Illustrations: Ana Popescu

Why we all need to learn how to “speak architecture”

2025-12-12 18:07:32

When was the last time a space gave you room to think rather than rushing you along to the exit or cash register? Architecture can seem dull but done well it can still solve problems, conjure awe and inspire.The discipline comes together in our homes, streets and cities, and forms the backdrop to our lives – sometimes as monuments but more often in subtler, less spectacular ways. It’s in motifs and materials, churches and supermarkets but also in how we access clean water and in the proportions of a park or playground. Muse on it for a moment and architecture is everywhere – shaping us as we shape it – but it’s also noticeably absent from too many discussions about living better. That needs to change.To borrow an idea from UK editor and author Simon Jenkins, we need to “speak architecture”. All of us. That doesn’t mean committing opaque technicalities or industry jargon to memory or fluency but rather a perspective shift. It means being free to discuss – and question – how buildings make us feel, how they structure our lives and how to understand the stories that our buildings tell.Our latest publication, The Monocle Companion, is about starting global conversations. As Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena put it to me, it’s about building better with brains as well as bricks. This edition is based around the 19th Biennale Architettura, which takes place in Venice (on now until 23 November 2025) – but the subjects that we explore within the 200-plus page paperback are truly global. Between the covers we speak to some of the canniest thinkers from this year’s event, as well as writers, architects and idealists looking to nudge debates about the built environment with good grace and optimism. We hear from the curator of Bahrain’s pavilion about why the hum of power-hungry air conditioners is an increasingly alarming soundtrack to summer in the Gulf – and why he’s got an alternative for the ages. We speak to a studio in Toronto about how it’s employing architects to open-source rebuilding in Ukraine and the importance of making cities more spontaneous (inspired by life on the busy streets of Hanoi). There are also glimpses into other worlds, from Cairo’s self-building scene and the “Bangkok Bastards” of design to Lomé’s forgotten modernist buildings and what the markets of Lagos tell us about the ingenuity of its economy and people.Along the way, you’ll read essays from philosophers, Pritzker Prize-winners, Golden Lion recipients and urban planners – and, yes, even a few crumbs of wisdom from our trusty design editor, Nic Monisse (this book’s co-editor). Another major highlight is a photo essay (pictured) shot by one of Monocle’s regular contributors, Andrea Pugiotto.So, if you’re visiting Venice for the Biennale (pre-game with Monocle’s 10 highlights here) or you don’t know your Arsenale from your elbow – we’ve laid on a world of insights on subjects from surviving in a desert to forging buildings from lava, alongside some thoughts from beyond the bounds of our humble planet.This little book – available to buy now – aims to offer lofty ideas and space to wonder. Remember, it’s not just architects who can help build a better world or who should speak up about the world that we’ve constructed. The good news? Some of the answers to improving things and telling better stories are at our fingertips.‘The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas on Architecture, Design and Building Better’ is out now – buy your copy today. The Venice architecture Biennale runs until 23 November 2025.Read next: We need to talk about architecture. At this year’s Venice Biennale, a few nations got the message.

Three offices so beautiful you’ll want to apply to work in them

2025-12-01 20:25:52

From offices in mixed-use developments to intimate ateliers, a workplace’s form and function can influence employee morale, foster collaboration and enhance the perception of a brand. Here we profile three distinct spaces showing how thoughtful design elevates business quality and output.1. The Workshop by Ministry of DesignSingaporeRoom to experimentWhen planning its big office move in 2024, Singaporean interiors-and-branding firm Ministry of Design (MOD) saw a chance to redefine its way of working. A diverse team across multiple Asian cities, along with the rise of video conferencing and virtual whiteboarding technologies, led MOD founder Colin Seah to consider how the office can foster better work culture. “There was a real need for a creative collaboration space, where you could connect with one another and touch and feel the materials you were using,” he says. With that, The Workshop was born.Long table to support collaboration at The WorkshopA compact, high-ceilinged space in Singapore’s Jalan Besar neighbourhood, its interiors are defined by three-dimensional metal scaffolding. The majority of The Workshop is dedicated to teamwork, anchored by a long, counter-height table that’s flanked by a magnetic pinboard and TV on one side and superbly arranged boxes of samples, swatches and reference books on the other.Every detail has been tailored by Seah. “The temperature of the lighting can be adjusted to reflect different environments,” he says. “The magnetic board allows us to quickly stick items to project spatial renders. The countertop isn’t in jet black or a stark white, which might affect colour perception.”In short, it’s an environment that facilitates creativity and spontaneity, by making both teamwork and experimentation easy.2. 1516 W Carroll Ave by Converge ArchitectureChicagoSpace to gather1516 W Carroll Ave in Chicago’s West Loop neighbourhood is a 1920s-era warehouse recently reworked by Converge Architecture. It now accommodates a rooftop farm, film studio, test kitchens, private dining and events areas, offices and a ground-floor coffee shop, retail space and restaurant.Test kitchen at 1516 W Carroll AveYet Converge Architecture principal Lynsey Sorrell doesn’t draw her greatest satisfaction from the exposed columns, brickwork patina or the greenhouse gables that now prick the horizon. “I’m most proud of the way that we managed to get our clients to work together,” says the architect, whose initial client for the project was urban-agriculture venture The Roof Crop. Its founder and creative director, Tracy Boychuk, invited restaurant Maxwells Trading and test kitchen and studio Flashpoint Innovation to take up co-tenancy to create a culinary hub.Sorrell and her colleagues found ways to create space for each venture by strengthening the building’s structure, raising the roofline, adding both indoor and outdoor floor space and fitting wooden soundproofing baffles to the ceilings. The result brings together a nine-to-five desk-space with seasonal urban agriculture and an open-all-hours approach to contemporary hospitality. “If you’re working in hospitality, sustainability or city farming, you really need partners,” says Sorrell. In Chicago, there isn’t a building that brings them together quite like this one.3. Salt by Thiss StudioLondonGood relationshipsFor design-focused communications agency Salt, finding a studio to do the interior fit-out of its office meant turning to one of its own clients. The company’s founding director, Celeste Bolte, asked local architecture firm Thiss Studio to deliver a space that could be used for desk work, photoshoots and meetings during the day and events in the evening. The brief also came with the request to prioritise repurposed materials. “We sourced items together and talked about how we could be creative with the budget through salvaging and reuse,” says Tamsin Hanke, co-founder and director at Thiss Studio. “If you’re meeting clients at your office, the space becomes an external presentation of who you are as a company.” Samples and seating at Salt in LondonThe open-plan, 55 sq m office features high ceilings, large windows and steel beams remnants from its former industrial life. Salt added a white linen curtain to demarcate areas. “We wanted a place that was adaptable,” says fellow Thiss Studio co-founder and director Sash Scott. The firm also designed furniture made from existing on-site and second-hand materials. The office’s location in east London meant joining forces with local workshops. A carpenter across the road helped to cut the cabinets and a signpost that hangs outside the office. “It’s a project borne of good relationship-building,” adds Scott.

This modern Danish summerhouse is a masterclass in timeless design

2025-12-01 21:24:30

Visitors driving into Rågeleje, a resort town north of Copenhagen, are greeted by pastel-striped beach huts against a backdrop of the Kattegat sea. A country road that turns away from the coast leads to an inconspicuous, low-slung house that’s shrouded in greenery. This serene space, with a veranda and garden filled with wildflowers, has been the holiday home of Thomas Lykke and his family for more than 12 years but he’d had his eyes on it since he was 10 years old. “When I was a little boy I used to play here with the family that built this house,” says the Danish designer. “About 10 years ago, I came back and put a letter in the mailbox saying that if the house was for sale, I’d like to buy it. Two weeks later it was mine.”Lykke spent his childhood summers next door, in a house that his great-great-grandparents built in 1933. “When they came here there was only farmland,” he says. In the mid-1950s the fishing village was transformed by an eccentric art gallerist from Copenhagen, who turned its inn into a jazz bar and invited musicians and artists. By the time Lykke was growing up, the village was a popular resort town and the hill was full of holiday homes. “I was already fascinated by this house back then because it was very different, almost Japanese,” he says over coffee by the kitchen counter.With an exterior painted in black and burnt red, and angled roofs covered in green grass and succulents, the house is a far cry from traditional Danish cottages. Built in 1973 and designed by architect Erik Berg, it’s an early example of a prefabricated Danish summer home. Berg’s houses came in different sizes with extra options, such as a guesthouse and a sauna. Novel for the time, they were marketed as a concept that could be tailored to different families’ needs.By the time Lykke moved in, the house had passed through three owners. The interior walls had been painted white and a French architect couple had built a master bedroom extension. Lykke has also upgraded and expanded the home, putting his woodworking skills to use – his grandfather was a carpenter – to lay wooden floors and build a Japanese-style bathroom annex, as well as a separate garage to house his 1986 Jaguar. However, a visitor would struggle to distinguish between old and new. “I want to stay true to the original architecture, which follows simple principles,” he says, pointing to the wooden planks and angled roof running across the original cottage and extensions. “There’s a rhythm to it that you can easily follow.”Some of the furniture harks back to the 1970s, including the living room’s round tray tables, designed by Hans Bølling, and a pair of vintage wicker chairs. But Lykke’s aim is not to furnish the house exactly as it would have been in the era. “It’s important that it is very casual and not too perfect,” he says. In the open-plan living room, Lykke built a dinner table, stereo rack and counter, separating the lounge area from the kitchen.Just as Berg intended, the holiday house has proven adaptable to the family’s needs, which vary from entertaining large groups of friends to calm seclusion. “If you open the doors to the veranda, it feels as though the living room doubles in size and the whole space is activated,” says Lykke. “But the house is also very private. I like it when it’s quiet, when I have no plans and can recharge my batteries. This is my retreat.”Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

How architect Tom Kundig designs mountain cabins that balance shelter, snowfall and style

2025-11-29 14:37:05

Winter weather presents unique challenges for architects – something that Tom Kundig faces head-on. With a career spanning six continents and four decades, US architect Tom Kundig’s design philosophy revolves around how we interact with nature – a central theme of his new book,Tom Kundig: Complete Houses. The founder and principal of Seattle-based Olson Kundig takes a holistic approach to every project to ensure that materials, textures and the environment all work together. Here, he tells Monocle about designing for snowfall and the idea of architecture as a refuge.Tom Kundig (Image: Kyle Johnson)You’ve designed many mountain cabins. How does that kind of environment shape your work?`Snow is a strange material. I grew up in a cold country and later worked in Switzerland to learn about mountain architecture. With snow, the issue isn’t weight but movement. When it sits on a sloped roof, it becomes a threat to people who are walking underneath. Old chalets, with their relatively low-slope roofs, are examples of how to hold snow, not for insulation but for movement, so that it doesn’t drop off the side like an avalanche. It’s about control. If you look at a lot of my architecture, it seems relatively simple – it’s often just a series of boxes. But there’s an intention to it. These buildings deal with the snow that’s not only landing on top but that’s being blown from the side. Until you understand the ways that snow works, you will be designing naively.People associate cabins in snowy places with rest and slowing down. Is that something that resonates with you as an architect?Absolutely. Snow country generally means a challenging climate, which might mean that a building is all about the prospect of refuge, places where you’re protected from the outside elements. Even if you’re not physically affected by the weather, you’re psychologically affected by it. It’s stormy as hell, it’s windy and it’s cold. But inside, you have the fireplace and cosy furniture that make you feel protected. The other great thing about the mountains is that they are places of extremes. It’s this yin and yang of existence that I find extraordinary.Tom Kundig: Complete Houses (Image: Tony Hay)

An architects’ retreat where mid-century cottages stand amid unspoiled Finnish woodland

2025-12-13 13:32:06

Pia Ilonen first visited Vähä-Kiljava when she was 12 years old. It was the 1970s and her architect parents, Pirkko and Arvi, were building a family cottage in the village, a popular holiday destination about 50km north of Helsinki. At the time, her mother and father were designing petrol stations for US petroleum company Esso; they decided to order one of the ready-made station structures and convert it into a house. Pia remembers the building site: initially, there was only the bright-yellow metal station skeleton with a hearth in the middle. “All of our neighbours remember our family,” says Pia. “We would be grilling sausages in the fireplace with nothing but a steel frame surrounding us.”Architect Pia IlonenSome 50 years later, Pia’s car is under the cottage’s parking canopy and her two grandchildren are playing inside the house. The building no longer looks like a pit stop on the side of a highway; it now has a green wooden façade and a happily cluttered interior with large windows, an Alvar Aalto seating arrangement and tapestries on the walls. It has served as the family’s summer home for decades and Pirkko often hosted pancake parties on the terrace for all of the children in the village. Pia, who grew up to become an architect like her parents, is now trying to work out how to renovate the cottage, which her neighbours still refer to as the “Huoltoasema” (petrol station). It’s in need of new windows, a new roof and a fresh lick of paint.Today the Ilonens’ house and most of the other cottages surrounding it belong to the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA), a public-facing organisation that counts more than 70 per cent of practitioners in the country as members. It co-ordinates building competitions, consults on new legislation and represents the interests of Finland’s architects.Ilonen cottage was built using a gas-station frameBut SAFA also has a less publicised role: managing Vähä-Kiljava’s 25mökki(cottages), which were built between 1940 and 1970, and most are rented to SAFA members. This curious collection of houses serves as a kind of open-air museum of Finnishmökkiculture, as well as an extended experiment in what happens when a group of architects decide to spend summers in the wilderness together.Vähä-Kiljava was established in 1936 when Väinö Vähäkallio, a prominent architect and the then-head of Finland’s building commission, decided to donate 30 hectares to SAFA for the purpose of providing a “recreational and holiday-making place for architects”. (There are competing explanations as to why he did so: some say that it was simply out of altruism, while others claim that he was in trouble for handing himself commissions and needed to curry favour.)The plot was pretty: a gently sloping moraine covered in moss, spruce trees and porcini mushrooms, with a sand beach bordering the crystal-clear Sääksjärvi lake. The founding document spelled out the rules of the place: in addition to building a central venue with hotel rooms and a communal dining hall, plots would be given over to architects on which to create cottages. The document also specified that after the original tenant’s death, every house would become the property of SAFA and rented out to other members.The community is still governed by these rules, says Jukka Karhunen, a founding partner at Hyvämäki-Karhunen-Parkkinen (HKP), the firm that designed the Helsinki Opera House in 1993, as well as many other public buildings. He welcomes Monocle to Vähä-Kiljava on a balmy summer’s day. “It’s the perfect combination of isolation and togetherness,” he says. “There is a community but nobody comes knocking on your door unannounced.”Karhunen, who is wearing a striped T-shirt and shorts, is in a decidedly laid-back mood. He offers us a sparkling drink made from blackcurrant leaves. He and his architect-poet wife, Kati Salonen, are longtime residents of Vähä-Kiljava, spending several months there every summer. They read, swim, go mushroom picking, barbecue and wash dishes outside, before taking turns in the communal sauna in the afternoons. “We all agreed that you don’t talk about work in the sauna,” he says.Jukka Karhunen and Kati SalonenThismökkilifestyle – in which people of all walks of life spend their summers in the forest, ideally with no wi-fi or even running water – has become a trope of Finnish culture. Social equalisers of this kind are far less prevalent abroad, even in neighbouring Scandinavian countries. “In Sweden, those who were better off used to build seafront villas instead,” says Karhunen, pointing out that themökkitradition is younger than many Finns imagine, only emerging in earnest in the second half of the 20th century. When planning started for Vähä-Kiljava in the late 1930s, it was still highly unusual to own a second home. “At that time, it would have been extremely rare for somebody to have a cottage,” says Karhunen. “Most people didn’t have a car.”Nonetheless, Vähä-Kiljava thrived from the start. The people behind it first had to decide on the initial designs for a master plan, as well as a name for the site. Among proposals such as “SAFA-RI”, the association settled on the idea of borrowing the name of a nearby village, Kiljava, and adding a prefix paying tribute to the project’s commissioner, Vähäkallio. After completing the so-called “Kasino” – not a gambling den but an airy, functionalist communal building with a sea view and Artek-furnished interiors – the association announced a contest sponsored by a construction company to build a single-family cottage. The winning entry was a proposal by Jorma Järvi: a traditional redpuutalo(wooden house) with asymmetrical windows and a sloping wall on one side. The jury, which included Alvar Aalto, praised the design for its “fun” and “thought-through” structure. The angular space contained a sleeping cupboard for children, so that a family of seven could fit into just 24 sq m. This foreshadowed the standardmökkiconstruction that persists to this day – a spartan structure made from found materials at minimal cost.Puutalo, from 1944The designers also took cues from Norwegian and Swedish sporting huts (orsportstuga), which were built out in nature and intended for sleeping in after days spent outdoors. This influence is clearest in Rake, a red-stained cottage that was completed in 1943. Designed by Kaj Englund, this compact square house is lined with bunk beds on two sides and wooden benches on the other two. It’s pared back and dimly lit, partly because it was built during wartime shortages. It’s also a favourite of Sari Nieminen, an architect who completed an exhaustive survey of the buildings in Vähä-Kiljava in 2013. She points out that the small windows are strategically placed so that somebody sitting at the table has a view out in all four directions. “Nature becomes part of the interior,” says Nieminen. “This is skilled planning based on how people would inhabit the space.”Rake, designed by Kaj Englund in 1943Rake is complemented by a dozen or so summer residences, which were completed in the 1940s and 1950s, when the lakefront started filling up with baby boomers and their families. Households of seven could often be found packing themselves into tiny cottages. “I have never spent a summer anywhere else,” says Harri Hagan, who first arrived at Vähä-Kiljava in the 1950s. His family first lived in one cottage, which his architect father expanded. When Hagan started a family, he renovated the Vesikari cottage, which was originally built in 1946. “This was the Finnish Association of Architects’ land, so of course there were never any building permits,” says Hagan. He still spends almost half of the year in the well-tended cottage, which is set on a steep slope with a herb garden and has a generously proportioned firepit.Inside the house of architect Harri HaganHarri Hagan on his patioMore experimental types of construction arrived at Vähä-Kiljava in the 1960s. Up the hill from Hagan’s house is the Mustikka, which is Finnish for “blueberry”, taken from the wild berry shrubs surrounding the house. Built in 1968, the cottage is believed to be a version of architect Kristian Gullichsen’s Moduli 225. This was one of Finland’s first prefabricated houses, for which all of the parts were factory made and could be assembled on site in less than a week. Its first resident, Riitta Thuneberg, had wanted the house to “touch the planet as lightly as possible” (like most of the houses, it is built directly on rocks) and insisted that everything in it be either yellow, white or orange. Though its current resident, Peter Solovjew, has relaxed the rules on interior decoration, he is strict when it comes to not harming the surrounding nature. “I don’t let anyone step outside the paths,” he says, as Monocle tiptoes away.Further along the crest of the moraine is Pirunpelto, the cottage that marks the far end of Vähä-Kiljava. This house was built in 1966 by Ilkka Pajamies, who picked a remote plot next to an ice-age boulder formation known by the same name, meaning “devil’s field”. The starting point for Pirunpelto’s design was 17 pairs of glass doors, which Pajamies salvaged from an old building in Helsinki. These now make up much of the cottage walls. The architect spent an entire summer sleeping in a tent on the site before deciding on the placement and orientation of the building.A bedroom in PirunpeltoPirunpelto resident Pirkko-Liisa Schulman“He wanted to understand how the light changed,” says Pirkko-Liisa Schulman, its current occupant. When the architect moved in with her biologist husband, Alan Schulman, they were amazed how the midnight sun shone in through the patio and the full moon rose directly in front of the bed in August. “If you hang up anything, you ruin it,” she says. The couple have kept the original interiors with a fold-out dining table and kitchen that’s hidden behind Japanese-style sliding doors.Mustikka, a modular cottage built in 1967Construction at Vähä-Kiljava ended with the Ilonens’ petrol-station home in 1970 but the concepts pioneered at Vähä-Kiljava spread throughout Finland. The 1970s and 1980s were the busiest decades formökkibuilding, with the most common type becoming the modular wooden cottage that could be assembled on site. But while the level ofmökkiamenities has slowly risen – today most new builds are kitted out with proper heating and running water, if not a jacuzzi – Vähä-Kiljava has remained proudly primitive. There’s no tap water or sewage system and even electricity only arrived recently. “There’s often a discussion about installing water pipes and somehow improving the living standards here,” says Hagan. “But this is the enamel-bowl-and-root-brush lifestyle and it’s a good thing that it can still be found somewhere.” The traditional way of life also keeps the community closely knit, since only certain kinds of people are willing to sign up for carrying their own water, washing their clothes by hand and composting a dry toilet. “We’re trying to uphold the 1950s way of spending the summer,” says Karhunen. “It requires work. You can’t just arrive and fold out your deck chair.” Most maintenance at Vähä-Kiljava is carried out throughtalkoot: everyone in the community has to come together to carry out heavy tasks, with the reward of a barbecue and a spell in a sauna at the end. The midsummer festivities are famous and there’s an annual crayfish party that all SAFA members can join. Friendliness is essential, given the layout of Vähä-Kiljava, where there are no clear demarcations between adjacent properties. “One time someone put up a fence,” says Karhunen. “There was a village war.”A Finn needs nothing but a sauna, lake and beerThe values inherent in Vähä-Kiljava – besides providing a framework for designing a restorative holiday space – continue to guide architects towards a way of building that’s efficient and in tune with the environment. The houses are constructed with minimal resources and a do-it-yourself approach. It’s thanks to this that they all have ingenious space-saving solutions, elegant examples of recycling and reuse, and a sense of true closeness to nature. The village now draws a younger generation of Finnish architects, who can rent amökkion a weekly basis, as well as international visitors, who can rent rooms in the Kasino.One perk of membership in the Finnish Association of Architects is an invitation to Vähä-Kiljava’s annual crayfish partyPerhaps inspired by the upkeep required for their summer homes, many of the architects who spend time at Vähä-Kiljava have turned to preservation in their professional lives. Rake’s resident, Henna Helander, played a key role in ensuring that Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium was preserved and turned into a foundation. Pia Ilonen helped to found Helsinki’s Cable Factory, an early example of an ex-industrial building-turned-cultural hub.In her teaching, Ilonen often refers to Vähä-Kiljava. She points out how her parents didn’t worry about expensive finishes but instead thought about how the family would use the space, building private, tiny bedrooms and a flexible, light-filled living area. “I always make my students draw the floor plan of this house,” says Ilonen. Perhaps there’s more to learn from themökkisthat Finland’s modernist architects built in their downtime than the shopping malls, offices and petrol stations that they drew up during office hours.Five Vähä-Kiljava cottagesWith a host of Finnish architects calling Vähä-Kiljava home (at least, for the summer), there are many outstanding works on site. Here are five of our favourites.1.Aalto (1949)This cottage was built by a lesser-known Aalto, Arvo, an architect whose firm designed Helsinki’s functionalist office building Lasipalatsi. The mökki represents a return to tradition that was in vogue in the late 1940s, with a pitched roof, painted windows and untreated wood. The cottage also has a spacious atelier.2.Koiso-Kanttila (1953)Erkki Koiso-Kanttila built this cottage for his large family in 1953. There are small sleeping booths and a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the lake. In an open competition in 2021 the Finnish National Museum picked Koiso-Kanttila as the quintessential Finnish cottage. The house will be moved to an open-air museum in Helsinki next year.3.Sommelo (1960)This 1960 building by Pertti Luostarinen was thoroughly renovated by its current tenants, Ulla and Lasse Vahtera. The roof, wooden sheds, and entire garden were redone and the interiors were freshened up to take full advantage of the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the lake. The warm, airy space is now finished with an open kitchen and Artek seating in blonde wood.The open kitchen of SommeloSommelo boasts an all-glass wall that opens on to views of the water4.Savolainen (1967)To build this house, Sulo Savolainen purchased a decommissioned bus, towed it to Vähä-Kiljava and placed it on a concrete base. The vehicle is covered by a wooden façade but the entrance is still a door of the bus and the beds are where the seats used to be. The bathroom is in what was once the driver’s cabin.5.Mustikka (1968)This 30 sq m cottage is thought to be an interpretation of Moduli 225, one of the first modular houses in Finland. The system was designed by Kristian Gullichsen and features a series of square rooms that can be assembled according to need, featuring bright colours and wooden brise-soleils. The Mustikka is a one-bedroom version with a hearth that opens out both to the living room and the patio.Mustikka, a modular cottage built in 1967Three rules for building your own cottageWant to build your ownmökki? Here are some tips inspired by Vähä-Kiljava, taken from a 1973 interview with one of the village architects, Ilkka Pajamies.1. Ensure that the house is low maintenance.2. Consider natural ventilation.3. A cottage should be airy – not because of its size but through its connection with nature.

Editor’s letter: Monocle’s inaugural Design Directory

2025-12-14 11:49:53

Why theMonocle Design Directory? And why now? To answer these questions, we need to rewind to the launch of Monocle in 2007. Since our first issue, politics, business, fashion and culture have been filtered through the lens of design. Diplomatic residences have been scrutinised, national economies assessed in terms of their industrial-design output and social cohesion in cities measured in terms of newly built galleries, museums and institutions. It’s an approach to journalism that recognises that the work of architects, graphic designers, furniture makers and design brands is far-reaching – beyond simply making beautiful things, these creatives have the power to shape our lives and build communities. It’s what drew me to Monocle in 2010 as a designer on the lookout for benchmark projects and then – after a slight career pivot – as a design journalist in 2018. And it’s why we’re pressing play on our first stand-alone magazine dedicated solely to design.(Image: Edmund Sumner)The world today needs good design and architecture more than ever. Across our pages, you’ll find homes with substance, businesses with heft and some gorgeous products too. For example, one can look at the reporting of this publication’s deputy editor, Grace Charlton, who took a tour through the Balkans, visiting Cold War-era memorials. Originally built to recognise conflict and postwar development, these monuments tell a story that is as much about reconciling the past and the present as it is about recognising striking architecture. The report might just inspire your next roadtrip.Complementing this is a story from Edmund and Yuki Sumner, a photographer-and-journalist super team, who examined how contemporary Mexican architects are building inspiring homes. Meanwhile, our editor in chief, Andrew Tuck, paid a visit to the father-and-son duo behind Fenix Originals. This Barcelona-based outfit is drawing attention to forgotten mid-century Spanish designers through the restoration of vintage furniture. It’s a cause that tugs at the heartstrings and provides buyers with unique furniture with which to kit out their homes and offices.Naturally, some broader themes have emerged.Immersing ourselves in design communities in Tokyo, Paris and São Paulo, we report on how traditional craftsmanship lays the foundations for innovation. In our visits to projects across the globe – from Bidadari Park in Singapore to a repurposed flyover space in Surat, India – we examine how design can help to build communities. These stories will hopefully inspire you to use design to improve your life and wellbeing, while delivering on our promise to spotlight uplifting projects and beautiful wares for your home.For more design coverage from our team, tune in to Monocle on Design every week, or subscribe to our weekly design newsletter atmonocle.com/minute.

Tatiana Bilbao is done with ‘carbon-copy’ housing – should we be too?

2025-12-15 00:52:25

With the Christmas season in full swing, I’ve been visited by the ghost of interviewees past. After a lovely reunion with New York-based architect Elizabeth Diller in Turin a few weeks back, I was lucky enough to sit down again with Mexican academic and architect Tatiana Bilbao, who I first met in Mexico City, shortly after she’d finished giving a masterful lecture for the opening of this year’s Shaping The City conference in Venice, organised by the European Cultural Centre Italy. Chatting in an echoey room of the Palazzo Michiel, I asked Bilbao what made her repeatedly return to housing (she often focuses on social and community-based projects for the many rather than homes for the few). She immediately shot back that it wasn’t so much housing that interested her but people – and their right to dwell in dignity. She thinks we’re still getting it wrong. Her answer? “Resist” the status quo by continuing to push the boundaries of what a home could and should be.We recently visited Tatiana Bilbao in her own home for ‘The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas‘We’re all sold a dream of home ownership. Ask any child around the world to draw a house and they’ll probably design a standard two-up, two-down with a triangular roof. For Bilbao that’s part of the problem: housing has got away from the core of what it should be – a place of sanctuary allowing us to thrive – and become a carbon-copy product. Designed to be what she calls “an engine that serves the industry”, we’re all told that we need the bed and the washing machine and the cooker, while many of us are sold identikit houses on numbered lots that feel more like boxes to contain us than places to improve our quality of life. When you delve deep into housing in Mexico, for example, you get more of an idea. Why does a community need to sleep in beds rather than hammocks if the latter provides natural ventilation and protection from the bites of nasties, Bilbao asks? Or why have an indoor kitchen with all the mod-cons when your culture’s tradition is to cook outside? But beyond the fact that housing can discriminate and reinforce gender roles, it’s also clear that it’s not sufficiently malleable for the way our lives wax and wane over the years. Bilbao has to strike a careful balance between agitating for change and working within a system – something that, if anything, only fuels her energy. The architect has been working on a new housing project (and “fighting many fights”) in San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico City. Though it is still awaiting approval after several years, she has an owner who’s on board and determined to see it through. A housing block that rethinks shared spaces, including collective laundries and kitchens, it’s built on a modular design that allows tenants to add or subtract rooms depending on their evolving needs. “None of our lives are the same,” she told me. “None of us lives the same.” Isn’t it time our homes reflected that?

What Design Miami’s Dubai debut means for the Gulf’s creative economy

2025-12-21 08:22:25

Dubai has long insisted that it’s ready to play in the global design big leagues. Now with Design Miami confirming its 2027 arrival at Alserkal, the emirate finally has the platform to prove its assertions. For the region’s designers, collectors and cultural policymakers, this isn’t just another fair – it’s a quiet but decisive recognition that the Gulf’s design ecosystem has matured.Standing out: Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, founder of Alserkal Avenue, with Jesse Lee, chairman of Design Miami and CEO of Basic Space(Image: Mohamed Somji/Courtesy of Design Miami)For years, those working in the region’s collectable-design industry have argued that the audience exists – and that it’s knowledgeable, curious and growing quickly. Yet their infrastructure to showcase work at an international level has lagged. Design Miami’s expansion gives this burgeoning community the spotlight it deserves, positioning Dubai not as a satellite on the periphery but as a confident, fully-fledged node on the world’s creative circuit.It also makes something else official: Art Dubai’s long-standing attempt to build a credible design fair has never quite landed. Despite various iterations and initiatives, the fair struggled to carve out a meaningful identity on a world scale. The arrival of a global heavyweight subtly confirms that gap and fills a vacuum that has remained open for far too long.The ripple effects won’t stop in Dubai. Travelling design showcase Nomad Abu Dhabi, which drew strong reviews in its debut last month, will feel the pressure too. An industry leader entering the UAE inevitably raises expectations. To maintain momentum, Nomad will need to sharpen its curatorial voice, deepen its relationships with collectors and scale its ambitions.Pride of place: Quoz Arts Fest at Alserkal Avenue in 2025(Image: Courtesy of Alserkal Avenue)But this shift could also be an opportunity. If schedules align, Design Miami’s gravitational pull could give Art Dubai a much-needed boost. International collectors, gallerists and press visiting the country for the fair might well spill over into the contemporary-art tents at Madinat Jumeirah.Above all, the announcement underscores how rapidly the UAE is advancing in regional cultural diplomacy. With major museums, design districts and now a top-tier global fair landing in Alserkal, the country is building an ecosystem that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are still racing to match. For those invested in the Gulf’s creative economy, 2027 can’t come soon enough.Read next:How Dubai Design Week has matured by focusing on perspective over scale

How Brazil is restoring and reclaiming its first modernist landmark

2025-11-28 15:42:22

Following six years of restoration, Rio de Janeiro’s Gustavo Capanema Palace will welcome the public through its iconic pilotis [pillars] again. Completed in 1945 to house the Ministry of Education and Health, the building was Brazil’s first modernist structure. The design team included Lúcio Costa, the urban planner behind Brasília; a young Oscar Niemeyer, then still an intern; and Le Corbusier in a consulting role. Its collection features artworks by Cândido Portinari and gardens by landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx.In 2021 former president Jair Bolsonaro’s administration sought to auction the building to private investors but intense backlash and on-site demonstrations saved it from an uncertain destiny. The new model is hybrid: part public bureau, part cultural hall. Brazil’s national institute of historical and artistic heritage, Iphan, is overseeing the project. To learn more, Monocle speaks with Patrícia Wanzeller, historian and head of Iphan’s Rio office.Standing strong: Gustavo Capanema Palace(Image: Getty Images)What was Iphan’s strategy for restoring a landmark of this significance?Our primary concern was to maintain the original vision so that future generations could understand these architects’ work. Capanema Palace is a landmark in the development of Brazilian modernism, tailored to the specific climate of Rio: one of the first buildings constructed on pilotis, it features a full-glass façade to ensure natural light and brise-soleils for constant natural ventilation.For that reason, our updates were minimal. We installed air conditioning, a controlled-access system and fire-prevention infrastructure. The focus was on restoration. That alone speaks to the building’s architectural brilliance; even today, stepping into Capanema feels modern.Beyond the structure itself, what other aspects did the renovation entail?We turned our attention to the original bespoke furnishings, some of which are early Niemeyer designs in which his famed, sinuous lines were already on show. Then we partnered with Sítio Burle Marx – a studio looking after the legacy of renowned landscape architect Burle Marx – to refit and replant his gardens here. Our artwork restoration is under way. We’re finalising plans to restore all of Portinari’s original panelling, too. The goal is to tie the work to an educational programme, making the process open to public view, much like it was during the restoration of his panels from the UN Headquarters. Up to the dress code: The foyer of Gustavo Capanema Palace(Image: Getty Images)What role is the building expected to play once the restoration is complete?The Ministry of Culture is moving in, along with some of its units. They’re taking about 40 per cent of the building and we agreed that the remaining spaces should be for public visitation and use. There are floors dedicated to rotating exhibitions and the National Library Foundation. The eighth floor, renowned for the open-plan layout that was so novel at the time of building, remains entirely original and open for exploration. With Marx’s landscaping, the terrace offers a panoramic view of Rio and might eventually house a restaurant – a few well-known figures in Brazilian gastronomy are already lining up.Why is it so important for the building to remain in the public sphere?Considering the amount of art housed in this palace, it’s clear that it was never meant to be just a bureaucratic division but rather a place to be admired, a space where people could witness the reach of Brazilian culture. The Ministry of Culture itself had been discontinued under previous administrations and, during that time, Capanema Palace became a stage for many pro-culture demonstrations. In this way, moving part of the ministry into this building is hugely symbolic. It’s like putting things back where they truly belong.Brazil’s cultural sector is booming.Here’sa rundown of the country’s artists, galleries and art fairs that emerged from the ruinous Bolsonaro years with a new urgency. 

Meraki Studios, an intimate boutique hotel tucked in the mountains of central Crete

2025-12-23 10:50:35

The beach or the mountains? That’s the outdoor enthusiast’s perennial holiday dilemma. This summer, however, a new development in one of Europe’s best-loved seaside destinations offers a surprising answer. A few years ago, a German-Austrian couple planning to relocate their family to Crete approached Sigurd Larsen, a Danish-born, Berlin-based architect. They showed him their land: a beautiful, semi-mountainous patch in the island’s central Rethymno region, near the village of Spili, which had been worked over the centuries into a series of small-scale, stone-walled agricultural terraces.Ancient olive trees thrive here, alongside oak, fig, nut and fruit trees. The 6,500 sq m parcel had been cultivated by a man renowned for his knowledge of plants. “I was seduced by the landscape,” says Larsen, who has worked in and visited Greece extensively. “It looks like the Alps but with olives and Mediterranean vegetation.” The plot offers striking views and bountiful fruit and vegetables, and is only a short drive from some of Crete’s best southern beaches, such as Ligres and Triopetra.Larsen agreed to create two sections on the plot: a cluster of six holiday units, as well as a nearby family house for the couple and their twins to live in. This summer, the first guests will be welcomed to these meticulously conceived buildings, called Meraki Studios (which can be loosely translated as “passion” but also means “doing something with love and care”).To create a suite of rectilinear, almost cave-like buildings, Larsen and his team looked to the local environment for inspiration. Arranged over three levels, the Meraki apartments respond to Crete’s topography and its distinctive vegetation. The same materials that were used in the area’s ancient dry-stone walling feature heavily here; Larsen hopes that the lichen growing across the Rethymno region will also thrive on these new rocky surfaces in years to come.Given Crete’s harsh sun and salty winds, any wood exposed to the elements needs to be exceptionally hard-wearing. In the past, Larsen resisted using African hardwoods in his European projects but the architect reasoned that this site’s location – far closer to Cairo than to Copenhagen – justified tropical timber. He also integrated Meraki’s numerous wooden-framed windows, sliding doors, pergolas, terraces and other outdoor niches into the buildings, hoping to enhance visitors’ enjoyment of open-air living.Thoughtful details help to distinguish each dwelling. “We tried to make all six apartments feel as though they’re the best one,” says Larsen with a smile. “When someone arrives, they will think, ‘Ah, I have a special feature in my one.’”That distinctive character extends to what guests find inside. The architect paid careful attention to the placement of the beds so that visitors have access to stunning vistas at daybreak. “You wake up, you open the curtains and then you have this full, fantastic view.”Danish traditions dictate that the designer of a building oversees the interior furnishings. So Larsen designed Meraki’s custom furniture, which was made on-site from Cretan cedar by a local carpenter. The architect, who specialises in this sort of architecturalGesamtkunstwerk, says that fitted furniture is an apt choice for these relatively compact dwellings because it allows designers of such properties to take advantage of every last centimetre of space.Some of the landscaping also fell under his purview. Meraki’s horticultural character has been softened a little to make it more garden-like, while still supplying the development with bountiful produce. At the plot’s far end, there is a medium-sized pool built among ancient stone walls. Larsen and his team have scattered deck chairs and sunloungers in carefully chosen spots. Some clusters offer privacy, others encourage guests to socialise and many afford views of the region’s spectacular sunsets.Stroll around Meraki’s grounds and you’ll soon appreciate how well it functions as a hideaway. But it also suits anyone who is keen on views of nature and gastronomy. “Everyone says that Crete has the best food in Greece,” says the architect. “Every little tavern serves great dishes and here you can benefit from a fruit-and-vegetable garden.”The place is unusual as it’s a Greek island holiday destination that’s within easy reach of – but not dedicated to – the sea. “It shows a new side of this landscape that I have come to appreciate,” says Larsen. The architect has considered all aspects of this terrain. Perhaps most significantly, he has made Meraki a porous place, where the distinction between interior and exterior melts away in the Mediterranean light.“It’s not a hotel where you look out to the landscape,” he says. “It’s a place where inside and outside are melded together by lots of doors and openings, pergolas and terraces. That’s what people will remember about being here.”merakistudios.gr

Three unmissable highlights from day one of ‘3 Days of Design’ in Copenhagen

2025-11-27 04:44:21

It’s all about context and working together at 3 Days of Design. That’s the message being hammered home at this year’s event, which runs until Friday and functions as Copenhagen’s de facto design week. Designers and brands present work in galleries and studios across the city and the fair has been billed by many as the biggest competitor to industry behemoth Salone del Mobile – and for good reason. It has grown year-on-year since its establishment in 2013 and is now drawing an international cohort, with Spain’s Santa & Cole and Italian firms such as Flos and Alpi all taking part.Here are my highlights so far:1.Kvadrat&Vitra CaféDanish textile brand Kvadrat has teamed up with Vitra to transform its showroom into a pop-up café. The space showcases Vitra’s new collection of furnishings upholstered in Kvadrat textiles. “We share the same considered approach to our craft,” says Kvadrat’s Njusja de Gier, who manages collaborations for the brand and led the installation. “We have also shared a showroom in Copenhagen for years; it’s a long-term partnership that we want to celebrate.”Over the course of 3 Days of Design, both businesses will use the space to host clients for meetings and lunch, while also allowing visitors to experience their products in a practical setting. “It’s the perfect way to bring our brands to life,” says de Gier.The café was created in collaboration with Danish chef and cookbook author Mikkel Karstad. Known for his work in Michelin-starred kitchens, Karstad has refined a seasonal approach to cooking, focusing on simple, ingredient-led dishes that highlight the natural flavours of fresh produce, whether for breakfast, lunch or aperitivo.kvadrat.dk, vitra.comThe Kvadrat & Vitra Café is open to the public at Klubiensvej 22, 2150 Copenhagen until Friday 20 June.2.Structures of Living by FramaFrama’s Structures of Living exhibition, which is on show during 3 Days of Design, is an exploration of modular interiors that rethinks how we live, work and gather. Reimagining its flagship shop as a gridded environment, the exhibition brings together everyday functions such as sleeping, dining and relaxing into a single, flexible system. “It’s an invitation for a conversation about alternative living in a bigger context,” says the brand’s founder, Niels Strøyer Christophersen.Conceived as a spatial enquiry rather than a traditional showcase, the installation’s interconnected interior reflects Frama’s ongoing interest in multi-use design and holistic living. It’s an exploration that continues at the brand’s gallery (adjacent to the flagship), which has been transformed into a “lived-in” apartment, where furnishings from Frama’s growing catalogue are not merely displayed so much as meant to be interacted with. “Our relationship with our surroundings and community is becoming more and more essential in today’s world,” adds Christophersen.To complement these showcases, Frama is releasing new furniture across three of its families, including stainless-steel chairs and stools, lounge chairs with beige webbing seats, a range of wooden side tables and a sideboard with a simple, geometric expression.framacph.com‘Structures of Living’ is open to the public until 22 June at Fredericiagade 57, Copenhagen.3.Petra Hotel by&TraditionCopenhagen’s hospitality scene is being buoyed by its newest opening: Petra Hotel. The new 40-key boutique outpost, created by Danish furniture firm &Tradition and Copenhagen Design Hotels, opened its doors to guests for the first time during 3 Days of Design. At its heart is a restaurant and bar. “From the beginning, we talked about this idea of having a space that’s open all the time,” says Hannah Jordan, the firm’s head of spatial design. “It’s somewhere that people can visit between late afternoon and early evening for a drink or a coffee.”The interiors also reflect the local neighbourhood, with many of its buildings, including the hotel, designed by Kay Fisker. The Petra is located in one of the mid-century architect’s structures from 1943, which has been meticulously restored, preserving distinctive details such as its original terrazzo and handcrafted brass fittings.“The wall colours are an exact match of those used in Fisker’s other apartments and spaces,” adds Jordan. She also explains that the furniture selected for the project was chosen based on whether it would work with the colour scheme. Those looking to experience the space for themselves will do well to book a stay, find a seat at chef Søren Westh’s restaurant or attend one of &Tradition’s talks during 3 Days of Design.andtradition.com, hotel-petra.comLocated at Dronningens Tværgade 45, Petra Bar & Restaurant is open every day for breakfast and lunch.Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

Why Keiji Takeuchi believes a walking stick can change how we see ageing

2025-12-04 08:22:50

Milan-based Japanese designer Keiji Takeuchi has turned his attention to one of humanity’s oldest tools, the walking stick, which is now the subject of a globe-touring exhibition. Speaking at Monocle’s Quality of Life conference this year, he sauntered across the Monocle stage to chat with Andrew Tuck about the elegance of this seemingly modest tool and its links to quality of life and human dignity.Andrew Tuck: I’ve been looking forward to chatting to you since I saw your humble exhibition at the Triennale during Milan Design Week. Where did the idea come from? What made you think, “I’ll do an exhibition about walking sticks”?Keiji Takeuchi:The idea came from my travels and from living in Japan and New Zealand, among other things. Being out in the world, I began to observe the different designs of walking sticks. Where I once lived in Japan, I used to see canes that were more functional and practical, whereas in Europe, they were more personal and emotional. I started gathering a collection of walking sticks. It became an important task for me, because while design seems to be tending towards the commercial, I felt more strongly than ever that its true purpose was to bring happiness through the objects that we use every day.AT:Well, as a man who might need one in the coming years, it certainly piqued my interest. The collection is large, with walking sticks made by well-known designers who you’ve commissioned, as well as found examples. Tell me about the ones you featured.KT:At the Triennale exhibit, there were 18 sticks from 18 designers. I’m quite closely connected to all of them – I knew what they were good at and how they approached design. There was Hugo Passos, who created a utility-inclined stick with a basket. Henri Frachon is a French designer and artist who is obsessed with holes and their incorporation into design, as evidenced by the stick that he developed. Alban Le Henry turned in a telescopic design that can be adjusted for use by multiple people and aid better posture. One has a grip that helps you to get up from a sitting position on the ﬂoor, while another has a lip on the handle from which you can hang a shopping bag. And there are many more.AT:Do you think that designing walking sticks in such ways could help to give some dignity back to their users?KT:Absolutely. The walking stick has quite an impressive lineage. Once upon a time, it was a sign of authority or a tool for walking long distances across forests and harsh landscapes. At certain points, it became a weapon. But it has slowly been stigmatised and has become a symbol of disability in some ways. If I gave somebody a walking stick as a present, they wouldn’t like it, as it would make them question themselves: they might think about whether they need one or worry that it draws attention to an inability. It could even obliquely highlight mortality. But why should gifting a tool to somebody mean all that? This was the question of the exhibition.AT: So many objects in our world today are disposable. Do you think that you have a role to play in the transformation of how we treat things?KT:I sometimes have the opportunity to speak to students. When I do, the idea of patina often comes up. Let’s say that there are two tables; they’re both clean and well designed but one of them gets damaged. Many will want to throw the “bad” one away, as it’s no longer perfect and they can see what the pristine one looks like and would rather have that. I’m encouraging a shift: sometimes you’ll damage a table but that isn’t necessarily a negative. It’s a mind-set change – to believe that it can be a “patina” – and it’s starting to catch on. If the user likes a product enough that they see it as part of their lives, they’ll take care of it and keep using it. Emotional engagement is important. That’s something that can be affected directly by us in the design process, by making a product correctly and occasionally allowing things to go wrong.AT: Will the walking stick endure?KT:Undoubtedly, because the walking stick, in a way, is just a vehicle for a bigger idea – that someone, no matter their age, wants to move and to get out into the world. That’s what this is all about: bringing that spirit back into society, through the design of a simple object.Monocle comment:Not all ideas need to be big or complicated. For Keiji Takeuchi, turning his attention to an everyday item has ampliﬁed a sometimes overlooked but important idea: our duty to look after and support the elderly and less able.

The architect who built work-life balance (and his family) into his own office

2025-12-03 13:50:59

The idea of living in a flat above your workplace might raise questions about the pitfalls of being in constant proximity to your job. But French architect Jacques Moussafir couldn’t resist the chance to renovate a 10-storey structure in Paris’s Haut Marais neighbourhood, combining his home and office life in a single building.Does he mourn his commute or cherish its abolition? And does he miss the mental separation between life and work that physical distance brings? “I find it very practical,” Moussafir tells Monocle with a smile when we meet him at his Parisian base. “There are some inconveniences, such as the temptation to go downstairs and work just a little longer – the boundary can become porous. But it’s my way of working as an architect. I can’t separate the two.”Dining room and kitchen, in line with the terraceWith its aluminium-and-glass exterior, the imposing building on Rue du Vertbois stands in stark contrast to the historic structures that surround it. “We were already living in the area when the opportunity to take over the building came about,” says Moussafir. “We were looking for somewhere with a terrace and space for an office. What we ended up with was a little bigger than we had anticipated.” Originally designed in the 1970s by French firm Biro Fernier as a commercial building, the concrete behemoth exemplifies the architecture of France’s three-decade postwar economic boom and comprises seven storeys that sit atop a three-level underground car park.When the building came up for auction in 2012, it required a complete renovation of the façade and the insertion of structural and safety elements, including staircases and guardrails, as well as floor and ceiling coverings. The works were completed in 2022 and the building is now mixed-use, with different areas sectioned off and rented out. Meanwhile, Moussafir occupies the top three floors with his family; another level houses his architecture firm.Jacques MoussafirBooks line the shelves on the way to the bedroomHaving already worked on significant projects, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon and the Institute of Civilizations in Paris, Moussafir didn’t hesitate to commission himself. “It can be difficult to be your own client,” he says. “I have a friend who is also an architect and when it came to her own apartment she chose to hire someone else. It was easier, mostly for her partner, I think.”For the exterior, Moussafir chose glass and aluminium planes that jut out at unexpected angles to create an intriguing play of light and shade. Entering an elevator in the building’s lobby, you make your way to an upper floor, where Moussafir’s open-plan office can be found through floor-to-ceiling glass doors. Here, oak finishings and wooden ceiling panels arranged in a grid formation soften the effect of the exposed stone walls, concrete beams and steel shelves.“I like materiality,” says Moussafir. “When we moved in, I removed all of the paints and varnishes to emphasise the raw concrete.” For the carpentry, he enlisted Martin Bereuter, an Austrian cabinet-maker and longstanding collaborator. His use of honey-hued oak across every level brings visual harmony to the large-scale project. Northeast features a Japanese maple, bamboo and a fig tree that bears fruit twice a year (once in June and again in September). As Monocle takes a seat outside on woven-rope Ami chairs by Paola Lenti, the view from our perch is typically Parisian, with zinc-grey roofs, sand-tone walls and curlicue wrought-iron balconies extending as far as the eye can see.The officeHoney-hued oak panelling envelops the workspaceCircular cabinetAn unexpected orange interior adds colour to the living roomMoussafir opens the sliding doors and windows on either side of the living room to catch a cross breeze and a continuity between the indoor and outdoor spaces is quickly established. From here, the family’s tennis-ball-yellow On the Rocks sofa by Italian furniture company Edra is an unexpected injection of brightness amid the cooling palette of concrete and oak. Behind it, a statue by Antony Gormley sits in dialogue with an Isamu Noguchi-designed Akari UF3-H paper floor lamp and vintage armchairs inherited from Aubépine’s parents. Aside from these pieces, the decoration of the space is mostly provided by bespoke, minimal black-steel shelves stacked with books ranging from a hefty volume on Bob Dylan’s lyrics to works by Molière and some cookbooks.It’s a varied combination partly inspired by Moussafir’s peripatetic life – one that spans the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Greece, England and France. “My childhood in these places was no doubt important but I’m more influenced by remarkable architects,” he says, citing Estonian-born American master Louis Kahn, Swiss Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Peter Zumthor and Australia’s Sean Godsell as sources of inspiration.The bedroomBookshelves are tucked under concrete beamsThe exteriorAluminium and glass panes jut out at unexpected angles“I look to Nordic architecture but my main interests are materials and details,” he says. “Even without a budget, you can create beauty from raw materials, thanks to expert joinery and some contrast.” A case in point is the undulating wooden bench on one side of the kitchen table that Moussafir asked Bereuter to install as a space-saving solution.“We’re actually on the second iteration of our kitchen,” says Moussafir. “My first idea was very conceptual: it was contained within a round structure and the dining area surrounded its perimeter. It was beautiful but sadly impractical. That’s the challenge when you’re your own architect: you have to live with the mistakes that you make.”The final stop on Monocle’s visit is to the top floor of the building that can be accessed via a grey-metal spiral staircase. In this concrete attic, Moussafir and his wife’s bedroom is cradled between angled beams. A bed takes pride of place, with blue linen that matches a vertical headboard, while more bookshelves and oak finishings echo the other floors. But the secluded nature of the space brings a layer of intimacy to Moussafir’s home. “I love the separation between the floors,” he says. “In the morning, when I go down to the kitchen and the living room, it feels totally different. The rooms that are used throughout the day and those that I occupy at night feel cut off from each other.”Bespoke carpentryPerforated wood panels conceal the radiatorsStorage solutionPops of zesty orange to contrast with the minimalist décorUltimately, the configuration of the different levels that house the office and the various areas of the home is the trick to successfully balancing work and personal life when these two coexist closely. “I have friends who are able to disconnect at the weekend but, for me, the two parts of my life are interlinked and I like it that way,” says Moussafir. “It’s a luxury just to go downstairs in the morning and get to work. And if I have a little free time, I can also go upstairs and see my children for lunch. The absence of limits goes both ways.”moussafir.fr

Can concrete build a better world? Singapore’s scientists think so

2025-11-26 22:37:24

I nearly skipped past the press release. Its headline is not exactly enticing: “NTU Singapore scientists develop 3D concrete printing method that captures carbon dioxide”. But something made me pause for a second look.The wordy announcement from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) refers to a new 3D-printing process that injects carbon dioxide into concrete as it prints. Though it might sound complicated, it’s simple chemistry. As carbon dioxide reacts with the concrete mix, it turns solid and gets trapped in the material. The aim? To reduce concrete’s sizable carbon footprint – the building block of modern society is the second most-used material in the world and a source of around 8 per cent of global CO2 emissions due to the energy-intensive process that goes into producing it. It’s a noble cause, given the beauty of the material, showcased by architectural masters such as Carlo Scarpa (pictured top), with NTU’s work complementing other concrete innovators including Swiss-headquartered Holcim (pictured bottom).Admittedly, it’s hard to draw attention to carbon-eating concrete at a time when bold space ventures, sleek gadgets and ever-smarter AI capture imaginations and headlines. The obvious hooks are missing: no celebrity founder, no life-changing promise. But hidden in the university’s no-fanfare project is a compelling idea, the undeniable elegance of turning a problem into a solution – it transforms concrete production and its construction into carbon capture, reversing the plot. It reminds me of US-Israeli designer Neri Oxman’s provocative question: “Is there a world in which driving a car is better for nature than a world in which there are no cars?” Is there a world in which using concrete is better for the environment than not using concrete? Not less bad but actually good? NTU’s innovation suggests this very possibility. For developers and architects, the idea is liberating. Imagine designing without climate guilt, where every bridge, tower, column and beam is a net good for the environment, actively improving the surroundings. What makes this innovation promising is that it combines two frontiers of innovation: carbon capture and 3D printing. While carbon capture has been retrofitted into traditional cement plants, NTU’s innovation integrates the abatement method into the production process itself. The technology also makes for a superior concrete: it is stronger, easier to print and captures more carbon than other types of 3D-printed concrete. This means faster construction with less material and labour. This method breaks new ground, enabling design that optimises form and carbon capture in ways traditional casting never could.But here’s the challenge. While digital innovation races ahead with weekly breakthroughs, the building and construction industry plods along, operating on decade-long cycles. Concrete remains pretty much locked in 20th-century processes. Yet the climate urgency demands transformation at speed and scale. The NTU team is already pushing its work further while it awaits a patent, exploring how to capture waste gases instead of pure carbon dioxide. But breakthroughs that only excite industry insiders only partially drive the transformation that we so desperately need. Where are the visions that are bold enough to capture broader imaginations? The kind of moonshot ambition that rallies the rest of us? Maybe it’s time to take a page from big tech’s playbook. Instead of asking “How can we get concrete to be five per cent greener?”, we should ask, “What if concrete made the planet better, not worse?” Shifting from mitigation to mission – from villain to hero – in the climate story. Now that’s exciting. Yvonne Xu is a Singapore-based design writer and regular Monocle contributor. Fancy more concrete ideas? Find a debate on the material here, featuring Holcim, and read up on an expert use of it by Carlo Scarpa here.  Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

Our first look at Rosewood Courchevel Le Jardin Alpin – the latest luxury-hotel opening in Courchevel

2025-12-18 14:38:40

Courchevel 1850 was once known as “St Tropez on snow”. In the 1960s, only a few years after Europe’s first purpose-built ski resort sprang up in the French Alps, it became a magnet for royalty, politicians and celebrities flocking to the Savoyard mountain town in search of winter sun and perfect powder.Part of its draw lay also in the fact that – unlike later generations of ski destinations such as Les Arcs, La Plagne and Flaine – its planners eschewed concrete brutalism in favour of distinctly Alpine architecture. Everything from hotels to the chic boutiques lining the centre of Courchevel was housed in traditional chalet-style builds, with slate roofs and wood cladding.Guest room at Rosewood Courchevel Le Jardin AlpinThe town remains beloved. The latest high-end hotel opening is Rosewood Courchevel Le Jardin Alpin. For its debut winter resort (and second property in mainland France), the hospitality group took inspiration from the glamour of 1960s Courchevel. And, with the help of French interior designer Tristan Auer, the property has been infused with the spirit of the golden age of winter tourism.“We approached the project as though we were creating a private mansion chalet rather than a traditional hotel,” says Auer. A return to the elegance of yesteryear is often central to his briefs, whether in his work for the Carlton on Cannes’ Croisette, the belle époque-style Villa Pétrusse in Luxembourg City or Belmond’s Royal Scotsman train.Warm tones of Alpine woodAuer drew on his signature palette of materials – copper accents, mirrors, velvet upholstery, marble – combined with the natural warmth of Alpine wood. Inside the 51 guest rooms and suites, creams and off-whites echo the glistening mountainscape outside. “The idea was to transport guests into another world,” he says. It’s a philosophy of slowing down – an approach that runs through every detail of the hotel’s meticulous design.rosewoodhotels.com

Altqadum, the Omani design studio rethinking form and function of shared cultural spaces

2025-12-04 17:48:40

Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque might steal the spotlight in Muscat but it’s the smaller, clean-lined Bab Al Salam Mosque that signals a new direction for Omani design. Surrounded by family homes on the city’s outskirts, the building was designed by Altqadum, a design studio and collective founded in 2017 and led by brother-and-sister architects Marwan and Najd Al Balushi, together with artist Abdulrahim Alkendi.Altqadum’s practice centres on studying Omani culture, from researching the typography of ancient Quranic inscriptions to documenting Muscat’s waning modernism and reinterpreting it through projects spanning architecture, interiors and furniture design. In 2024, Altqadum earned the Urban Commissions prize at Dubai Design Week for TukTukDum, a community table inspired by the Gulf’s musical traditions. It also unveiled its signature Bariid chair at the Design Doha Biennial by slowly melting a large block of ice that encased it.Work continues apace for the trio and their latest recruit, a onetime intern drawn back by Altqadum’s experimental spirit. Alongside projects in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and a new Dubai office, the firm is developing a book that encapsulates its cultural research. Monocle met with Najd Al Balushi and Alkendi in Muscat to learn more.Stepping up: The Altqadum team(Image: Courtesy of Altqadam)What defines your design ethos?Abdulrahim Alkendi:All of our designs are research-based and there’s a reason behind every detail. In the early days when we were not so busy, we had a Thursday tradition of visiting architectural sites around Oman to gather ideas. Human experience is central to our work, so we speak with people to better understand their connection to buildings, spaces and furniture.How did this inform the Bab Al Salam Mosque?AA:We drew inspiration from Samail – a small town known for its farms, with mosques scattered throughout, open to everyone without boundaries. There, everything is surrounded by an Omani irrigation system called afalaj, which, combined with the trees, helps cool the air. All these elements are present in Bab Al Salam. We designed it in a way that allows people to walk in and out easily, and we planted native, low-water Omani trees around it, using a system that reuses ablution water for irrigation.Pride of place: The Omani-led Bab Al Salam Mosque is a model for younger generationsShaping up: Bab Al Salam MosqueBreathing space: Ethereal brightness in the minimalist mosque(Images: Courtesy of Altqadam)What guided the interior concept?Najd Al Balushi:To make it timeless and free of distractions, we used minimal elements, built-ins or concealed tech. To maintain a column-free space, we made the roof more lightweight with hollow-core slabs, which also reduced the amount of concrete. Walls and windows harness wind to decrease AC demand and we studied the sun’s movement to minimise artificial lighting and create an ethereal brightness. The carpet is designed with a gradient, leading worshippers toward the illumination of the mihrab.Outside its religious function, how does the mosque serve the wider community?AA:A mosque is, above all, a gathering place. From day one, we saw Bab Al Salam grow into a community hub, with children playing, residents tending the trees and men breaking the Ramadan fast together. There’s coffee and dates for everyone and people congregate to talk about the neighbourhood. The nearby university often sends architecture students for site visits too. Here, most landmark buildings are designed by foreigners, so seeing Omanis create such projects offers a new model for younger generations.Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

Bulgari bets on Bodrum: Inside the jewellery house’s vast luxury residence in Turkey

2025-12-21 07:26:44

Jewellery brand Bulgari is carving out an unexpected foothold in the hospitality space. Its expansion into the world of hotels and resorts is, according to the Bulgari’s executive vice-president, Silvio Ursini, an extension of the company’s expertise in seeking out the exquisite, whether it be diamonds or properties.Now, the Roman house is setting its sights on Bodrum, where a collection of 100 private residences and a hotel resort is currently under construction and set to open in 2027.Into the blue: Bulgari Resort&Mansions“Perhaps the fact that we’re not hungry for success is the reason for our success,” says Ursini when Monocle meets him for coffee in Bodrum’s Macakizi Hotel overlooking the Aegean Sea. “If [opportunity] comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, no problem” Ursini adds, his tan and sunglasses embodying a certain Mediterranean ease. “No rush – just patience and consistency. Many luxury brands are under pressure to grow but we actually find that the less we do, the happier we are.” That nonchalance masks a record of steady expansion and considerable achievements. Since joining in 1989, Ursini has overseen the family company’s expansion into a global brand and led its move into hospitality with the 2004 launch of the label’s first hotel in Milan. Over the course of two decades, its single-hotel project has evolved into properties in Bali, London, Paris, Dubai, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo and Rome, with Miami, the Maldives and the Bahamas next in line.In Bodrum, Bulgari Resort&Mansions perches on a peninsula in the seaside neighbourhood of Türkbükü. The 84-key hotel features beach clubs, bars, restaurants, a wellness centre, a gymnasium, an amphitheatre for events, as well as a complex of 100 private residences. The villas – which range from three- to six-bedroom properties – all boast a view of the sea and a pool (although only a select few have direct access to the shore). But building in paradise comes with its planning headaches. The peninsula in question belongs to Ahen, a property company owned by Turkish businessman Mehmet Cengiz, founder of Cengiz Holdings. Bulgari’s arrival in Bodrum sparked rumours of deforestation, with videos of bulldozers excavating ancient Greek statues circulating on social media. Ursini dismisses it all. “The controversy was based on made-up facts,” he says. “I walked the whole site before we started. There was not a single tree because of the peninsula’s high exposure to wind. And, my God, there were no Greek statues. We’re building something that is only half as dense as it could be, and the landscape will be richer than before. Irrigation will be supplied with recycled water. Rosemary, thyme, sage, bougainvillaea – all of these plants will attract pollinators.”Sustainability runs through Ursini’s plans, which were developed with ACPV Architects, the Milanese firm founded by Patricia Viel and Antonio Citterio, longstanding Bulgari collaborators. Green roofs will provide thermal insulation, while architectural screens and awnings will create welcome shade. Electric shuttles will be integrated throughout the complex for transportation, reducing noise and pollution. A new light: Bulgari’s expansion into the world of hotels and resorts is an ongoing search for the exquisiteMonocle hops aboard a boat with Ursini to visit the first completed villa. As the sun sets, Patricia Viel greets us with champagne and a tour. A modest and somewhat unassuming entrance spills into a beautiful space. Built into a slope with a top-floor entrance, the flat-roofed rectilinear structures initially disguise their showpiece – but then you step inside and are met with the vast expanse of sea and sky. “The horizontal dimension gives the mansions a landscape installation-like quality. Then you push open the door – and wow,” says Viel. Inside, teak, brass and travertine provide a gentle material consistency. The sand-hued Denizli travertine used throughout the interiors is sourced from a local Turkish quarry and articulated in various finishes. Meanwhile, the open-plan layout and floor-to-ceiling windows blur the boundary between the outside and inside. The communal spaces mix art and ceramics from Turkey with Italian furniture. Pieces from Maxalto, B&B Italia and Flexform mingle with lighting fixtures from Flos. There’s a Molteni&C Dada Engineered kitchen and a Technogym fitness room. The result is a pleasing combination of cosmopolitan verve and Mediterranean tranquillity. Comfort zone: The Roman jewellery house puts design centre stageViel cites the golden age of Italian design and cinema of the 1950s and 1960s as guiding influences. “The era founded the country’s visibility on the international stage,” she says. “[Ursini and I] talk about these homes as if we are movie directors. We imagine things happening, such as the owners coming back from their boat at a specific time of the day or spending time in the garden, and the moment they transition from the outdoors to indoors.”Viel’s tour hints at the significant scale still to come: 100 more Bulgari residence villas, plus a hotel, beach club and a Niko Romit0-led restaurant for summer 2027. It’s a development that marks a new ultra-luxe chapter for the design house as it bets big on Bodrum – and declares that its future lies beyond jewellery cases.bulgarihotels.com

23 well-designed gifts to give the interiors-obsessive in your life

2025-12-03 10:36:59

Our line-up of tasteful treats will help to make this festive season one to remember.1.VASTA CANDLE byTekla;2. BUDDY WINE STOPPERS byKlas ErnfloforBD BarcelonafromAram;3. DARUMA SAKE CUPS fromHinoki Japanese Pantry;4. PERDUE LAMP byRiccardo MarcuzzoforLuminafromAram;5. BALSAM INCENSE BURNER byPaine6. LIGHT TOUCH RECORD PLAYER byJohn Tree and Neal Feay7. TORUS LAMP byThe Conran Shop;8. DIARY SET byMark + Fold9. KOPPEL PITCHER 03 byGeorg Jensen;10. ORIGIN COLLECTION byLaguna-B;11. INARI-KOMA FIGURINE fromJapan House12. FLAT WHITE CUPS byAndrea Roman;13. KBG SELECT byMoccamasterfromClimpson & Sons14. BOWLS byGrace McCarthy;15. KO KILN TEAPOT byKitchen Provisions;16. EARTHENWARE POT byKayunabefromJapan House;17. KO KILN TEACUPS byKitchen Provisions;18. SYLVESTRINA TABLE LAMP bySanta & Cole19. TAIYAKI FISH-SHAPED PANCAKE MAKER byIkenaga Iron Works;20. HOMEAWAY STAINLESS-STEEL TABLEWARE byRains;21. BOXED FLIP CLOCK byKarlsson22. CONNECT 4 byPoltrona Frau;23. EAMES ELEPHANT byVitrafromAram24. KURUMI WALNUT-HANDLE SECATEURS byNiwaki;25. WORK BOX byTruscofromLabour & Wait;26. EKTAR H35N HALF FRAME byKodak27. CANDLE HOLDERS byMuuto;28. ARCS SALT AND PEPPER GRINDERS byMuller van SeverenforHay;29. 7TUBI VASE byGio PontiforMolteni&C;30. ICE-CREAM SCOOP CUP byMiriam MirriandAAVVforAlessi;31. BIG LOVE ICE-CREAM SPOONS byMiriam MirriandAAVVforAlessi;32. KOKI ICE-CREAM SCOOP byValerio SommellaforAlessi

The iPhone Air’s design team on how they built the phone that redefines ‘thin’

2025-12-24 09:52:34

In a saturated market, how do you create phones that capture the world’s attention? Apple always leans into its heritage as a design-led brand and its latest line-up of devices combines this philosophy with what it believes are step-change engineering advances, as well as new colours and materials. Ahead of the handsets’ release on Friday 19 September, Monocle sat down at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, with three members of the design leadership team: John Ternus, the senior vice president of hardware engineering; Molly Anderson, the vice-president of industrial design; and Alan Dye, the vice-president of human interface design, to hear about the planning and ambition behind the launches.How to stand out from the crowdSmartphones have started to blur together when it comes to design: a glossy screen on the front, glass on the back, and a cluster of cameras that look nearly identical from brand to brand. Apple’s challenge was clear – how do you make this year’s model feel genuinely new? Apple has sought to solve this problem with its latest releases, some of which look strikingly different from the iPhones they replace – including one that seems impossibly slim and another that’s designed to deliver new colours to market.The company’s thinnest-ever phone is the iPhone Air. It’s just 5.6mm thick, excluding the protruding camera panel (Samsung’s closest effort measures 5.8mm). Realising this design wasn’t easy. “In my experience, the best engineering work and invention always comes from constraints,” says Ternus. “If you’re trying to solve an easy problem, you do half-arsed work. When you’re trying to solve a seemingly impossible one, that’s when the real creativity and invention happen. We love the challenge.”iPhone Air(Image: Courtesy of Apple)So why is now the right time for the iPhone Air to glide into view? “It’s about multiple pieces coming together,” says Anderson. “A lot of material innovation allowed us to get to this point – we couldn’t make [the iPhone Air] out of aluminium, for instance.” That’s why the frame is made of titanium, a stronger material. With a phone this thin, there were worries that it would warp. In an earlier session at Apple’s HQ, a technician urged me to attempt bending the new model – I failed. Then they stress tested it in a machine at a pressure of up to 60kg and it still refused to buckle.The bet on batteryBut is all this enough to ensure the iPhone Air’s success? Though durability might not be in doubt, is there room to fit in a powerful battery with enough stamina?“Battery quality is important in our products,” says Ternus. “To achieve great battery life in this phone we needed all the pieces to work together to realise the vision that we are always trying to achieve: where the phone disappears into the user’s hand and they’re just interacting with the content. We could have done it sooner but it wouldn’t have been this product.” That vision, of a slab of glass with nothing to keep you from being immersed in what’s on the screen, has been a north star for Apple since the first iPhone, co-designed by Jony Ive in 2007.The iPhone Air feels almost like a single sheet of glass with a screen made from Apple’s proprietary material, Ceramic Shield, which is toughened to withstand scratches and resist damage when dropped. The phone’s thinness gives it a conspicuous lightness that is different from other models and takes a moment to get used to. Why colour mattersThe iPhone Air comes in four shades: cloud white, sky blue and light gold in a glossy finish and a matte, space black. “We’re always looking at refining the colour and texture on the back glass, and there’s extreme subtlety to that. It was unclear whether we were going to do a black because we love how the lighter hues evoke the feeling of airiness and lightness,” says Anderson. “But with the black it becomes a monolithic piece of glass. You almost don’t see the beginning and the end of the glass, as the part lines just disappear. And we felt it was the perfect complement because the black makes the phone feel even thinner,” she adds.In the flesh, the matte finish almost seems to absorb light, like a tiny black hole. Black is regularly the most popular colour choice for tech products, so it makes sense that Apple would include it in the line-up as well.The Silicon Valley giant is also launching the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max this month – its most advanced and powerful handsets. Phones with powerful processors tend to get hot, so Apple has switched from the titanium used in previous iPhone Pro models to an aluminium unibody to allow better heat dissipation. “The thermal conductivity is 20 times better than the titanium we previously used,” says Ternus. There’s another benefit to the change: colour. Until now, all iPhone Pro models were only available in muted hues. This year, alongside deep-blue and silver options, there’s another, surprising choice: cosmic orange.iPhone 17 Pro in cosmic orange(Image: Courtesy of Apple)“The colour, material and design start together,” says Anderson. The process involves a conversation about what materials we’re going to use, what finishes and how we want to colour it. The lovely thing about aluminium is that it anodises. Anodising is an incredible process and we love the shades that can be achieved from it. We wanted to use colour to express the updated material and see the joy in that.” Apple has used orange before, for instance, on the iPhone’s ringer switch. “Orange was specifically chosen because it’s a very utilitarian colour, such as Safety Orange and International Orange [a standard hue that’s most known for decorating the Golden Gate Bridge],” she adds. “We felt this was a great place to express the performance quality and the tool-like characteristics of the iPhone Pro in a way that’s different to the finishes and the palette of the iPhone Air.”The other new element for the latest iPhones is the software. A striking design called Liquid Glass mimics the appearance of glass in digital form. “We wanted it to feel very tactile,” says Dye. “When you push your finger down, the glass effect comes up to meet your finger, on the volume slider, for example. On the iPhone Air, the sensation is heightened even more because it feels like you’re in direct contact with the digital content beneath the effect. We love it when hardware and software feel connected.”Much of the smartphone industry is laser-focused on artificial intelligence and the features and benefits that it will bring. Yet Apple’s AI innovations are due to bear fruit in the coming months rather than now. Instead it has chosen to emphasise the idea that good design, both in hardware and software, is more important. And it hopes that this will see the new products win favour with its audience, even as prices hit new heights.Read next:By focusing on human interaction, Apple proves that there’s more to get excited about than AI

Why ‘Perfection’ will be the most-discussed design book of the summer

2025-12-06 10:02:52

“This is the book of the summer,” says my local bookseller as I buy a copy of Perfection by Italian author Vincenzo Latronico. It’s true. The book came recommended by a trusted source. I first spotted the minimalist, cobalt-blue cover (a Fitzcarraldo Editions signature) on the tube and then in the hands of sunseekers in London parks. After reading, I passed on my own copy to a colleague and discussed it with friends at dinner parties.At just 120 pages, Perfection is a succinct exploration of millennial malaise: it follows expat couple Anna and Tom, who live in Berlin and are deeply preoccupied with curating their lives in the attempt to find meaning through the objects that they surround themselves with. The first few pages detail their apartment: string lights, curved Danish furniture, brass candle holder and all. A small jungle of indoor plants includes monstera, fiddle-leaf fig, peperomia, alocasias, euphorbias and philodendrons. A black metal side table is stacked with “past issues of Monocle and The New Yorker”. The premise of Perfection is an update on Georges Perec’s 1965 novel Les Choses, which chronicles the lives of Jérôme and Sylvie, a young Parisian couple who also seek a sense of self through their possessions: jade ashtrays, a brown-velvet sofa and leatherbound books signal the French mid-century zeitgeist. But an insatiable and financially unsustainable desire for more trinkets, tchotchkes, furniture and clothes drives them to a total rejection of this chosen milieu. They flee Paris for Tunisia. In Latronico’s 21st-century retelling, his protagonists also attempt to renounce their contemporary trappings but opt for digital nomadism in Sicily and Lisbon instead. Spoiler alert: despite moving countries, neither couple manages to escape themselves.(Image: Getty Images)As I’m required to ponder design as a job (somebody has to do it), these two precautionary tales struck a chord. When does an obsession with objects become objective materialism? The truth is that I care deeply about my furniture, lights and homeware. And while they’re only possessions, they also distinguish the chapters of my life. Buying a sofa felt like a confirmation of adulthood. I cycle through phases of desire for one more item and disenchantment with what I already own. So I purchase and purge. Decluttering is an art form that I aspire to perfect. Debating the pros and cons of materialism is a dead-end pursuit – and neither Latronico nor Perec come to any conclusions. With cost of living crises, economic disparity on the rise and wealth gaps widening, it’s unsurprising that this frustrating, late-capitalist climate also birthed Celine Song’s latest film,Materialists. Despite damning reviews, I found it shamelessly enjoyable. Without revealing too much about the somewhat predictable ending, the film confirms that money – and what it can buy you – will not provide your life with deeper meaning. Perfection, Les Choses and Materialists are simply polite reminders to exercise vigilance when prioritising what really matters in your life.Read next:Five design and architecture books to lose yourself in this summerThis story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Is the award-winning, windowless Stealth House a new blueprint for Western architecture?

2025-12-19 15:21:42

In 2024, when Specht Novak Architects unveiled Stealth House in Austin, Texas, critics were quick to note the building’s fortress-like quality. A low-slung private residence without any outward-facing windows in its corrugated steel façade, it derives all of its natural light from two internal courtyards. This martial aesthetic marks a sharp break from the floor-to-ceiling windows that have defined high-end residential architecture for decades. Specht Novak touts Stealth House – which has received several prizes, including a National American Institute of Architects Small Project Award – as “a prototype for future urban living”. Is high-end residential architecture in the West about to shift towards the kind of a privacy-oriented “compound architecture” that is more commonly associated with the Gulf?There is an obvious clash between the compound look and Western democratic sensibilities: after all, it seems to reject the idea of community and signal that wealthy homeowners no longer feel the need to even feign a connection with the rest of society. When Monocle puts these concerns to Scott Specht – a founding partner of Specht Novak, who owns and lives in Stealth House – he points out that people have been modifying their homes to maximise privacy for decades.Typical suburban and urban neighbourhoods in the US have long been taking “traditional-looking buildings based on the loose template of a ranch house with acres of land around it and jamming them together”, he says. “You put in windows to make it look like a conventional house but always have the shades down because otherwise you wouldn’t be looking at anything except the nextdoor neighbour. You have a big open backyard but then you build a giant fence around it so the neighbours can’t look in.” For Specht, Stealth House merely streamlines and integrates the privacy features that US homeowners tend to clumsily bolt on to their conventionally “open” homes.The house has caught the attention of private clients seeking similar features for their own residences. Specht isn’t naive about the fact that the design appeals to people’s desire for security as well as privacy. “We’re seeing a lot more electronic security systems going into the houses that we design,” he says. But he contests the allegation that the style’s opacity spoils neighbourly connections. “In New York, you live in a residential building with doormen or you have a locked door with a vestibule. Then you go up through another locked door to your apartment and your view of the street is a distant one through a window. But people there still feel like a part of their neighbourhood. You don’t need to have windows that people can look into to achieve that.”Reflecting on his own experience living in Stealth House, Specht says that he has a better connection to his neighbours now than when he lived in a more conventional suburban setting. The architect makes a convincing case that concerns over the antisocial nature of compound architecture are misplaced. But it’s undeniable that a handful of Stealth Houses in an otherwise conventional quarter of a city would feel different to an entire neighbourhood of compound-style residences. It’s difficult to truly guess at what point a change in an area’s architectural vernacular would tip into a shift in social substance.CommentInnovative and attractive architecture enhances our cities but living in compounds, while sensible in parts of the world, will not become the norm in societies that value openness and human connection.Illustrator: Nathan Hackett

How informal “architectural bastards” could shape Thailand’s urban future

2025-12-24 02:03:19

After graduate school in the US, I moved to Bangkok, a city that never failed to energise me during my summer visits. I soon discovered, however, that a Western architectural education didn’t necessarily mean that I could do great work in Thailand. The University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard offered knowledge and experience but not the sort that spoke directly to the culture or climate of my homeland. I had to learn those things from scratch.To sequence Thailand’s design DNA, I needed to look beyond the clichés of grand palaces, stilt houses or skyscrapers. My inquiries led me to places to which most architects wouldn’t give the time of day: shanty towns, love motels and temporary interventions. Chancing upon these adaptations and instances of architectural ingenuity led me in 2012 to found Bangkok Bastards, a research project documenting responses to everyday problems: a makeshift bench, a street-vendor’s cart, an improvised shack in a neighbourhood slum.To me, an architectural “bastard” is a structure with no traceable lineage, formal cultural history or design theory to legitimise it. Nonetheless, they serve a vital purpose and offer a window into a world. Many see these structures and objects as eyesores or unworthy of documentation. But they are pure, intuitive and at times humorous responses to real problems. They’re also constantly being adapted. I photographed, measured and drew them. By recording these creations, I felt that I was giving them respect. Everything is rendered to scale, with the construction techniques that enable these designs recorded in detail, to be used as a source of inspiration.One of the fruits of my research was the Samsen Street Hotel project in Bangkok, set in a former love motel – one of the city’s long-standing typologies. I wanted to turn this dark, secretive structure into a public space that connects with the street. To do so, I took inspiration from construction workers’ temporary dormitories, where corrugated zinc sheets are combined to create two-storey quarters. The ventilation is improved by a quasi-veranda made using a scaffolding of wooden poles – a multipurpose outdoor space for cooking, socialising or drying laundry. Adapting this idea, I created a soi (vertical alley and stage), a rabeang (street terrace) and a nahng glang plang (outdoor movie theatre). Today these host hawkers and performers, and offer spaces for people to linger.The kind of home-grown architecture documented by Bangkok Bastards isn’t limited to the capital, so the idea soon outgrew the city. Now my Rural Crossbreeds project focuses on the Thai countryside, particularly among paddy fields and fruit farms, while Indigenous Hybrids looks at the Karen population in Ratchaburi province. I recently collaborated with textile artist Prach Niyomkar and Chulalongkorn University on the design for Indigo Loom House – an open-air craft workshop in Sakon Nakhon, a neighbourhood in Isaan known for rice cultivation, textiles and indigo dyeing. It incorporates wooden columns, beams and rafters from vernacular stilt houses, as well as wooden components salvaged from looms, warping boards and spindle wheels. The mix of elements creates something altogether original. The project, I hope, shows that it’s possible to come up with hyper-local designs anywhere and everywhere. (Perhaps an energetic reader might do the same for their street, city or province.)I’m a designer, not a cultural anthropologist or social activist. My work on an object or site offers perspectives on real life that academia, textbooks and the design media often miss. These grey areas conceal an alternative world of solutions to common problems and a catalogue of fresh design ideas. What’s more, these informal creations are an antidote to the kind of trend-following global architecture that has contributed to the creation of samey cityscapes across the planet. Thailand’s architects should move beyond their reliance on sterile forms copied from elsewhere by searching for more authentic, personal forms and solutions that draw from our unique design DNA.The Bangkok Bastards project offers a roadmap for Southeast Asia’s next generation of architects, showing ways of working that might result in designs that are properly rooted in place, climate and culture. You don’t always have to look far for inspiration. Sometimes you just need to look more closely at what’s already at handAbout the writerChatpong Chuenrudeemol is the founder of Bangkok-based design practice Chat Architects. In 2020 he received the Silpathorn Award, an annual prize recognising outstanding living Thai contemporary artists, including those in the fieldof architecture. For this essay, he spoke to Monocle’s Singapore correspondent, Joseph Koh.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2025 winners highlight bold visions and optimistic outlooks

2025-12-08 15:38:02

From libraries to community centres and mobility hubs, the most powerful architecture doesn’t just visually impress – it connects. Often, the most striking and memorable buildings are those that bring communities together by elevating residents’ quality of life and creating a sense of togetherness through design. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture celebrates this idea and focuses on examples from across the Muslim world. Previous recipients include a primary school in Burkina Faso, designed by celebrated Burkinabé-German architect Diébédo Francis Kéré, and the Wadi Hanifa Wetlands project in Saudi Arabia. This year’s finalists took the jury from Bangladesh to China, Egypt and beyond – but one constant was the judges’ search for how communities find glimmers of optimism in an increasingly tumultuous world. This year’s shortlist is a shining demonstration of how thoughtful design can transform daily life. Here’s a look at the seven projects:1.Khudi Bari, BangladeshFormed from bamboo and steel connectors, this is Dhaka-based Marina Tabassum Architects’ solution to the flood-related displacement that has affected millions of people across Bangladesh over the decades. Set across two floors, the structure is easily assembled (or disassembled) by as few as three people, and the roof is made of corrugated metal sheets for simplified maintenance and transport. Equally important is the design itself: informed by vernacular Bangladeshi architecture, Khudi Bari offers a simple yet resilient shelter from the elements. Only connect: Khudi Bari in Bangladesh(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / City Syntax)Khudi Bari is a modular system, which can be combined to build larger structures(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / City Syntax)2.West Wusutu Village Community Centre, China This community centre in Hohhot, the capital of China’s Inner Mongolia region, is an example of how local architecture can be an opportunity for imaginative design. A circular courtyard is surrounded by rooftop spaces, walkways and large skylights that illuminate the interior of the building. Built with light-coloured brick, it serves Hohhot’s Hui Muslims, whose main mosque is relatively far away. Developed with young villagers, children, elderly residents and artists in mind, the building has plenty of space to address the community’s needs. View of the interior courtyard where water has formed a reflecting pool(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Dou Yujun)The space is built almost entirely of bricks salvaged from the earlier demolitions(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Dou Yujun)3.Revitalisation of Historic Esna, EgyptThe Aga Khan Award for Architecture is often given to restorations of historic centres. Take the conservation of Mostar Old Town in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was recognised in 1986, or that of the historic centre of Muharraq, Bahrain, in 2019. But what sets apart the revitalisation of Esna is its emphasis on craftsmanship. Focusing on the space around the ancient Temple of Khnum, the project utilised traditional methods to breathe life back into the 18th-century area, restore the Royal Guesthouse, repopulate Qisariyya market with artisans and more. Employing hundreds of workers, the project aims to draw visitors back to this historic Egyptian town. Bright spot: A view over Qisariyya market(Image: Takween ICD / Ahmed Mostafa)4.Majara Complex and Community Redevelopment, IranMade up of an other-worldly structure of domes, the Majara Complex and Community Redevelopment project is painted in the ochre-rich colours of Hormuz Island, where it is based. With capacity for up to 75 guests, it is part of an effort to boost tourism in Hormuz and regenerate areas used by islanders to socialise, pray or read. But behind all the colourful shades is SuperAdobe – a sophisticated building technique that was pioneered by Iranian-American architect Nader Khalili (winner of the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture) and uses thick walls to cool spaces and offer refuge from the heat.Rooms with a hue: Vaulted and domed structures create shaded areas that reduce temperatures(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Deed Studio)5.Jahad Metro Plaza, Iran Metro stations are often places where commuters hurry through, unwilling to linger for too long in spaces that are unsafe or unsanitary. But this revamp of Tehran’s Jahad Metro is a lesson in how to elevate everyday public spaces. Made from several barrel-like constructions with airy, vaulted spaces for pedestrians to move beneath, the station also provides space for resting on stepped seating and benches. Built from handmade bricks, the metro entrance features several arched windows, allowing streams of light into the cool, shady spaces. In with the new: The building makes good use of natural light and ventilation(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Deed Studio)Height of achievement: Aerial view of Jahad Metro Plaza(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Deed Studio)6.Vision Pakistan, Pakistan Designed by Islamabad-based DB Studios, this colourful structure’s metal screens were inspired by the geometric patterns of traditional Pakistani and Arab crafts, as well as the local architecture. Built as a vocational school for disadvantaged young men aged between 16 and 25, it aims to be a space for training up future generations of master tailors as well as for providing pupils with literacy skills and a religious education. Building blocks: Some windows feature colourful pierced metal screens (jaalis), offering sun shading and privacy(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Usman Saqib Zuberi)Down to earth: Students dining together(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Usman Saqib Zuberi)7.Wonder Cabinet, Palestine Set across a light, airy space in Bethlehem’s Al-Karkafeh Valley, this creative hub was designed by Palestinian architectural and engineering practice Aau Anastas. With a multitude of offerings including a restaurant, kitchen, offices, cinema and even a sound studio for Radio Alhara, Wonder Cabinet is a magnet for creatives in the local area.Window of opportunity: The Wonder Cabinet overlooks the Al-Karkafeh Valley in Bethlehem(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Mikaela Burstow)Open for business: A central void links all three levels(Image: Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Mikaela Burstow)

Dubai Design Week has matured by focusing on perspective over scale

2025-12-13 05:17:15

Dubai Design Week 2025, which begins today and runs until Sunday in Dubai Design District (D3), arrives at a moment when the city’s design ambitions are no longer being underestimated. What began a decade ago as a fledgling regional showcase has matured into one of the most credible stops on the global design calendar; an event that now attracts serious attention from curators, critics and creative directors who once confined their itineraries to Milan or London.For this year’s edition, the festival’s 11th, international heavyweights such as Kartell, Vitra, and Roche Bobois sit comfortably alongside an increasingly self-assured roster of regional voices. The tone is confident and cosmopolitan – this is not a week for novelties or spectacle but for substance and dialogue. As the director of Dubai Design Week, Natasha Carella, explains, “Our approach is guided by a commitment to high-quality, original design that contributes meaningfully to the global discourse.” That philosophy is visible across the programme, from material-driven experimentation to urban commissions that rethink how public space can foster connection.Across D3’s courtyards and waterfront terraces, there’s a hum of anticipation. Designers from Sao Paulo to Seoul are setting up installations alongside collectives from Manama and Muscat. The Abwab pavilion, curated around the theme “In the Details”, is among the standouts: Bahrain’s Maraj Studio has woven a delicate, embroidered mesh inspired by the thob al nashil national dress to explain the fragile ecology of Nabih Saleh Island – a poetic intersection of craft and environmental storytelling.Carella has resisted turning the festival into a single-theme spectacle. Instead, she’s building a framework where design is treated as a civic act as much as a creative one. “We look at design not only as a practice of innovation,” she says, “but as a social connector.” That ambition translates into the details: from low-carbon DuneCrete structures by ARDH Collective to collaborations between Japanese architects Nikken Sekkei and Emirati woodworkers, the work on display emphasises material intelligence and dialogue between cultures.For observers, the significance of Dubai Design Week lies less in scale than in perspective. It reflects a city that has invested heavily in cultural infrastructure, museums, architecture schools, and public-art initiatives and is now seeing the dividends. The result is a festival that’s as much about exchange as exhibition – a meeting point between emerging nations and established design capitals, between institutional might and independent experimentation.Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

The Waldorf Astoria’s lavish renovation blends its original splendour with gorgeous modern luxury

2025-12-24 12:53:44

There are few hotels as storied as Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria. In the grand, chandelier-filled ballroom, Albert Einstein gave a speech and Ella Fitzgerald once sang. The hotel was also home to luminaries such as Cole Porter, who lived in a suite that was later taken over by Frank Sinatra. Marilyn Monroe and Herbert Hoover were residents at this grandest of grandes dames too.Founded in the 1890s, the Waldorf Astoria moved into its art deco building, steps from Grand Central Station, on Park Avenue in 1931. Closed since 2017 for an eight‑year restoration that reportedly cost $2bn (€1.72bn), the hotel has at last reopened. One bold aim was reducing the 1,400 guest rooms. Today it has 375 rooms and suites, and 372 private residences. “You can’t run a 1,400-room luxury hotel [these days],” Dino Michael, senior vice-president and global head for Hilton’s luxury brands, tells Monocle. Conrad Hilton won the managing rights in 1949 with his corporation buying it in 1972 before a sale to China’s Anbang Insurance Group in 2014. “The world has moved on,” he adds, while suggesting that the demand for branded residences has been rising. The rooms are designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon in soft grey with white furnishings and art deco motifs on geometric pendant lamps and patterned doorknobs.Cole Porter’s Steinway at the Waldorf AstoriaThe ballroom has retained many of the original detailsAnother addition is the Portes Cochères (discreet porches) on 49th and 50th Streets, where guests, greeted by staff in Nicholas Oakwell-designed uniforms, can slip into a marble-clad lobby on the lower-ground floor. At American brasserie Lex Yard by chef Michael Anthony, there are several takes on – you guessed it – the Waldorf salad: the original features celery, apples, grapes, walnuts and a lemon dressing. As the building was picked apart and layers of paint were peeled back and sandblasted, the team unearthed wonders including original marble pillars, embossed walls and even smoke-stained murals on the ceiling in the Silver Corridor, built to mimic Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors.Reimagined lobbyDish at American brasserie Lex YardGuest rooms designed by Pierre- Yves RochonCocktail hour at the barChandeliers hang throughout the hotelStairway to the Waldorf AstoriaThe main lobby, known as Peacock Alley, originally linked two separate hotels – the Waldorf and the Astoria were subsequently connected – and in it you’ll spy a walnut-and-copper clock commissioned by Queen Victoria, as well as Cole Porter’s mahogany Steinway piano. “It’s in perfect condition and someone plays it every night,” says the senior vice-president, Michael. “We’re living in a time when people are just overwhelmed with homogenisation,” he adds. “Wherever you go, it’s kind of copy-and-paste. This is real and authentic. They don’t build things like this any more.” By 17.00 on a Thursday, before the first piano note even sounds, the lobby buzzes with energy. Patrons cluster at the bar, sipping martinis, playing their part in a century-old ritual.waldorfastorianewyork.comTimeline1893:The Waldorf Hotel is built on Fifth Avenue.1897:Two hotels created by feuding factions are combined to create the Waldorf Astoria.1929:The Waldorf Astoria is demolished in order to make way for the Empire State Building.1931:The Waldorf Astoria opens on Park Avenue.2014:China’s Anbang Insurance Group purchases the hotel.2017:Renovations begin, reportedly costing $2bn (€1.72bn).July 2025:The Waldorf Astoria is reopened.

The unlikely parallel between Rome’s eternal architecture and the Las Vegas Strip

2025-12-23 07:00:37

Las Vegas is feared and loathed as possibly the kitschiest place on Earth. But on a recent trip to Sin City, a designer reminded me that there’s wisdom to be gleaned from this desert madhouse. This is thanks to architects Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi, who in 1972 publishedLearning from Las Vegas, a book that sought to upend classist urban design and architecture sensibilities. “Las Vegas is to the strip what Rome is to the piazza,” they wrote.(Image: Iwan Baan/Courtesy of Lars Müller Publishers)More recently, the US city has captured the attention of Iwan Baan, one of the world’s leading architecture photographers. The Dutch snapper, in partnership with Zürich’s Lars Müller Publishers, released a tongue-in-cheek book,Rome–Las Vegas: Bread and Circuses, exploring the relationship between the two cities. His street photography from both cities is laid out across its pages, often side by side. The comparison might seem preposterous. Rome, after all, is known as the Eternal City for a good reason. In Vegas, almost all of the buildings photographed 50 years earlier by Scott Brown and Venturi have already been replaced by gaudier versions.(Image: Iwan Baan/Courtesy of Lars Müller Publishers)Today on the Strip, pavements swerve in and out of casinos and shopping malls as pedestrians are subjected to terrible music. It feels far from the dolce vita. But Baan, like Scott Brown and Venturi before him, has a point: the two cities have striking similarities. Both have Disney-esque streets, flip-flop-wearing tourists and Doric columns. In Rome, some of my favourite details are modern touches fashioned to appear as though they were hundreds of years old. Take the Bose speakers inside St Peter’s Cathedral, carefully painted to resemble marble.Scott Brown and Venturi wanted readers to be open-minded, appreciating that while cities are often not the utopias that planners hope for, they are the places where we learn how people actually use urban spaces. The similarities between the remarkable in Rome and the ready-made in Vegas are a reminder of this. On my last night in Sin City, I looked up at Caesars Palace – a 130-metre-tall casino and hotel topped with a pantheon – and pondered whether this was exactly what the Romans would have devised, had they been asked to envision 21st-century architecture. They might also have ordered a margarita and headed to the blackjack table.

Why Tokyo’s designers still work by hand and how it keeps Japanese design exciting

2025-11-26 10:18:32

When Tokyo’s architects and designers have a problem to solve or a drawing that they want to bring to life, they might well call on the skills of construction company Tank. Its founder, Naritake Fukumoto, and his team relish such challenges and are worthy partners in creative endeavours. “I have no academic training,” says Fukumoto, a carpenter by trade, as he concentrates on a table that he has been asked to create. “But I have always wanted to know how architects think.” Tokyo architect Keiji Ashizawa, who is in high demand for residences and hotels, has worked on a number of projects with Fukumoto and admires what he brings to a project. “In Japan, a craftsman can be a hero,” he says. “That’s something unique.”Naritake Fukumoto (centre) leads his design and construction team at TankBaseball bats turned into hammers by Naritake Fukumoto at Buff café and shopArchitect Keiji Ashizawa in his studio in AsakusabashiDotcom Coffee designed by Keiji Ashizawa on the ground floor of his office buildingPrototype models in Keiji Ashizawa’s officeDemocracy lies at the heart of Tokyo’s creative community – a respect for every aspect of the process, from planners to plasterers. “Designers aren’t up here and construction workers down there,” says architect Momoko Kudo. “We are all in it together.” Kudo, who launched her studio, MMA, 10 years ago, is surrounded by samples of soil, ceramic tiles and glass that she used in a recent restaurant project. She loves materials and craftsmanship so much that she produces an annual magazine on the subject. Japan is an outlier as a developed, urbanised country where people still make things by hand. Perhaps as a result, thoughts of nature are never far away, even amid the city’s dense concrete.Architect Momoko Kudo in her studioMove through Tokyo and good design is everywhere: in convenience stores, in anikebanadisplay in a hotel lobby, in the clean lines of a new metro train. The city is bursting with impressive museums (and the Japanese public flocks to them in droves) but design in Tokyo is rooted in everyday life. Functionality has been the driving force of some of the country’s best design. In Junichiro Tanizaki’s celebrated 1933 essay on the elusive elements that make up the Japanese aesthetic, “In Praise of Shadows”, the author wrote, “The quality that we call beauty must always grow from the realities of life.” In short, nothing is too lowly to deserve a designer’s eye in Tokyo. Indeed, Japan’s annual Good Design Awards are as likely to celebrate a great tractor as an elegant building. The late Sori Yanagi, one of Japan’s greatest designers, was commissioned in 1980 to apply his prodigious talents to the Tomei Expressway. Has a motorway wall ever looked more poetic?Most creatives in Tokyo enjoy dialogue with people from other disciplines – architects, artists, craftsmen and contractors – working together to create exceptionally atmospheric restaurants, shops and bars. At Matsubaya Saryo teahouse in Aoyama, the simple conjunction of century-old bonsai trees, antique tables and dark walls makes for a magnetic space, packed with meaning, history and culture. Distillation is key in a city where space is in short supply. Those few pot plants sitting outside a city house in Tokyo convey centuries of garden artistry.Matsubaya Saryo tea room and gallery in AoyamaNurturing tradition at Matsubaya SaryoYutaro Miyamaru looking after a century-old bonsai at Matsubaya SaryoFor sheer inspiration, few architectural projects can compare with Kioi Seido, an enigmatic building in the centre of the city with no purpose at all. Designed by architect Hiroshi Naito for the Rinri Institute of Ethics, it was a dream commission. “They asked me to design the building at my discretion and said that they would figure out the functionality later,” says Naito. The result is a mysterious, soaring pantheon for the 21st century, lined with wood and wrapped in concrete and glass. It isn’t generally open to the public but when it has been, crowds have lined up to glimpse what’s inside. Completed in 2021, the building’s use has yet to be decided. Perhaps it never will. Here, utilitarianism has been thrown out the window. “As an architect,” says Naito, “I have never been more proud.”Memorial for victims of the 2011 earthquake at Kioi SeidoConcrete wrapped in glass at Kioi Seido by Hiroshi NaitoSoaring interior of Kioi SeidoStaircases inside Kioi Seido – the building with no purpose – by Hiroshi NaitoStoop furniture owner Naohiro Seki sources eclectic pieces for clients and architectsStoop vintage store in Kiyosumi ShirawakwaWall light collections by StoopClassic chairs displayed in a 1940s building at StoopMaruni showroom featuring the Meguro chair and footstool by Naoto FukasawaMaruni furniture showroom in NihonbashiGood design in a compact space at Pizza TanePizza Tane in NihonbashiRetro-inspired details at Soil NihonbashiWashi paper lights and retro audio equipment at SoilCommunity developer Yuta Oka in front of his latest hotel, Soil NihonbashiRooftop view over Nihonbashi from SoilSasazuka Greenway public toilet designed by Junko KobayashiTokyo showroom for Ozeki, which has been making lanterns since 1891Urasando public toilet by Marc NewsonPublic toilets at Yoyogi Hachiman by Pritzker prize winner Toyo ItoWhere to next?Monocle covers architecture, design and furniture across print, radio, in-person events and online. You’ll spot our editors and journalists at the best industry fairs across the globe and reporting on the leading lights of the field. It’s an international outlook rooted in the understanding that design permeates every aspect of our lives – which is a good reason to give it some serious thought, whether at home or while taking in the architecture of some of the world’s most storied cities. See you out there.

Rethinking prayer: Emre Arolat on designing faith for the modern age

2025-11-30 13:00:32

Celebrated Turkish architect Emre Arolat joined us at this year’s Quality of Life conference to discuss his delivery of a contemporary mosque that has been embraced by worshippers and architects alike as a true modern marvel. He also revealed where he finds new starting points and inspiration after years in the business.Andrew Tuck:Emre, you’re a proliﬁc architect with projects all over the world: Albania, Japan, Russia. But, to me, Turkey’s Sancaklar mosque deﬁes all expectations. How did you set about challenging not only Ottoman forms and characteristics but your own stylistic inclinations too?Emre Arolat:It was a big challenge, to tell you the truth. The ﬁrst thing that you face up to when you’re designing a mosque, especially in Turkey, is that classical Ottoman style. It can be difficult to ignore. The early meetings for this project weren’t very productive: people from the foundation arrived at my office, saying that they wanted a modern mosque, while waving a photo of a very conventional one with a standard cupola and traditional minarets. I said that I was sorry but if this was their understanding of ingenuity or modernity, we could not work together. They left.AT:Slamming the door behind them, I’m sure.EA:Something like that. But they returned a few days later – this time showing me photos of the land. I was astonished. It was a wild panorama. From the proposed space, you could see a 5km-long lake with the sun falling across it. A real, natural, virgin plot. I told them that I would take the commission but that they should have a back-up plan, because there was a high chance that they wouldn’t like what I would do with the space. They were on board. The next thing I asked for was more time because, right from those early days in the design process, we were very keen to understand what the essence of Islamic prayer is and I needed time to think about the place, the energy and the atmosphere. Context, in my opinion, is the most important aspect of architecture.AT: There have been times when I’ve wandered into spaces – Grundtvig’s church in Copenhagen or the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, for example – and felt my emotions soar. You feel something in such places. Do you think that architecture can create believers?EA:I don’t think that spirit is directly linked to religion. For me, it’s something else. To design a beautiful and functional oncology centre, you don’t have to be a cancer patient. But as I say, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.AT: So how did you get the Sancaklar mosque through?EA:The proposal was a unique experience. When we did our ﬁrst presentation to the members of the commissioning foundation, I recommended that they bring a small group, so that we could talk through it and check whether the mosque would satisfy the brief. They arrived with 45 people. The president of Diyanet [Turkey’s leading Islamic jurist] was even in attendance. They all took their seats and I made the presentation. When the lights came up, all 45 of them were sitting in silence. They looked to the president, who said, “If somebody showed me the renders on their own, without explanation, I would say it’s impossible; it couldn’t be a mosque. But since Mr Arolat has explained the story and the thinking behind it, why not?” It was a big surprise for me.AT: Are you an architect who thinks about legacy?EA:Of course. I’m more than willing to open the door too. There are many young architects who are engaging with this building. It has had a big effect in the industry. I’m happy to see it.AT:Whether you’re making a mosque or rethinking a business, what’s your advice on creativity?EA:To do something that’s original or genuine, you have to forget everything you know. You must be focused on the context, not only the geographical one but in a broader sense: politically, sociologically, demographically and environmentally. Regarding architecture, I believe that there are two schools: the first is the signature – you have your own style that is very visible and maybe famous, and you bring your architectural language to each area, city and context. The second is contextual architecture. I believe that my path is the latter. I say to my colleagues at the start of every project that we have to put down a blank sheet of paper. Forget all that we know. Then we can try to understand what is demanded of the project.Monocle comment:Creating buildings that are beautiful and suit their space and function but also defy expectations requires faith – and not always of the supernatural variety. This could take the form of an architect’s fearless creativity or the openness of clients and the people who end up using and inhabiting the space.

Industry fair Pad is reigniting the flame of London’s design scene

2025-12-20 16:44:16

The UK capital rarely gets its flowers as a design destination. The city’s fairs and festivals seem to be scattered almost randomly throughout the year. There’s London Craft Week and Clerkenwell Design Week, which take place in a rather disconnected manner each May. Every two years, the London Festival of Architecture coincides with June’s London Design Biennale. And let’s not forget the London Design Festival in September, which tends to rehash April’s Salone del Mobile in Milan. These events might not share a single, cohesive vision but what they do have in common is a dearth of glamour alla Milanese. Bored? Confused? Same. But every October, the pitching of one marquee on Mayfair’s Berkeley Square brings some much-needed fantasy to the capital’s design scene. Pad London, the ultra-premium fair dedicated to collectable design, gathers together an international roster of galleries from cities including Paris, São Paulo and New York to display contemporary rarities, 20th-century marvels and unexpected reissues. Crucially, the event has a clear vision: it’s about craft, covetable design and, perhaps most prominently, buying and selling. Inspiration can be found by simply wandering the museum-quality booths. There’s one clear destination and, as such, it galvanises those who attend, with parties spilling across Mayfair in the evening.Bright ideas: Friedman Benda at Pad(Image: Courtesy of Pad)Fourth-generation antiques dealer Patrick Perrin founded the original Pad in Paris in 1998. In 2007 the concept hopped across the Channel and has since developed a well-heeled fanbase of jet-setters who are hoping to kit out their Gstaad chalet with a one-off Finn Juhl table (as seen at Swedish gallery Modernity’s booth) or a Gio Ponti circular games table that would make for a great Christmas gift for that person who has it all (if this is your conundrum, Rose Uniacke is the contact). When I spoke to gallerists on the opening day of the fair, they euphorically hinted at how profitable their morning had been, pointing to furniture, lighting, artworks and high jewellery with price tags north of £20,000 (€23,000) being snapped up. It turns out that money can buy taste if you know which galleries to turn to. Table talk: A dining-room set-up from Rose Uniacke(Image: Courtesy of Pad)As I was walking from stand to stand, people-watching almost eclipsed the joy of spotting a metal, bird-shaped table by French artist François-Xavier Lalanne. Despite much-reported (and somewhat debunked) concerns that the rich are upping sticks from the UK capital for tax-free pastures, those shopping their way through Pad London were an international crowd who still own boltholes off Kensington High Street. It’s no surprise that Pad originates in Paris, where craft continues to be valued. This is why we chose the City of Lights as one of our top creative communities in Monocle’s new, delightfully glossy Design Directory – an annual publication dedicated to the people and places that contribute to the industry. If you have inherent (as well as purchased) good taste, it’s worth picking up a copy. Maybe our next edition could include a guide to running a fair.Grace Charlton is Monocle’s associate editor (design and fashion). For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.

What Japanese design can teach us about decent communication

2025-11-25 12:51:05

How we communicate with each other matters. In a global era defined by petty partisan politics – where the US is divided along lines red and blue, and similar fractures appear worldwide – dialogue has never been more important. At the risk of seeming nostalgic, there was a time when Australia’s prime minister and opposition leader would sit down for a glass of scotch together at the end of a working day – a sign of civility in the face of conflict. Perhaps then we need to look to the past for inspiration. Or, better yet, to the universal language of signs and symbols.A new exhibition at Japan House London,Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs, explores how visual symbols convey information across cultural boundaries. Think of the universal exit sign with its green background and running figure or the simple symbols that denote toilets worldwide. These graphics, called pictograms, create visual language that transcends linguistic barriers and breaks down cultural divides. The exhibition traces these symbols’ history, including the pioneering work of Otto Neurath. Following the First World War, Neurath and his wife, Marie, developed a system that translated complex data into simple visual symbols, helping displaced people to navigate unfamiliar cities without understanding the local language. The showcase also highlights Japanese designer Tanaka Ikko, whose team created pictograms for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Unlike previous Games, which relied on multilingual signage, Tokyo became the first Olympics where symbols could be read by everyone, regardless of their native tongue.(Image: Japan House London)Today similar principles drive typography across different scripts. US foundry Sharp Type has developed fonts that allow disparate writing systems – Latin, Arabic, Japanese and others – to appear graphically harmonious while remaining true to their origins. Meanwhile, designers Ian Party, Pascal Zoghbi and the studio Swiss Typefaces created Zeyn, a contemporary Arabic and Latin font that sacrifices neither script for the other.Could this exhibition and these typographic examples present a framework for better human communication? Good pictograms and typefaces work across cultures by tapping into shared human experiences and recognisable forms, regardless of where we are in the world. Similarly, effective communication finds common reference points – shared values, experiences or concerns that transcend political or cultural divides. Perhaps this is why Sharp Type’s bespoke font is being used for corporate communications across the globe and why pictograms have been universally adopted. All of this begs the question: what’s the pictogram for a couple glasses of scotch shared between political adversaries?Nic Monisse is Monocle’s design editor.‘Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs’at Japan House London runs until 9 November 2025.

Ateliers Marcel Carbonel, the figurine workshop carrying on the legacy of Provençal santons

2025-12-08 06:04:51

“It feels a bit like playing with Lego,” says Baptiste Vitali as he opens drawer after drawer filled with colourful clay figurines. Vitali is showingKonfekt(Monocle’s sister publication)around Ateliers Marcel Carbonel, a 90-year-old workshop in Marseille that he and his brother, Hugo, took over from the founder’s family in 2021. The atelier’s niche is the santons of Provence: intricate figurines used in the nativity scenes that many French families create in the run-up to Christmas.With his stylishly stubbled face, Vitali looks more like a start-up CEO than the head of a history-steeped craft studio but when he explains toKonfektwhat attracted him and his brother to this workshop, he speaks with passion and commitment. “We wanted to keep a local institution and tradition from dying,” he says.Making santons at Ateliers Marcel CarbonelSantons date back to the French Revolution, when political leaders closed churches and banned the celebration of Midnight Mass. To make up for the loss of public Christmas festivities, the people of Provence began displaying nativity crèches at home, populating them with miniature characters that were modelled from papier-mâché, breadcrumbs, cardboard and cork, then, later, red clay. But rather than sticking to the biblical line-up and landscapes, they included villagers whom they encountered in their everyday lives: the fisherman proudly carrying the catch of the day, the milkwoman, the dapper mayor and the chicarlésiennewith her chignon hairdo.These tableaux of Provençal life quickly gained popularity across France, with hundreds of ateliers in and around Marseille catering to the nationwide demand for santons during the craft’s heyday. Today, some 120 ateliers remain in the region and, though many pieces are passed down from generation to generation, there’s still plenty of demand for new ones – be it to add to the family collection or to start a set from scratch.WhenKonfektvisits, the atelier is in the bustle of the pre-Christmas season. With a team of between 15 and 25 staff, depending on the time of year, it’s one of the largest santon workshops in Provence. Unlike with most of its competitors, no part of the process is outsourced to home-based artisans. “In a few weeks, it’s likely that we’ll come in on a Monday morning and find 1,000 online orders waiting for us from the weekend,” says Vitali, looking at his watch to check the date. “We have to ensure that our stock is ready before the rush hits. In the past, santons were very roughly made. But Marcel Carbonel attended a beaux-arts school so he helped to elevate the craft.”Every santon is made by handThe founder’s background in fine art also explains why all of the gouache colours are made in the workshop, following recipes originally conceived by Carbonel. The result is a palette of vibrant yet nuanced colours that shop-bought paints could never achieve. When these are paired with the original mother moulds, it means that a figurine made today can look exactly like one from 90 years ago.Despite the continuity of the collections, new models are introduced every year. For 2025, the additions are a pregnant woman and a future father holding a wicker bassinet. Because there are many collectors of the atelier’s work, these additions are usually the year’s bestsellers. Meanwhile, people tend not to replace the santons that they already have, regardless of their condition. “Even if they are missing an arm, they are still kept because they remind you of that Christmas in 1980 when your son dropped Joseph as a little boy,” says Vitali. “A santon is a memory.”This article is from the journalists at our sister publication,Konfekt. The perfect gift of sharp dressing, drinking, dining, travel and design. Explore gift subscriptions here.

A decade after designation, has Detroit’s Unesco status brought benefits or is it just branding?

2025-12-08 08:50:15

Ten years on from being named the US’s first Unesco City of Design, Detroit is marking the milestone with an extra special annual Design Month. The celebrations spotlight the city’s creative talent but also raise a difficult question: has the Unesco badge successfully transformed the city into a global design hub, or is it a branding exercise layering over poverty, crime and an uneven recovery?The answer depends on where you look. Downtown towers gleam after billions of dollars in reinvestment while other neighbourhoods still grapple with disinvestment. But Detroit has been working to prove that the label fits. Its cultural institutions (including 22 theatres along with 11 museums and libraries) remain central to civic life, and the region is home to more than 5,000 core design businesses employing about 80,000 people across fields from graphic and interior to landscape design. Of course, the city is also home to a healthy population of industrial designers too. After all, major players such as General Motors, Ford, FCA and Masco still house their research and design arms in the area. But the question of whether Detroit represents a true creative economy still lingers. Hart of the city: The Isamu Noguchi-designed Horace E Dodge Fountain in Detroit’s Hart Plaza(Image: Alamy)“In some ways the Unesco designation helped the city to believe in itself,” says Ellie Schneider, director of programming and strategy at the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC). “It brought credibility and put us in international conversations.” In a city often defined by unemployment and crime, credibility matters, however fragile it might be. Detroit has one of the highest poverty rates in the US (at 34 per cent, it’s almost triple the national average). Redlining and disinvestment stripped many black residents (about 80 per cent of the city’s population) of the power to shape development on their own terms. Billions have been reinvested in Downtown Detroit throughout the past 15 years, remaking the skyline and polishing core neighbourhoods. Much of it was driven by Dan Gilbert’s real estate firm Bedrock, responsible for projects including the Shinola Hotel, the restored Book Tower and the still-rising Hudson’s Site development. “We think of him as our Batman,” a resident told Monocle.“The Unesco designation has allowed us to position culture-driven development – murals, oral histories, community hubs – as legitimate design practice,” says Tanya Saldivar-Ali, business development director at AGI Construction and founder of DFO313. “It helps local builders like us claim a seat at the table, or better yet, build our own tables.” Still, even she admits, “the biggest barrier is access. Not only to capital but to the early conversations where projects are shaped.” In other words, the glossy branding hasn’t erased Detroit’s entrenched inequities.Detroit’s Unesco status was also secured due to the city’s commitment to inclusivity, with programmes aimed at minority communities and people with disabilities. “Ten years in, one of the clearest outcomes is that Detroit has been able to place itself on a global stage,” says Lauren Hood, founder of the Institute for AfroUrbanism. “It has opened doors for collaboration, attracted new resources and created civic pride for residents.” But she also notes the paradox: many of the musicians, visual artists and cultural innovators who gave Detroit its reputation are unaware of the city’s Unesco designation.The nuance comes into focus during Detroit Month of Design, the city’s annual September festival. The programme stretches across disciplines and is one of the few artistic festivals co-created with the community. Yet inner-city attendees appear sparse. “There’s a lack of information for those of us in the inner city,” says delegate Deserai Lawson, a teacher, Uber driver and architecture buff.Detroit carries a mix of polish and grit. At night, Motown booms from passing cars while block parties spill into intersections. Downtown is gentrifying; WeWork, Alo, Warby Parker and overpriced coffees have all arrived but its characters keep it original. The duality of authentic spirit alongside corporate refinement is part of the branding problem. For every creative success, critics see another sign of gentrification.Detroit’s future as a design city is inseparable from its past. It is, after all, the cradle of American modernism. Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, and Minoru Yamasaki all studied here. Cranbrook Academy of Art and the College for Creative Studies trained generations of designers. General Motors founded one of the world’s first corporate design departments in the city, pioneering industrial design. Detroit’s history gives it credibility but heritage alone doesn’t guarantee renewal.The former industrial metropolis is often described as one of the few cities that has fundamentally changed the way the world works, lives and moves. That still feels true on its streets today – the city is both gritty and creative, complex and proud. But 10 years into its Unesco City of Design experiment, is Detroit truly building a creative hub for the future or leaning on branding to cover the unfinished business of crime, poverty and decline?Rey Pador, a local artist who Monocle spoke to at a Design Month event, subscribes to the notion that “success for Detroit is people not having to leave. Now, people want to stay, and some are even moving in.”Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

How Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli’s research-driven architecture is transforming public buildings in the Alps

2025-12-04 04:46:08

In the offices of Treviso-based architecture practice Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli (CMP), the team is hard at work on concepts for projects spanning commercial properties to public space. “We tend to go cross-eyed squinting at all of our models, whether for an architectural competition or a direct commission,” says the firm’s co-founder Michel Carlana, gesturing towards a cluster of maquettes. “And we get equally cross-eyed when we’re working on editorial projects,” he adds, opening up a copy of CMP’s latest title,Luoghi Comuni– an experimental photography book that the practice made with contemporary artist Armin Linke.CMP (from left): Michel Carlana, Curzio Pentimalli, Luca MezzaliraIt’s no surprise that Carlana is quick to mention competitions. Through them, the firm has won significant commissions in the Alpine regions of Switzerland and Italy. Indeed, it was an entry for the French-run, pancontinental Europan competition that first brought Carlana, Luca Mezzalira and Curzio Pentimalli together as an architectural partnership in 2010. The same year, the young trio won a contest to design a new library for the city of Brixen-Bressanone in South Tyrol. Conceived as an “urban living room” near the city’s Duomo, it prioritises fostering human connection over the storage of books, with plenty of spaces to gather. “The Brixen Public Library showed us how a project is a whole economy beyond the building,” says Carlana.The firm’s regional expertise has also helped CMP to carve out a niche in a pocket of the Alps. “Competitions in Switzerland and Alto Adige are distinct from those run anywhere else,” says Carlana. “They ensure high quality and clear contractual commitments.” In other parts of Italy, he explains, bureaucracy and politics often compromise the process. Many studios deem competitions to be too speculative and therefore financially risky to enter. Carlana, however, believes that the investment of time and effort is worthwhile, especially since they provide important opportunities for research and spur experimentation.CMP libraryModel library (Brixen)The pursuit of knowledge is something of a core tenet of the practice. All three partners hold teaching posts at regional universities (including the Università Iuav di Venezia) and a dedication to in-depth architectural research is apparent in CMP’s numerous editorial projects. “Publishing is a vital part of our practice,” says Carlana, tapping onLuoghi Comuni’s electric-blue cover. “It allows us to explore architectural ideas outside the constraints of commissioned projects.” The practice has also published books on Swiss engineer Jürg Conzett and Italian architect Quirino de Giorgio.Luoghi Comuniis neither a monograph nor a work of simple documentation. Rather, it is a reflection on the firm’s design philosophy through the lens of two major public projects: the Brixen Public Library and the Wunderkammer Brixen Music School. “We believe that architecture should have a balance between monumentality and domesticity,” says Carlana. “Buildings should be recognisable and significant while also feeling familiar and welcoming. Architecture needs to be generous.”carlanamezzalirapentimalli.comThe CMP approach to smarter designFrom its base in the Veneto, Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli has become renowned for creating distinct environments in the Dolomites and across northern Italy. Here are three tips for better building, inspired by the studio.Research, research, research:Designers should combine different creative approaches, such as melding meticulous model-making with publishing. This will help them to explore ideas beyond architecture, which they can then incorporate into their work.Winner’s mindset:Healthy competition can bring out the best in us. CMP’s track record shows that design contests can be a valuable investment in research.Context over signature:Instead of imposing a fixed style on every project, ensure that your designs are compatible with the local character and contribute to a sense of place. Balance monumentality with domesticity.

Leading light: London Design Medal winner Michael Anastassiades on thinking outside the box and creating excitement

2025-12-12 08:42:03

It has been a busy, award-winning few years for Michael Anastassiades. The Cypriot-born, London-based designer picked up a prestigious Compasso d’Oro from the Milan-based Association for Industrial Design in 2020 and was distinguished as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) last year. This week he also won the London Design Medal, which was presented during the city’s namesake design festival. The award is a recognition of more than three decades of outstanding work from his studio, which commands international attention for its refined approach to lighting design and partnerships with brands, including Flos.Michael Anastassiades(Image: Osma Harvilahti)Tell us about your design ethos.My work is about layering. You have to introduce layers otherwise your work will remain very superficial. If you’re addressing only one small thing then there is no chance that the project will have longevity or relevance. You need to keep people excited about something that they see every day. Excitement should grow if something, from furniture to lighting, is part of your house – every time that you use it should trigger your imagination.How is this ethos expressed in your work?I’m able to express it through my own brand. We never put any protective layers on our products. The brass, for instance, is unfinished, so it develops its own patina over time. You can polish it if you want. This allows you to build a relationship with the object.How does this approach speak to the design industry more broadly?It’s important to remember that you cannot control everything. This is what makes an object feel alive. Take vintage pieces as an example – there’s amazing demand for them because they have had a life that is clearly visible in the way that they have patinated. But a lot of the companies are now putting protective layers, such as lacquers, on their products. It means that they can’t age and remain pristine. We don’t see leather upholstery developing beautiful cracks and folds. All of a sudden, everything looks plastic.You studied civil engineering, then industrial engineering, and then immediately set up your studio after graduation. Why take this route?I started my studio because I thought that I had something different to say. As a model, my planned approach didn’t seem to exist around me. Usually you have a model of somebody – a practice or an individual designer – that has done something amazing that you can relate to. And it seemed that at that time, in London in the 1990s, there was nothing like I wanted. Similar approaches had existed in the 1960s – radical designers, especially in Italy, were doing amazing things with extreme and conceptual design ideas. I wanted to do that but serve the time that we were living in.Lit Lines at Palazzo Durini, Milan 201124-carat gold designs for Flos(Image: Daniel Riera)What design movement has influenced you the most?Modernism is what I’m drawn to. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean that I am absolute in that relationship. I allow space for everything else to exist too.What’s a recurring source of inspiration?I love art. It really nourishes my mind. I’m fascinated by people’s creativity. I tend to venture to a museum, exhibition or gallery every weekend. It doesn’t matter whether they’re famous institutions or small ones – I believe that every place has something special to offer if you’re open to it.When you started your studio, you also worked as a yoga teacher to supplement your income. How did this other career affect your work?Everything you do in life affects the next thing that you try. Yoga definitely was and is a big part of my life. It taught me to approach what I do from an outside perspective. Whenever I feel that I’m too invested in design, it allows me to step back and be critical of what it is that I’m doing for myself.What’s a priority for you and the industry going forward?Design is deeply personal and it’s also a dialogue. As a designer, you have something to say with your products and it’s an opportunity to trigger somebody’s imagination. There has to be an open door for the dialogue to pass through and people should want to engage with it.

Highlights from Helsinki Design Week 2025

2025-12-11 23:46:56

Helsinki Design Week is in full swing and, as ever, the city is buzzing with creativity and community. This year, two highlights in particular are especially worth paying attention to: an open-air exhibition that celebrates the nation’s brief but brilliant summer, and a pop-up restaurant where Nordic craft meets seasonal cuisine.‘10 Days of Summer’The10 Days of Summerexhibition at Helsinki Design Week is a playful nod to Finland’s fleeting but intense warm season. Running from 10 to 12 September on the leafy grounds of the city’s Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden, the group show highlights the ingenuity of a new wave of Finnish designers while testing their creations in the open air. The line-up spans both emerging names and more established figures, including Aino Michelsen, Samuli Helavuo, Studio Tolvanen and Antrei Hartikainen. Their contributions range from modular seating and tables to lamps, textiles and even a furniture-scale greenhouse.On show is a grill by Salla Luhtasela of Studio Kaksikko that doubles as a sculptural centrepiece, while birdhouses and other pieces hint at a playful approach to garden life. Wood, glass, ceramics and metal are the materials of choice, all selected with durability in mind. “Outdoor furniture shouldn’t be trapped indoors on a podium,” says designer and organiser Ville Auvinen. “Here, people can test it in a real environment.” For visitors, the exhibition is more than just a chance to admire clever seating systems or finely crafted grills. It’s also an opportunity to acquaint themselves with Finland’s new flock of designers, who are emerging confidently from the long shadows of figures such as Alvar and Aino Aalto, Paavo Tynell and Eero Aarnio – proving that the nation’s design legacy is alive, evolving and rooted firmly in the present.Garden variety: ‘10 Days of Summer’Visit ‘10 Days of Summer’ during Helsinki Design Week at Kaisaniemenranta 2.Kuurna pop-up restaurantLocated in the heart of Helsinki, Suomital is a commercial building that dates to 1911. Over the coming days it’s playing a central role in the city’s design week as its main venue, with the fifth floor serving seasonal, Finnish dishes in a pop-up restaurant. Helmed by the team behind Kuurna, it’s a delicious exercise in drinking and dining. Design, of course, is served up too, with guests able to test out chairs, tables, cutlery and crockery by Finnish Design Shop and Danish manufacturer Hay.“Both companies share a passion for spreading the message of Nordic design – and where better to do so than around a shared meal in beautiful architectural surroundings,” explains Noora Tirkkonen, managing director of Finnish Design Shop. “Hay’s playful style fits perfectly with the pop-up’s festive yet relaxed nature. We are also excited to provide some visual delight by setting the table with the new La Pittura collection by artist Emma Kohlmann.” Bookings are now open for lunch and dinner reservations until 13 September. For those who don’t find a seat, the bar area is available to walk-ins ready to toast to good design.Dinner and a show: Kuurna pop-up restaurant(Images: Justus Hirvi)Book for dinner at the Kuurna pop-up restaurant here.

Why global eyes are on South Africa’s next design stars

2025-12-24 17:05:09

“Cape Town is such a vibrant city that it makes you want to create,” says Megan Hesse, co-founder of Anatomy Design, an interiors and product studio that recently opened a lofty new showroom in the De Waterkant neighbourhood. Hesse started her business with her partner in Johannesburg but later moved to Cape Town to tap into the latter’s booming creative scene. South Africa’s second-biggest city is a rapidly growing design capital where it’s getting easier to do business. This is thanks, in part, to a robust economy, which is expected to grow by 1.8 per cent in 2025 (outpacing the country’s forecast 1.3 per cent), with €304m in investment and more than 15,000 jobs directly created in 2024 by business initiatives, which support a host of sectors that include the creative economy.This creative scene is building on solid foundations. It has hosted Design Indaba, an annual global conference that has attracted the likes of Tom Dixon and Milton Glaser since 1995. Cape Town Art Fair launched in 2013 and, a year later, the city was named the World Design Capital, stirring even more interest. “Cape Town has always had a very active, healthy design and creative scene,” says Gareth Pearson, who along with his partner Aimée Pearson co-founded Cape Town Furniture Week in 2023. The event grew from 80 exhibitors in its inaugural year to nearly 100 in 2025. “Cape Town is definitely having a moment,” says Aimée. “There’s an influx of like-minded people, as well as resources.”Importantly, the city hasn’t just captured aesthetes and design-minded transplants looking for a permanent move but also tourism dollars. The city’s population is growing steadily; between 2020 and the end of 2025, it will have gained about 400,000 new residents.“There is a lot of international traffic here,” says Chuma Maweni, a designer who creates functional ceramic pieces such as intricate chairs, mirrors and tables. Maweni, who works with the influential Southern Guild gallery (which has an outpost in Los Angeles), moved from the neighbouring Eastern Cape province to Cape Town in 2006. “The Western Cape has better opportunities and more art enthusiasts,” he says.Chuma Maweni’s sculptural piecesTshidzo MangenaTshidzo Mangena’s Kigali chairIn terms of tourism, the first quarter of 2024 saw a 16 per cent increase in tourist arrivals via air travel, amounting to 336,000 visitors. This rising interest is stoking confidence in creatives and even impacting their work. “It’s an international destination so it feels very cosmopolitan but at the same time it’s very South African,” says artist and designer Tshidzo Mangena, who moved to Cape Town and recently launched his design studio after practising fine art for years. Two decades ago, this was much more difficult.When James Mudge started his furniture business in 2006, there was only a handful of furniture makers in the city. The country was still emerging from the hangover of apartheid. “Sanctions only ended in 1994,” says Mudge, as he walks Monocle through his impressive showroom and factory. “Ten years is not that long in the spectrum of an economy.” What started as a one-man band is now a sprawling warehouse in the industrial area of Paarden Eiland on the outskirts of Cape Town, where Mudge’s signature wooden tables and chairs are manufactured. He brought the entire production in-house a few years ago – a savvy move, given that electricity cuts still aren’t unheard of, despite infrastructure improvements.Designer James MudgeJames Mudge’s factoryMudge’s Windsor ChairsThough Cape Town is arguably the most efficiently run metropolis in the country, it has had its problems, from those cuts to water shortages and safety issues. “There are all kinds of challenges,” says Carla Erasmus, co-founder and designer at Bofred, a contemporary design studio that crafts sculptural chairs, sconces and lamps. Erasmus remembers a time when the studio couldn’t make its bestselling items because they required clay and there was a shortage of water. “We just had to work around it,” she says, adding that it doesn’t faze them any more.One thing that set South Africa’s design scene back in the early 2000s was the notion that the products made here weren’t as good as those from places such as Denmark or Italy, which had established design identities. This is despite South Africa having a long history of manufacturing, from textiles to woodwork and cabinetry. In the 1990s, many industries fell into decline, which undermined the confidence of the manufacturing scene. “It got depleted and people started importing,” says Erasmus. But, as pioneers such as Mudge, Haldane Martin and Xandre Kriel began paving the way and producing better-quality products, perceptions shifted, kick-starting demand and creating space for makers.Designers have been grappling with this inferiority complex for years. “We have all been so obsessed with overcoming this idea that things made in South Africa might not be great and all of the imported stuff is amazing,” says Mudge, adding that this mindset is what drove the industry to improve. “We have tried so hard that we have ended up with products that have their own essence and flavour, and are different from what’s available in Europe and America. You go to these international trade shows and, while the products are cool, they’re all the same. Because we are separate from that, we have developed our own language, which I think is incredible.”Bofred Resort lampBofred’s Palm side tableFor many here, this means leaning into a fresh but distinctively African aesthetic. Maweni’s clay chairs riff on Zulu and Xhosa ceramics, while Mangena’s series of decor pieces and furniture is named after progressive African cities, such as the muscular, wooden Kigali chair. “I’m trying to redefine stereotypes about African design,” says Mangena.Indeed, it seems that there has never been such an appetite for African art and design, with fairs such as Art 3 Lagos and Nairobi Design Week drawing global attention. Margot Molyneux, founder of Design Week South Africa, remembers sitting around a table at Milan Design Week a few years ago with a group of people from Europe and the UK, who quickly turned their attention to her. “All of these people wanted to know where I came from and what was happening in Cape Town,” says Molyneux. This curiosity prompted her to launch her design week event in 2024, a three-day immersive fair that hosts product launches, talks, meet-ups and showcases in Cape Town and Johannesburg. “There’s international attention on Africa; it feels sort of like the last frontier,” she says. “People want to know what is happening in this continent. And there is a lot going on.”Indeed, in the past few years, more brands have launched and even opened standalone shops. Bofred recently unveiled a new glass-fronted space on the second floor of a shopping hub on buzzy Harrington Street, while furniture designers Pedersen 1 Lennard opened a bricks-and-mortar outpost with pieces that can be purchased in-store. New makers are arriving on the scene too. At the Ramp, an artist-led space on an industrial street in Paarden Eiland, architects and furniture makers share a communal workspace. In the workshop at the back, there’s the constant hum of a saw or sander. It’s here that artist and designer Gabriel Hope creates his custom cabinetry and flatpack stools. His business has grown organically and flourished thanks in part to consumers who no longer want to import pieces but have regionally made goods instead. “There is an interest in trying to support smaller businesses,” says Hope.Pedersen 1 LennardEveryday objects from Pedersen 1 LennardInside the Pedersen 1 Lennard shopSouth Africans, who are largely accustomed to political turmoil and international outsider status, tend to rally behind local industries that are doing well. And designers also garner support because they can customise products for their clients. “A little bit higher or a custom colour? No problem,” says Bofred’s Erasmus, adding that South African designers go above and beyond for their customers. And they can because prototyping here is easy so you don’t have to make a run of thousands of items. “But that’s also because the designers themselves want to create something unique,” she says. For some brands, multiple craftsmen will work on one piece of furniture. While this can create an artisanal quality, it also requires time. “It can take between eight to 12 weeks to make a sofa,” says Anatomy Design’s Hesse. “We don’t have big factories like they do in China where they are mass-producing,” she says. “There’s a man or woman sitting behind a sofa hand-stitching it. Which is so beautiful – all of these incredible hands that are poured into one piece of furniture.”Tapping into the country’s craft scene has presented opportunities for many brands. At Ananta Studio, sisters Viveka and Rucita Vassen work with craftspeople to produce beaded lamps, vases and chairs in colours such as hot pink and emerald green, inspired by their Indian heritage. “There’s so much opportunity because there are a lot of crafters here,” says Rucita. The sisters (one studied fashion, the other graphic design) got the idea for the brand when they noticed craftspeople on the side of the street creating beaded flowers and animals. “We saw the untapped potential,” says Viveka. “As designers we thought, ‘How can we support them, grow the craft and take it to another level?’” Ananta now works with a host of artisans to produce collections of vibrant, beaded pieces that feel entirely unique but also true to the city. “There’s a feeling that Cape Town wants to put itself on the map,” says Rucita. “People travel from all over the world to go to design fairs and Cape Town should be on that map.” (Also, she adds, because it’s “such a beautiful destination”.) For creatives, there couldn’t be a better time to be producing here. “It’s exciting to be making things in Cape Town. You can feel that things are moving. There’s an energy that is starting to shift.”Sisters Viveka and Rucita VassenLessons from the Mother CityHere are three lessons that Cape Town can teach design-minded cities across the globe.1.Embrace constraintsDesigners here have turned infrastructure challenges, such as water shortages and electricity outages, into opportunities for innovation, developing resilience and honing their output and design language.2.Use your geographySeparation from American and European design centres has prevented homogenisation and allowed Cape Town’s creatives to produce work that stands out, precisely because it’s different from the global mainstream.3.Come togetherThe Cape Town design scene thrives on shared resources such as communal workspaces and strong consumer support for regional businesses, creating an ecosystem where small-scale production can flourish.

A tour around the Outdoor Recreation Archive, an institution preserving the history of outdoor retail

2025-12-05 11:17:56

Visitors flocking to Arctic destinations will spend a pretty penny this winter to bunk down in geodesic domes or glass igloos for a chance to glimpse the northern lights. Others will strap on cross-country skis and snowshoes, while wrapping up in high-performance jackets and trousers to explore the vast frozen landscapes.The accommodation and equipment required for such leisure pursuits, which are popular today, have their roots in the mid-20th century, when the modern outdoor recreation sector began to take shape. From the 1950s to the 1970s, companies producing outdoor apparel and gear were in their infancy – a cottage-like industry flourishing in garages and workshops.Innovators included Chouinard Equipment (the precursor to Patagonia) and independent designers such as Charles William (Bill) Moss. The latter began his career at Ford Motor Company and sketched prototypes of car-mounted tents. In 1975 he established Moss Tent Works to make his ideas a reality; his Stargazer II tent has since ended up in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.Photographs from the Moss Tent Works recordsSketches of this model and the rest of Moss’s papers are among the more than 10,000 items in the Outdoor Recreation Archive – the world’s leading repository of catalogues, sketches, journals, photographs, correspondence and other material related to the outdoor industry. Ideas that were ahead of their time are a common sight in the archive, which is housed at the Utah State University library and intended as a teaching tool for the institution’s Outdoor Product Design and Development programme.“These early designers envisioned many people participating in the outdoors but some of their ideas failed because they just didn’t have the audience at the time,” Clint Pumphrey, co-creator of the Outdoor Recreation Archive, tells Monocle when we visit, with hundreds of colourful catalogues and sketches arrayed around us on tables. “That’s why we are such an important research resource. Our students will be the ones who will design products and push the industry in the next generation.”Established in 2017, the archive began as a physical collection of print material before eventually being scanned and transformed into an online material inventory; its popularity, however, boomed when images of its collection were first shared on social media. Highlights include early 1970s photoshoots for US-based company Coleman that look like something out of a Wes Anderson film, attracting a following in cities from London to Los Angeles, Paris to Tokyo.Soon a global cohort of fashion and design professionals were interested. Avery Trufelman, the host and producer of renowned design-focused radio shows99% InvisibleandArticles of Interest, was among those applying for research fellowships. But the archive’s evolution from an academic pursuit to an international creative resource shouldn’t come as a surprise. In the wake of fashion trends such as “gorpcore” – in which technical or utilitarian gear is worn as everyday streetwear – and the rise of outdoor recreation as a hobby, there’s a growing thirst to better understand the visual and design history of this sector.The Outdoor Recreation Archive’s co-creator Chase AndersonThe archive’s co-creator Clint PumphreyDespite this, global cachet is something to which the archive’s co-creator Chase Anderson, the industry relations manager for the outdoor design programme, is still adjusting. “When French customs ask about the purpose of our trip after we’ve flown in from Salt Lake City and our answer is Paris Fashion Week, they’re surprised,” says Anderson, referring to how his team is now invited to events where leading outdoor brands showcase their wares. “That’s not typically what an archivist says when they’re travelling.”This resonance resulted in a busy 2025 for the team, who released a coffee-table book in June with images from 70 brands represented in the archive’s holdings. In October, it mounted exhibitions at the Westminster Menswear Archive in London and Munich’s Performance Days functional-fabrics fair, in conjunction with Shigeru Kaneko, the chief buyer of Japanese brand Beams Plus. A collector of vintage outdoor garments, Kaneko dedicated a section of his volumeOutdoor Expedition Book 99to the archive after visiting in 2021. “It’s the world’s finest outdoor resource room,” he said at the time, before inviting the archive team to Tokyo to present its work.The archive’s growing popularity has encouraged more donations at a pivotal moment of reflection for the sector. “This industry is so focused on moving forward, newness, innovation and solving problems that it’s hard to look back,” says Anderson. “But with many of these founders ageing and companies hitting their 50th anniversaries, there’s an opportunity to ask questions such as, ‘What are the origins of this industry?’ and, ‘What made these companies successful?’”Bound copies of ‘Outside’ magazineOne of the most coveted holdings at the archive covers the early days of The North Face. Founded by climbers in 1966 in San Francisco, the company was sold to Hap Klopp for $50,000 two years later. Typewritten accounting sheets reveal that the company lost money in its early days but Klopp’s business nous and the design acumen of former president Bruce Hamilton helped it to grow from a respected outdoor-equipment maker, while the new owners in the 1990s adopted youth culture to make the brand a high-street staple, with its puffer jackets becoming status symbols. Bought by VF Corporation in 2000, the brand is today valued at $3.7bn (€3.2bn).The North Face’s chief design officer, Ebru Ercon, is a repeat visitor to the Outdoor Recreation Archive. She was recently here for the fifth time and has taken nearly 70 of her team to browse as part of an onboarding process, helping them to appreciate the challenges the brand faced in its early days. They can also read Hamilton’s letters from architect Buckminster Fuller, who vetted the company’s geodesic-shaped Oval Intention tent (1976), now held in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. It’s a grounding experience for Ercon’s staff. “When you have Hamilton’s sketchbook in your hand, you feel differently about the brand,” she says. “You’re not being given a brief or fulfilling a task. You’re taking a baton from the past and moving forward.”The North Face designer Bruce Hamilton’s sketchbooksErcon treats the archive visit as a structured exercise, asking her team members to reflect on how a certain item inspires them or to compare archival designs with current products. Her approach is similar to that of Utah State outdoor product design assistant professor Mark Larese-Casanova. Archival visits are a requirement for his students when they embark on a new design project and studying old catalogues is a fruitful form of research. Utah State students cut, knit, sew and stitch, and Larese-Casanova believes that the tangible printed matter reinforces the importance of hands-on education.“Having the archive here as a resource helps to enable that style of learning,” he says. Students start the programme sketching on paper before they use styluses and tablets, so the archive is also valuable for overcoming any sense of inadequacy. For all their skills, lauded gear designers were fallible. “There are instances of famous designers, whose materials we have in the archive, where their drawing quality is not very good, which helps the students to overcome the fear of not being great at it,” he says. “Sketching is just about conveying ideas.”The industry design and fashion talent that dives into the archive makes a point of visiting the classroom as well. On the day of Monocle’s visit, master knifemaker Tim Leatherman is giving a lecture; a few weeks earlier, Hap Klopp stopped by. These practitioners, in turn, are poised to make changes that will ripple throughout lookbooks, across retail displays – and on rugged peaks, with Ercon hinting that some of The North Face’s 2026 collection will draw inspiration from the archive. “There was a bolder and more courageous approach to what was happening in the past,” she says. “That’s what we’re trying to bring back.”ora.usu.eduFrom behind-the-scenes photographs and raw sketches to era-defining posters and eye-opening catalogues, the archive’s collection is a time capsule of materials that spans generations.Salomon poster from 1984Moss Tent Works’ Luna tent, circa 1984In the pictureAmong the collection are photos that evoke a family album, capturing many outdoor brands that are now multibillion-dollar enterprises in their infancy. Founders and innovators are shown tinkering in garages or mugging for the camera after a successful outing.Coleman 1974 catalogue coverProduct sketch of a Marmot jacket from 1983Rossignol ski poster from 1971Cover of a 1981 catalogue for PatagoniaA 1967 catalogue for The North FaceA 1982 Patagonia cataloguePage turnersCompanies produced annual print catalogues that form a core component of the archive. How brands displayed their products, especially the outlandish and inventive approaches common in the 1970s, can come as a surprise amid today’s more cautious marketing approaches.Coleman 1972 catalogue coverA 1973 issue of ‘Backpacker’ magazinePoster for ski maker KneisslOn the wallThe youthful adventurer’s bedroom or grungy gear shop was not complete without posters. Larger format than catalogues, they depict skiers and climbers in their element.Rossignol ski poster in JapaneseA 1990 Patagonia catalogueAnother poster for RossignolThe North Face’s first-ever catalogue, from 1966From mind to paperThe most intimate of the archive’s holdings are sketchbooks from some of the world’s top gear designers, including Bill Moss and The North Face’s Bruce Hamilton. These raw, unfiltered glimpses offer rare insights into their methods.Patagonia catalogue from 1983A 1903 catalogue for Abercrombie&FitchA car camping concept sketched by Bill Moss in the 1950s

Monocle’s Global Design Directory 2025: Where to find designers around the world

2025-12-03 05:34:09

Need an architect in Athens or collectable furniture in Copenhagen? Our new Design Directory connects you with vetted creatives on every continent. From emerging studios to market leaders, skilled craftspeople to cutting-edge brands, this guide delivers contacts for transforming any space – an address book for navigating the world of design.EuropeRegional design identities remain strong in Europe. The continent’s design capitals maintain distinct visual languages – from Scandinavian minimalism to Italian luxury – shaped by local materials, cultural heritage and the peculiarities of each market.AmsterdamThe Dutch capital plays host to some of design’s brightest minds, from the Amsterdam School’s community-minded architecture to its savvy housing scheme.Inside OutsideThe name says it all: this design studio specialises in both landscape and interior design.Schakelstraat 4, Amsterdam+31 20 681 0801, insideoutside.nlUNStudioArchitecture practice renowned for large-scale infrastructure projects imbued with a sculptural sensibility.Stadhouderskade 113, Amsterdam+31 20 570 2040, unstudio.comNicemakersLooking for cinematic interiors? This is the studio to turn to.Stadhouderskade 160, Amsterdam+31 20 354 7228, nicemakers.comAntwerpBelgium’s diamond capital layers cutting-edge contemporary structures on art nouveau mansions. Meanwhile, the city’s famed fashion academy plays an outsized role in shaping its creative scene.Studio HelderBuy outstanding collectable pieces ranging from furniture to jewellery or turn to the studio of this multifaceted business for advice on design.Provinciestraat 100, Antwerp+32 3 289 43 18, studiohelder.beEspooSearching for a piece of Scandinavia in Belgium? Drop by this shop that stocks the best in Nordic furniture and homeware.Kloosterstraat 75-77, Antwerp+32 3 237 57 97, espoo.beGoing EastInteriors practice specialising in design-build, ensuring that projects are delivered accurately and impeccably.Ridder van Parijsstraat 18, Antwerp+32 3 226 81 59, goingeast.beAthensAncient craft traditions meet a contemporary design renaissance in the Greek capital, with marble and ceramic workshops influencing modern furniture makers.Hyper HypoColourful bookshop selling the best print titles. It’s also an informal community hub for the city’s creative scene.Voreou 10, Athens+30 21 1735 9628, hyperhypo.grAntiquaGallery established in 1954 that specialises in 20th-century design masterpieces – drop by for the best collection in Athens.Irodotou 7, Athens+30 21 0323 2220, antiqua.grPoint SupremeMasters of blending simple geometries with complex colour palettes, this architecture studio is the go-to for inspiring Mediterranean interiors.Genneou Kolokotroni 68B, Athenspointsupreme.comBarcelonaGaudí’s fairy-tale modernisme might be Barcelona’s calling card but the Catalonian city has never coasted on past glories, with a host of contemporary firms creating illuminating architecture, furniture and objects.Isern SerraVersatile design studio creating beautiful objects with a focus on materiality and craftsmanship.Carrer Llull 47-49, Barcelona+34 650 293 485, isernserra.comSanta&ColeOne of Catalonia’s leading lights, this design firm adds atmosphere and character to any space.Carretera, C-251 Km 5,6, Parc de Belloch, Barcelona+34 938 619 100, santacole.comMesuraStudio creating beautiful architecture with a deep understanding that aesthetics is linked to durability and sustainability.Carrer de Gomis 34, Barcelona+34 934 672 190, mesura.euMarsetFamily-run firm continuing to produce innovative, cutting-edge lighting designs.Carretera de Rubí 284, Barcelona+34 934 602 067, marset.comSandra Tarruella InterioristasLooking for a timeless, atmospheric interior? Turn to these experts who specialise in restaurants, hotels and commercial spaces.Madrazo 83, Barcelona+34 933 622 264, tarruellainterioristas.comBD BarcelonaDesign pioneers since 1972, this newly revived firm brings to life iconic furniture pieces by Gaudí, Dalí and contemporary masters.C/Ramon Turró 126, Barcelona+34 934 570 052, bdbarcelona.comBaselDespite the city’s compact size, celebrated international designers including Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando have worked in Basel. Swiss engineering prowess is also evident in the precision of the construction of its skyline.Tiny KücheLooking for a space-saving mini kitchen? Turn to this company for interior and exterior fit-outs.St. Alban-Vorstadt 15, Basel+41 61 272 18 18, tinykueche.chChrist&GantenbeinArchitecture firm that has delivered significant infrastructure and cultural landmarks with efficient design concepts.Spitalstrasse 12, Basel+41 61 260 90 20, christgantenbein.comGlassworks Matteo GonetBespoke glassworker that specialises in everything from large-scale sculptural works to made-to-order chandeliers.Tramstrasse 66, Münchenstein+41614114121, matteogonet.allyou.netVitraFirm dedicated to improving homes, offices and public spaces through quality furniture design.Charles-Eames-Strasse 2, Weil am Rhein+49 76 21 702 32 40, vitra.comBerlinThe German capital’s architectural layers tell stories of kingdoms, republics, division and reunification. It’s a mix that attracts creatives of all stripes – from architects and designers to musicians and couturiers.DOM PublishersPrint specialists producing high-quality design-minded publications.Caroline-von-Humboldt-Weg 20, Berlin+49 30 206 96930, dom-publishers.comHacking GutenbergWorkshop redefining the letterpress in the 21st century through research, printing and experimentation.Potsdamer Strasse 98A, Berlin+49 30 832 19070,hackinggutenberg.berlinHolderEditorial platform, retailer and gallerist showcasing contemporary and collectable design from Latin America.Rosenheimer Strasse 7, Berlin+49 152 078 77192, holder-objects.comSüper StoreCurated design shop specialising in glass, ceramics, jewellery and objects from Japan.Prinzenstrasse 85C, Berlinsueper-store.deCopenhagenFar from resting on the laurels of its mid-century designers, Copenhagen continues to export outstanding creative talent worldwide, thanks in no small part to its respected design schools.NormArchitectsDesign studio that creates architecture, interiors and products with a focus on minimalist forms and calming spaces.Amaliegade 21D, Copenhagen+45 28 87 93 09, normcph.comSLAStudio with a focus on landscape architecture, with projects that range from nature-inspired spaces and drawing up city master plans to biodiversity strategies.Njalsgade 17B, Pakhus 2, Copenhagen+45 33 91 13 16, sla.dkTom RossauIndependent lighting designer with a shop-front workshop and studio where distinctive sculptural pendant lights and lamps are created.Frederiksberg Allé 5,Copenhagen+45 71 94 00 00, tomrossau.comAtelierAxoCross-disciplinary studio specialising in small-scale architecture, interior design and bespoke furniture.Bredgade 66, Copenhagen+45 40 88 63 38, atelier-axo.comMoebeDanish furniture brand doing more with less, producing furniture and objects reduced to their simplest, most efficient forms.Strandlodsvej 42a, Copenhagen+45 71 74 74 96, moebe.dkFritz HansenEstablished in 1872, this storied international design house continues to create world-class furniture, lighting and homeware.Valkendorfsgade4, Copenhagen+45 39 20 20 31, fritzhansen.comGenevaA lakeside city where French and German architectural traditions merge with Italian influences, Geneva also has a watchmaking heritage that brings mechanical flair to the city’s creative scene.Lacroix ChessexArchitecture studio specialising in residential, educational and public buildings, often defined by impressive geometric forms.Ruedes Cordiers 4, Geneva+41 22 300 54 07, lacroixchessex.chLes Illuminés Design XXèmeGallery specialising in 20th-century design classics from masters such as Le Corbusier, Charles and Ray Eames and Poul Kjaerholm.Rue Vignier 3, Geneva+4179 725 33 75, lesilluminesdesign.chBonhôte ZapataArchitecture firm with a masterful grasp of light and natural materiality, working on everything from civic to residential projects.Rue du Levant 3, Geneva+41 22 786 37 83, bonhotezapata.chHelsinkiFinnish design’s reputation was built on the backs of companies such as Iittala and Artek, which embraced the country’s glassmaking and timber heritage – a trend that continues to evolve today.Studio Joanna LaajistoFunctionality, quality and beauty converge in this interior studio’s work across retail, hospitality and commercial spaces.Kalevankatu 18 B, Helsinki+358 44 214 5937, joannalaajisto.comVaarniPine is the material of choice for this firm that creates brutal yet sleek objects in partnership with Finnish craftspeople and factories.Sorvaajankatu 15, Helsinki+358 10 319 9670, vaarnii.comHakolaColourful family-run firm creating responsibly-made, joy-inducing furniture.Annankatu 5, Helsinki+358 50 358 2739, hakola.fiIstanbulRadical design has flourished on the Bosphorus for centuries, creating a patchwork where 1950s international style sits alongside 16th-century mosques. Its craft scene, defined by carpet weaving and kilim making, adds texture to interiors and the fabric of the city.AutobanArchitecture studio delivering sensitively conceived projects, ranging from underground transport terminals and vast airports to tropical resorts.Dibek Sokak No 48 Galata, Istanbul+90 212 243 8641, autoban.comSanayi313Design, furniture, art and food come together at this lifestyle brand’s industrial workshop.10 Sokak No 313 Maslak, Istanbul+90 212 286 3857, sanayi313.comUniqkaDesign brand reviving handcrafted leather traditions in partnership with contemporary designers.Aktarlar Sokak No 27/A Besiktas, Istanbul+90 532 427 1383, uniqka.comLisbonPortugal has a rich design heritage defined by a deep appreciation for craft and a recent influx of expats in the capital is enlivening the city’s artistic milieu.Corticeira AmorimLeading cork producer that is transforming the natural material into innovative architectural products and design solutions.Rua de Meladas 380, Mozelos+351 22 747 5400, amorim.comGarcé DimofskiDesign studio known for interiors and furniture with a pared-back look that maintains a sculptural quality.Rua dos Anjos 16, Lisbongarce-dimofski.comP-06Storytelling is at the core of this studio specialising in environmental graphic design, from wayfinding to place branding.Praça Guilherme Gomes Fernandes 28A, Paço de Arcos+351 21 446 7367, p06.studioMonadePublishing house with a focus on research books and monographs on architecture, photography and art.Rua Rodrigues Sampaio, 19 5B, Lisbon+351 96 654 7982, monadebooks.comLondonThe UK capital continues to attract global talent thanks to its world-class educational facilities and the diversity of its creative communities. The result is innovation in fashion, graphics, architecture and furniture.Michael AnastassiadesCypriot-born designer known for cinematic ambient lighting and high-quality objects.50 Rochester Place, London+44 20 7928 7527, michaelanastassiades.comIndustrial FacilityBeauty and utility seamlessly combine in this studio’s furniture- and product-design output.20 Britton Street, London+44 20 7253 3234, industrialfacility.co.ukStudio FrithThis design studio is an expert in using colour and typography to create inspiring branding and graphic work.18 Club Row, Londonstudiofrith.comGoldfingerCommunity-minded organisation that designs everything from bespoke furniture pieces to outreach programmes aimed at training the next generation of craftspeople.66A Turnmill Street, Londongoldfinger.designModular By MensahFurniture-design studio that promotes social connection and community through its work.Unit 221B, Peckham Levels, Moncrieff Street, Londonmodularbymensah.comWilliam SmalleyArchitecture studio creating spaces informed by a deep understanding of context and memory, as well as material and craft.13 Great James Street, London+44 20 7242 0028, williamsmalley.comSCPLeading furniture retailer of contemporary and iconic interior pieces that also commissions and produces new British design.135-139 Curtain Road, London+44 20 7739 1869, scp.co.ukMadridGrand boulevards and ornate fountains sit alongside village-like plazas and narrow streets in this city of contrasts. This varied inspiration shapes the work of its creatives.Langarita-NavarroArchitecture studio blurring boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces, public and private spheres, as well as nature and the manmade.Grijalba 8, Madrid+34 915 645 984,langarita-navarro.comOffice for Political InnovationMultidisciplinary agency dedicated to architecture and exhibitions, operating at the intersection of design, research and environmental activism.Calle Arriaza, 6, Madrid+34 910 572 163, officeforpoliticalinnovation.comPenadésResearch-driven studio developing new materials and objects while curating architectural experiences.Rondade Toledo 16, Local 304, Madrid+34915524270, penades.xyzEspacio BrutDesign outpost for 20th- and 21st-century objects, art, books and collectable design.Calle Pelayo 68, Madrid+34 910 258 963, espaciobrut.comMilanHome to the famed Salone del Mobile, Milan continues to have far-reaching influence on global design trends and industries. Against this business backdrop is a city of impressively varied architecture, spanning from the gothic spires of the Duomo to Liberty decoration and Gio Ponti’s modernism.ACPV ArchitectsArchitecture studio delivering city-defining projects, from high-rise towers to urban plazas, grand hotels and commercial headquarters.Via Cerva, 4, Milan+39 02 763 8801,acpvarchitects.comVero InternationalNext-generation furniture and homeware brand using Italian know-how to produce simple and elegant wares.verointernational.com6:AM GlassworksStudio that is redefining Italy’s glassmaking heritage by combining traditional techniques with contemporary aesthetics.Via Privata Felice Romani 2, Milan+39 02 8410 6869, 6am.glassFormafantasmaLeading design studio working across architecture, branding, product and exhibition design, with an approach defined by a deep respect for cultural, social and environmental context.Via Privata Assab 1, Milanformafantasma.comObjects Are ByHomeware brand connecting creatives and artisans in the production of unique, environmentally low-impact pieces.objectsareby.comMunichFrom Olympiapark’s landscape-embedded stadiums to corporate headquarters, function precedes aesthetics in the Bavarian capital. The result? Practical industrial design and smart, contemporary architecture.HolzrauschAn interior-design studio with production facilities for the creation of bespoke furniture and architecture.Blumenstrasse17, Munich+49 89 1893 2880,holzrausch.deBureau BorscheGraphic-design studio specialising in editorial design, creating distinct visual identities and typographic work.Paul-Heyse-Strasse17, Munich+49 89 6214 6672, bureauborsche.comJ*GastInnovative brand challenging notions of what traditional unit kitchens can be through the use of modular, customisable solutions.Blumenstrasse 17, Munich+49 89 8776 5575, jgast.comOcchioSystems-based lighting brand that manufactures its own luminaries and fixtures.Wiener Platz 7, Munich+49 89 4477 8630, occhio.comOsloSustainable timber construction and landscape-integrated buildings reflect the Nordics’ love for nature. It’s an outlook embraced by Oslo’s leading furniture makers.Shapes by HydroThe research and furniture-production arm of aluminium specialists Norsk Hydro.Drammensveien 264, Oslo+47 22 53 81 00, shapesbyhydro.comFjord ArkitekterArchitecture firm delivering structures with a respect for local ecologies, economies and cultures.Bjerregaardsgate 1A, Oslo+47 40 41 61 61, fjordarkitekter.noEdvin KlassonIndependent designer creating objects and furniture, radically combining materials and forms.+47 97 14 66 39, edvinklasson.comParisAn appreciation for beauty and craft shapes Paris’s outlook on design, whether in the work of haute-couture ateliers or the magnificent rooftops lining Haussmannian boulevards.Pierre Yovanovitch MobilierRenowned interior designer producing elegant furniture collections with high-quality French craftsmanship.4 Passage Sainte-Avoye, Paris+33 1 84 74 77 90,pierreyovanovitch.comYorgo&CoCreative studio specialising in savvy solutions across branding, interiors and product development projects.51 Rue des Vinaigriers, Paris+33 1 40 38 81 85, yorgo.coGarnier&LinkerLighting, furniture and object design studio producing work for a range of environments, from residences to hotels and galleries.22 Rue de l’Echiquier, Paris+33 6 73 51 76 18, garnieretlinker.comThe Invisible CollectionCurators of exceptional contemporary furniture and decorative objects, sourced from a global cohort of designers and artisans.20 Rue Amélie, Paris+33 1 84 88 04 66, theinvisiblecollection.comFesten ArchitectureMakers of elegant interiors defined by rich textures and robust materials.14 Rue Commines, Paris+33 9 86 41 30 26, festenarchitecture.comKann DesignFrench-Lebanese studio designing, manufacturing and kitting out interiors with bespoke furniture and architectural solutions.30 Rue des Trois Bornes, Paris+33 9 62 54 42 03, kanndesign.comTiptoeSavvy design meets sleek industrial machining to produce smart seating, tables and homeware.49 Rue Étienne Marcel, Paris+33 1 80 50 05 13, tiptoe.frPragueA post-communism creative renaissance saw a design boom in the Czech capital, where Bohemian glass traditions and heritage woodworking and ceramic practices have been adapted to suit modern needs.Chybik + KristofThis Czech-founded global office carries out projects with strong cultural and community ambitions.Vodickova 736/17, Prague+420 775 727 488, chybik-kristof.comCampThe Center for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning (Camp) is a hub for discussion, encouraging discourse on the development and construction of Czech cities.Vyšehradská 51, Prague+420 770 141 547, praha.campMaster&MasterCzech-made furniture marrying functionality and playfulness across a range that spans from sofas to magazine holders.Na Zátorách 7, Prague+420 725 258 289, masterandmaster.euRomeThe Italian capital has a long history: Roman ruins and Renaissance churches join baroque basilicas. But new constructions in the city prove that its design know-how extends far beyond its ancient foundations.RhinocerosSeventeenth-century palazzo combining hospitality with exhibition spaces showcasing work by contemporary creatives and deep dives into design history.Via delVelabro 9, Rome+39 6 679 7434, rhinocerosroma.comSecondomeDesign gallery championing Italian designers and promoting handcrafted contemporary objects.Via Portuense 201, Rome+39 34 7634 4053, secondome.bizGiustini / StagettiOn the lookout for 20th-century Italian design? This gallery stocks a variety of pieces from design masters.Via Gregoriana 41, Rome+39 06 8765 2093, giustinistagetti.comRotterdamThe Dutch city owes its reputation to the post-Second World War construction boom in which the city became an architectural playground filled with bold, experimental design.Studio Sabine MarcelisFew designers are shaping the contemporary design landscape quite like Sabine Marcelis. The Dutch designer has collaborated with the likes of Ikea, Hem and Cc-Tapis.Vlaardingweg 28, Rotterdam+31 6 3421 0798, sabinemarcelis.comCloudMultidisciplinary practice working across architecture, interiors and product design, delivering work defined by a masterful command of sculptural forms.Delftseplein 36, Rotterdam+31 6 8627 9603, cloud-ism.comMVRDVGlobal architecture firm working on projects that function as “city doctors” connecting people with each other and the environment.Achterklooster7,Rotterdam+31 1 0477 2860, mvrdv.comStockholmThriving creative neighbourhoods are scattered across the Swedish capital, defined by rusty townhouses, sky-splitting spires, baroque palaces and Nordic classicism.Note Design StudioInteriors and architecture studio redefining the contemporary Nordic aesthetic through the use of playful forms and colour combined with natural light and materials.Nytorgsgatan 23, Stockholm+46 8 656 88 04, notedesignstudio.seMassproductionsContemporary furniture company building on the clean, functional elegance of modernism.Katarinavägen 11C, Stockholm+46 8 789 03 90, massproductions.seHemIndependent design brand delivering imaginative, functional contemporary furniture of exceptional quality.Torsgatan 16, Stockholm+46 8 408 067 40, hem.comJacksonsGallery specialising in 20th-century Scandinavian design, with a focus on Swedish classics.Sibyllegatan 53, Stockholm+46 70 545 40 49,jacksons.seVeniceA global standout in terms of urban design and architecture, the city is also home to the Venice Biennale’s famed International Architecture Exhibition, while its glassmaking scene on the island of Murano continues to inspire.Nason MorettiFamily-run Murano glassworks creating distinctive pieces finished in a range of hues and textures.Calle Dietro Gli Orti 12, Venice+39 041 739 020, nasonmoretti.comBrunoGraphic-design studio, exhibition space, specialist bookshop and publishing house focusing on visual communication.Dorsoduro 2729, Venice+39 041 523 0379, b-r-u-n-o.itLaguna BFirm creating contemporary Murano glassware, reinterpreting traditionalgoti de fornasainto collectable pieces.Dorsoduro 3276, Venice+39 041 098 6405, lagunab.comViennaThe legacy of the city’s golden age at the turn of the 20th century laid the foundations for the Austrian capital to remain full of vibrant creativity.EoosProduct and furniture studio designing for global brands, while also working on humanitarian projects for disadvantaged communities.Zelinkagasse 2/6, Vienna+43 1 4053987, eoos.comStudio EsGraphics and branding studio specialising in print and visual identity design.Siebenbrunnengasse 21/5, Vienna+43 664 8498717,studio-es.atJarosinski&VaugoinCelebrated silversmith creating pieces that range from cutlery to ornamental urns.Zieglergasse 24, Vienna+43 1 5233388, vaugoin.comWarsawA hub of Eastern European talent, Warsaw’s modernist architectural heritage, informed by postwar reconstruction, continues to influence its contemporary design.366 ConceptBrand specialising in reissuing classic mid-century Polish furniture using environmentally minded production methods.Nowogrodzka 10/Apt 2, Warsaw+48 57 760 73 66, eu.366concept.comTylkoFurniture label known for its bespoke and readily customisable shelving and storage systems.Czerska 8/10, Warsawtylko.comMaja Ganszyniec StudioDesign studio with a global roster of clients, creating products rooted in material honesty and refined forms.Odynca 9/4, Warsawstudioganszyniec.comZürichThe international typographic style – a graphic movement that prioritised clarity, order and legibility – had a significant influence on Zürich. Today, those effects on its foundational home can still be seen, from architecture to print.MACH ArchitekturArchitecture practice creating elegant and robust buildings with a focus on precise details and materials.Hardturmstrasse 76, Zürich+41 44 248 36 50, macharch.chLars MüllerPublisher of award-winning books on architecture, design and photography, renowned for its intellectual and aesthetic rigour.Pfingstweidstrasse 6, Zürich+41 44 274 37 40, lars-mueller-publishers.comCharles O JobDesigner known for furniture and product design emphasising simple forms, rich colours and a multicultural sensibility.Ottikerstrasse 53, Zürich+41 44 361 14 20, charlesjob.comKodai and AssociatesArchitecture studio blending Japanese, Italian and Swiss influences to create detail-rich, intentional spaces.Lavaterstrasse 45, Zürich+41 44 536 39 83, kodaiandassociates.comEdition VFOPublishing house behind a wide range of editioned prints and artworks, promoting graphic art to a wider public.Limmatstrasse 268, Zürich+41 44 241 53 00, edition-vfo.chMilan Rohrer StudioIndustrial-design studio with a specialisation in transport, from autonomous aircraft-towing vehicles to modular fire engines.AmWasser 55, Zürich+41 78 677 42 73, milanrohrer.comMiddle East and AfricaFrom Accra to Riyadh, a new generation of designers is drawing on millennia of artistic heritage and traditional craft to produce work that is deeply contextual, sustainable and forward-looking. The region's creative scene is imbued with a bold sense of optimism about the future.Abu DhabiEmirati traditions meet ultra-modern aspirations as contemporary designers reimagine the city’s cultural heritage, using everything from traditional Islamic geometries to mashrabiya latticework.Agata Kurzela StudioArchitecture, interiors and furniture-design studio producing sleek works that play with form, light and shadow.kurzela.comFountDesign-minded concept shop celebrating good design with a world-class selection of objects, books and collectables.Erth, Khor Al Maqta, Al Khaleej Al Arabi Road, Abu Dhabi+971 58 540 5698, fountconcept.aeSlashPart of the Ripple Collective of Abu Dhabi-based creative businesses, this multidisciplinary studio works across strategy, branding, visual identity and spatial design.Level 3, Erth, Khor Al Maqta, Al Khaleej Al Arabi Road, Abu Dhabi+971 2 679 8800, ripplecollective.aeAccraGhana’s capital embraces both traditional craft and Africa’s best new design. Vibrant textile traditions and local hardwoods, such as mahogany, shape the furniture industry.Dot AteliersCreative residency and hub providing resources for artists and designers to deepen their practice.254a Third Kaadjano St, Accradotateliers.spaceLimbo AccraSpatial-design practice working across public art, design and architectural production to challenge perceptions about the way we use buildings and develop cities.limboaccra.onlineNav_S Baerbel MuellerArchitecture and design studio specialising in contemporary projects across western Africa.nav-s.netBeirutAt the crossroads of Mediterranean culture with a proud emphasis on Middle Eastern traditions, the Lebanese capital plays host to a design scene that is constantly rebuilding and reinventing itself.Blatt ChayaFamily-owned tile producer reviving 19th-century artisanal tile-making practices with contemporary patterns.POBox 5685 663, Al Midane Street, Dekweneh, Beirut+961 1 695 222, blattchaya.comFabracaSpecialists in the design and making of bespoke lighting, this studio combines spatial design with in-house manufacturing expertise.3rd Floor, Obeid Building, Bauchrieh Industrial City+961 3 917 501, fabracastudios.comCairoFive millennia of design heritage converge in Cairo, where specialist schools foster new talent while artisans in workshops across the city adapt ancient techniques for contemporary markets.Dar Arafa ArchitectureContemporary architecture firm known for residential and commercial projects across the Middle East and North Africa.New Cairo1, Cairo+20 10 26000669, dararafa.comMatterColourful brand-design and communications agency working in creative strategy and visual identity.2ElMalekElAfdal, Zamalek, Cairo+20 10 33960972, matterbranding.comTimm HengerBased in Cairo but with roots in Leipzig, Germany, this visual-communication studio produces striking, contemporary graphic works.timmhenger.comCape TownSouth Africa’s design capital has a creative scene full of manufacturing know-how and resourcefulness that produces architecture and furniture rooted in craft.Lemon FurnitureContemporary furniture-design studio creating distinctive pieces for residential and commercial spaces.24 Waterkant Street, Cape Town+27 66 035 3183, lemonfurniture.coMonday DesignGraphic design and branding studio specialising in packaging and visual identity.160 Sir Lowry Road, Cape Town+27 82 454 5827, mondaydesign.co.zaJames MudgeProduct and furniture designer creating sculptural pieces that blur the lines between art and function.1 Calcutta Street, Paarden Eiland, Cape Town+27 79 448 1683, jamesmudge.comAnatomy DesignLeading retail outpost for furniture, lighting and homeware, working in close partnership with interiors studio Hesse Kleinloog.7 HudsonStreet, DeWaterkant, CapeTown+27 21 300 6071, anatomydesign.co.zaDakarCreativity blossoms in Senegal’s coastal capital, where designers are increasingly looking to work with local and indigenous materials, reducing reliance on imported goods.Q08 Design StoreCurated design shop, connected to art and design centre Studio Quatorzerohuit, showcasing contemporary African design.12 Avenue Georges Pompidou, Dakar+221 78 100 14 08Aissa Dione TissusTraditional and contemporary textile studio specialising in West African fabrics and patterns.Parcel 104B Sodida, Dakar 1221 33 825 66 60, aissadionetissus.comAtelier KalmArchitecture studio focusing on sustainable and culturally responsive design solutions.Fenêtre Mermoz 118, Immeuble D Mermoz, Dakarkalm-architecture.comDohaThe Qatari capital’s rapid transformation from fishing village to global creative hub is remarkable, with the city home to an international design festival and grand works of architecture by the likes of Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas.Sameh ElnahasGraphic-design studio specialising in comestibles, applying striking visual identities to equally eye-catching packaging designs.+974 3367 4742, samehelnahas.comAlbaker ArchitectsArchitecture firm known for large-scale works, blending contemporary Middle Eastern design with international expertise.Level 4, Ghanem Business Center, Ramada Signal, Doha+974 4442 3963, albakerarchitects.comDubaiThe UAE’s creative centre is a dynamic city where global starchitects inspire a new generation of design talent and regional manufacturing expertise is combined with an international outlook.Mula StudioAward-winning design studio creating architecture, interiors and installations inspired by the Emirati climate and traditional building methods.5b 15A Street, Al Quoz, Dubaimula.aeModuFurniture and homeware brandslash-design consultancy focusing on furnishing spaces and cultivating distinct interior atmospheres.+971 58 525 6638, modumethod.comWaiwaiResearch-based design studio creating innovative architecture, interior, product and material solutions.Office 906, Emirates NBD Gold Building, Al Sabkha, Dubai+971 4 298 5663, waiwaidesign.comThe Line ConceptContemporary Emirati furniture brand with a Dubai facility producing handcrafted wares from solid wood, marble and metal.Al Quoz Industrial, Dubai+971 52 620 1160, thelineconcept.comStudio Dua AbukhalafInterior-design studio known for elegant, light-filled residential and hospitality projects.duaabukhalaf.comLagosNigeria’s megacity is home to one of West Africa’s strongest creative scenes. Here, rapid urbanisation and development work hand in hand with innovation.Nmbello StudioAward-winning contemporary furniture and product-design practice, specialising in collectable and handcrafted wares.nmbello.comStudio LaniDesign studio producing wares inspired by West African maker traditions and forms.studio-lani.comOshinowo StudioArchitecture firm known for innovative contemporary design and research-led projects, spanning high-end residences, major cultural commissions and community-minded housing projects.5th Floor, CBC Tower, Lagos+234 201 293 0622, oshinowostudio.comMarrakechBerber, Arabic and French design traditions collide to shape Marrakech’s design scene. Artisans can be found adapting ancient woodcarving and metalworking skills for contemporary furniture markets, while architects embrace traditional building techniques.BeniContemporary rug specialists showcasing Moroccan craftsmanship while also building the capacity of local communities.benirugs.comE-H Atelier d’ArchitecturesDesign studio known for its boxy, light-filled, high-end residential work.Manar Residence, El Bahja No 69, Marrakecheharchitectes.comBouchra BoudouaCeramic brand also working from Casablanca, combining ancestral pottery-making techniques with a modern Moroccan aesthetic.bouchraboudoua.comNairobiNairobi’s creatives are resourcefully responding to its rapid development in this East African design hub. Local hardwoods and traditional basketweaving techniques inspire contemporary furniture making.Cave BureauArchitecture and research practice exploring the interconnected relationship between architecture, urbanism, nature and culture.PO Box 50565 00200, Kilimani, Nairobi+254 793 804 463, cave.co.keStudio Mehta ArchitectureContemporary architecture firm creating residential, commercial and cultural projects that blur the lines between interior and exterior.+254 110 008 397, studiomehta.comRiyadhSaudi Arabia’s capital is on track to achieve its goal of becoming a global creative contender. Design schools and an emerging design week are nurturing a new crop of talent.Lucas BarcelóDesign studio creating contemporary furniture and product design, with joyful forms inspired by Middle Eastern cultures.2568 7118 Muhammad Ibn Rashid Al Uraini, Al Diriyah Al Jadidah, Riyadh 1966 53 241 6754, lucasbarcelo.comHobalCulturally driven product, homeware and furniture brand dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich heritage of Saudi Arabia.1966 53 905 5015, hobal.saMuntjStudioCraft-led brand creating meaningful, Saudi-inspired products in the centre of Riyadh.1966 53 116 1173, muntjstudio.replit.appNorth AmericaFrom Chicago’s modernist heritage to Mexico City’s mid-century modernism, North America boasts an enviable variety of design influences. While Los Angeles and Vancouver draw inspiration from nature, New York and San Francisco push technological boundaries. The region remains a global leader in shaping the built environment.ChicagoBirthplace of the skyscraper and some of the world’s finest modernist architects, Chicago remains an architectural leader thanks to firms such as Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Studio Gang.Converge ArchitectureDesign firm focused on sustainable design and urban development through community-minded projects.1100 West Cermak Road, Suite 522, Chicago 11 815 535 1071, convergearchitecture.comMobile MakersNon-profit focused on tech and creative skills development.1757 North Kimball Avenue, Suite 107, Chicago+1 773 900 2540, mobilemakers.orgNorman Teague Design StudioLight forms, clean lines, honest materials and a respect for function define the work of this furniture-focused design-build practice.4429 West Division Street, Chicagonormanteaguedesignstudios.comNavillus WoodworksCustom woodworking studio creating bespoke furniture and architectural millwork.2100 North Major Avenue, Chicago+1 312 375 2680, navilluswoodworks.comLos AngelesAbundant natural light and a balmy climate combine with car culture and the entertainment industry to inform southern California’s airy design aesthetic.KalonFurniture-design company creating refined pieces with US craftspeople from responsibly sourced materials.3559 1/2 West CasitasAvenue, LosAngeles+1 323 928 2161, kalonstudios.comAD MillerArchitecture firm making furniture and residential and hospitality projects defined by clean lines and honest materials.5801Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles+1 310 490 8673, ad-miller.comCommune ShopRetail arm of its namesake design studio, offering curated furniture, objects and home accessories.2504West 7th Street, Suite A, Los Angeles+1 310 855 9080, communedesign.shopOWIU DesignOnly Way Is Up (OWIU) is an interior-design and architecture practice creating spaces defined by considered craftsmanship and a dash of Southeast Asian aesthetics.1850 Industrial Street,107, Los Angeles+1 213 590 5251, owiu-design.comNuova GroupNuova – an acronym for New Understanding of Various Artifacts – is a multidisciplinary design practice, working across product and spatial design, drawing inspiration from the tech and luxury industries.nuova.usMexico CityHome to arguably North America’s most vibrant design scene, Mexico City is where colourful mid-century modernism meets sustainable contemporary architecture. There’s a focus on local craft too, with furniture makers working hand in hand with manufacturers.Fernanda CanalesArchitecture meets academia at this studio known for innovative residential and institutional design that responds to cultural context and enhances social fabric.fernandacanales.comBlancasMoránArchitecture studio working across office, residential and leisure spaces, with projects defined by savvy conceptual layouts and fine details.SierraVentana 700, LomasdeChapultepec, MexicoCityblancasmoran.comLa MetropolitanaBased in a former textile factory, this is a furniture maker with a social cause – its workshops place an emphasis on upskilling craftspeople.Dr Lucio 181, Doctores, Mexico City+52 55 8791 7182, lametropolitana.comSofia EliasThis Guadalajara-born, Mexico City-based sculptor, draughtsperson, designer and architect is defined by experimentation across materials and typologies.sofiaelias.mxAlejandra PeriniColombia-born product designer with a strong emphasis on craftsmanship and materiality, with wares defined by pops of colour and curving forms.alejandraperini.comNew YorkThe grid system and vertical ambition drive this regional design capital, with skyscraper innovation, small-space solutions and cultural diversity.Galerie WasContemporary gallery and design space showcasing collectable design and homeware from emerging and established creatives.301 Broome Street, NewYorkgaleriewas.comRoman and Williams GuildModern-day studio creating furniture, lighting and home accessories presented alongside curated handcrafted goods from global artisans.53 Howard Street, NewYork+1 212 852 9099, rwguild.comSolid Objectives Idenburg LiuArchitecture studio working on new constructions and adaptive reuse projects, with an ambition to shape a stronger civic realm and interface between public and private spaces.42 Adelphi Street, NewYork+1 718 624 6666, solidobjectives.comStudio ZewdeLeading landscape-architecture practice, creating everything from gardens to civic spaces that respond to place and local culture through form, function, materiality and physical connections to wider landscapes.218 Lenox Avenue, NewYork+1 212 518 1548, studio-zewde.comCivilianDesign studio guided by hospitality principles, creating welcoming interiors that pay respect to the architecture and its users.141 Flushing Avenue, NewYorkcivilianprojects.comSeitzSwiss-American furniture brand, creating made-in-Switzerland furniture that champions craft and slow living.11 347 599 1403, studioseitz.comSan FranciscoThe Bay Area’s technology industry pushes innovations in fields from furniture to architecture. It’s a drive to rethink the future that is supported by some of the country’s top design schools in Berkeley and Stanford.Hood Design StudioLandscape-architecture firm specialising in community-centred design and projects concerned with environmental justice.3001 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland 11 510 595 0688, hooddesignstudio.comFuseprojectInnovative design consultancy creating low- and high-tech consumer products, from simple timber stools and ceramics to robotic bassinets and electric trucks.1401 16th Street, San Franciscofuseproject.comHeath CeramicsSmall-scale pottery studio established in 1948 that has evolved into a much-loved contemporary ceramics company creating handcrafted tiles, dinnerware and architectural products.2900 18th Street, San Francisco11 415 361 5552, heathceramics.comTorontoCanada’s best creatives converge in its biggest city, thanks to a strong manufacturing base and abundance of design-minded events and festivals.Coolican&CompanySmall-batch furniture design and fabrication studio producing solid wood furniture with heirloom-quality construction and timeless appeal.368 Mill Street, Dundas, Ontariocoolicanandcompany.comMary Ratcliffe StudioStudio whose output is driven by a small group of talented craftspeople producing handmade furniture defined by gentle curves and sculptural masses.+1 416 616 1942, maryratcliffe.studioYabu PushelbergInternational design firm known for furniture design and luxury hospitality, residential and retail projects.55 Booth Avenue, Toronto+1 416 778 9779, yabupushelberg.comOdamiSpanish and Canadian influences combine at this design agency, which creates soulful and functional spaces and objects that blend the pragmatic with the expressive.174 Spadina Avenue Unit 502, Toronto+1 416 218 1101, odami.caVancouverThe Pacific Northwest influences Vancouver’s nature-inspired design aesthetic. Strong environmental consciousness drives everything from sustainable furniture manufacturing to architecture.A-N-DContemporary lighting design company creating minimalist fixtures with a focus on craftsmanship.1951 Franklin Street, Vancouver+1 604 563 6938, a-n-d.comBocciGlassmaking specialists creating sculptural contemporary lighting fixtures with innovative glass techniques.495 Railway Street, Vancouver+1 604 639 5195, bocci.comSouth AmericaSouth America's contemporary design scene builds on the foundations laid by 20th-century modernists and a resourceful industry that embraces local resources. It's a continent of opportunity, where socially minded design and architecture exist in tune with the environment.MedellínThe Colombian city’s 21st-century transformation demonstrates how building socially minded architecture, embracing greenery and car-free transport can heal communities and foster hope.FangoLed by Francisco Jaramillo, this studio works at the intersection of art and design, creating collectable pieces using local materials and craftsmanship to address social and environmental challenges.info@fangostudio.comTu TallerColombian furniture and homeware brand that blends advanced digital manufacturing with traditional craftsmanship to create affordable and original products and spaces.Calle 10, 43C-81, El Poblado, Medellíntutallerdesign.comALH ArquitecturaLed by two brothers, this architecture firm is known for its meticulous attention to detail and projects that consider environmental impact.Carrera 30, 4-45, Forever W&L Building, Medellín+57 407 7891, alhtaller.comBuenos AiresBuenos Aires has been shaped by European immigration, with Spanish, French and Italian architectural influences prominent throughout the Argentinian capital. Genius loci is embraced in the form of indigenous materials, prominently used in the local furniture-making scene.Cupla ArquitecturaEmerging architecture studio that prioritises fine detailing and craftsmanship, creating projects with harmonious physical identities.Paroissien 3849, Saavedra, Buenos Aires+549 11 5134 0152, cuplaarquitectura.comPedro Ignacio YañezArchitecture studio that focuses on residential projects whose forms often examine the relationship between solid and void, indoors and out.Virrey del Pino 2446 6i, Los Eucaliptos Building, Buenos Aires+549 11 6978 4184, pedroyanez.com.arSur del CruzThis furniture studio and workshop operates at the intersection of design and art, creating works driven by expertise with wood and a commitment to artisanal knowledge.surdelcruz.comSantiagoMountainous landscapes and seismic activity inform Chile’s design culture, where earthquake-resistant construction meets European-influenced architectural aesthetics.BravoWorking across object, interior and furniture design, this studio blends local manufacturing with new technologies, prioritising simple, thoughtful making processes and design solutions.EliodoroYáñez 2187, Office 11, Providencia, Santiagobravo.ioNueveDesignStudioIndustrial-design studio known for developing objects and furniture that are characterful and respond to the needs of contemporary lifestyles.+569 9978 2810, nuevedesignstudio.comCristiánRomeroValenteResidential-architecture firm whose work is defined by an ability to strip down forms to their most essential, seamlessly integrating clean lines, natural light and the surrounding environment.+569 9345 3252, romerovalente.clRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro’s design culture embraces indoor-outdoor living. Carnival culture influences the city’s colourful, celebratory interior designs, while favela innovations inspire adaptive housing solutions.Studio Leandro NevesDesign studio focusing on residential projects, emphasising minimalist forms and drawing influence from rationalist architecture.Avenida Nossa Senhorade Copacabana, 195–Sala1415, Rio de Janeiro+55 21 3259 5883,studioleandroneves.comEcomimesisLandscape studio that integrates a scientific understanding of natural processes in its work, helping to foster relationships between people and the environment.Rua Jardim Botânico, 468, Rio de Janeiro+55 21 3495 2302, ecomimesis.com.brSão PauloA modernist architectural heritage and a strong manufacturing base inform contemporary practice, cementing São Paulo as one of Latin America’s leading creative scenes.PalmaThis studio combines the fields of art and architecture in projects across a multitude of scales and typologies, from building to set design.palmapalma.com.brIsabel Duprat Arquitetura PaisagísticaLandscape-architecture studio known for residential projects that integrate with and promote the value of the existing environment.+55 11 3088 1826, isabelduprat.comMetro Arquitetos AssociadosThis architecture studio brings a high level of technical rigour to projects from master planning to urban interventions and renovations of historic buildings.Avenida Ipiranga 344, Room 251A, São Paulo+55 11 3255 1221, metroarquitetos.com.brEtelGallery specialising in furniture created by Brazil’s greatest designers and artists since the turn of the 20th century.Alameda Gabriel Monteiro da Silva, 1834, São Paulo+55 11 3064 1266, etel.designAsia & OceaniaA blend of global influences and deep-rooted local traditions mean that architecture and design scenes are ever evolving in Asia and Oceania – almost always imbued with a strong sense of place and a growing respect for traditional practice.AucklandNew Zealand’s biggest city trades on multicultural influences, with a strong embrace of local materials and microclimates, thanks to its spectacular waterfront setting and Indigenous history.Monk MackenzieMultidisciplinary studio creating elegant, sculptural and poetic architecture, from residential to civic projects.106-108 Quay Street, Auckland+64 9 600 3335, monkmackenzie.comResidentDesign house merging Kiwi manufacturing excellence with design concepts defined by pure forms to create sleek furniture and lighting.9C Exmouth Street Eden Terrace, Auckland+64 21 207 9213, resident.co.nzStudio SouthCreative agency working across brand development, packaging design and wayfinding strategy, building cohesive visual identities.27 Hargreaves Street, Saint Marys Bay, Auckland+64 09 379 6434, studiosouth.co.nzBangkokComplex urban waterways and a tropical climate have influenced Bangkok’s design evolution, where traditional teak architecture meets sleek contemporary malls and high-rise towers.LandprocessLandscape-architecture firm committed to tackling the climate crisis by creating carbon-sequestering and resilient urban landscapes.+66 2 641 8483, landprocess.co.thStudio MakeLocated near Bangkok, this studio works on everything from architecture and interiors to furniture design and prefabricated construction, all created by its hands-on team of designers and makers.44/4 Soi Baan Sai Ma, Rattanathibet Road, Nonthaburi+66 2 528 6212, studiomake.comHong KongEast meets West in Hong Kong, creating a distinctive fusion of style, evidenced in everything from the city’s architecture to works by local creative studios.One Bite DesignMultidisciplinary design company looking to create better emotional connections between people and physical spaces through placemaking and urban interventions.50-54 Lok Ku Road, Sheung Wan+852 2803 0202, onebitedesign.comJoyce Wang StudioInterior-architecture studio known for luxury hospitality and residential design projects.12 Kennedy Street, Wan Chai+852 2804 1138, joycewangstudio.comDesign Eight Five TwoInterdisciplinary design studio working across architecture, identity design and interiors, creating places and spaces deeply rooted in local vernaculars.1F Arran Tower, 7 Arran, Kowloon+852 2385 2228, designeightfivetwo.comJakartaIndonesia’s capital has smartly built neighbourhoods embracing greenery, with traditional batik textiles and carved furniture techniques informing the contemporary design of everything from furniture to graphics.BitteThis design firm takes a holistic approach to creating architectural and interior environments across hospitality and residential projects.Jalan Jurang Mangu Barat No 8, Tangerang Selatan+62 811 8581 773, bitte-design.comAndra MatinCelebrated architect integrating tropical modernism with Indonesian vernacular traditions, with an emphasis on natural ventilation, local materials and a seamless blend of indoor and outdoor spaces.Jalan Manyar III Blok O-3 Kavling 29-30 No 4-6, Bintaro Jaya Sektor I, Jakarta Selatan+62 21 735 3338, andramatin.comThinking Room IncBranding and design company that combines graphic work with strategic thinking, creating clear narratives.Citylofts Sudirman, Suite 919, Jalan Kyai Haji Mas Mansyur, Kavling 121, Jakarta+62 21 2555 8596, thinkingroominc.comKyotoJapan’s former imperial capital retains links to its storied past through the numerous furniture firms working in the city, building on its legacy of craft.KoyoriFurniture brand working with creatives from across the globe, blending Japanese craftsmanship with high-end international design.+81 075 241 3783, koyori-jp.comEndo Shojiro DesignArchitecture and design studio creating refined spaces with a traditional Japanese sensibility.83 Nishishichijo Minaminishinocho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto+81 075 201 7086, endo-design.jpKohsekiDesign firm with divisions for Japanese-style lighting fixtures and Danish-inspired furniture, glass and objects, bringing together two manufacturing cultures.15 Nishi Goshoden-cho, Murasakino, Kita-Ku, Kyoto+81 075 415 2818, kohseki.comMelbourneDesign seemingly permeates every corner of Australia’s cultural capital. There’s a strong understanding of branding, splashed across café windows and coffee packaging, with design-minded retailers and some of the country’s best architects.Tuckbox DesignCustom cabinetry specialists using technology and meticulous craftsmanship to produce high-quality, ready-to-assemble shelves, cupboards and more.2/87 MerolaWay, Campbellfield+61 432 156 077, tuckbox.com.auThe Company You KeepBranding agency creating powerful but understated work, spanning digital, print, architecture, content and visual-identity campaigns.15 Bedford Street, Collingwood+61 03 8578 3548, tcyk.com.auBreatheA pioneering architecture firm, renowned for developing beautiful, community-focused urban housing that is socially and financially sustainable.7 Alfred Place, Melbourne+61 03 9381 2007, breathe.com.auBrud StudiaFurniture- and object-design studio combining brutalist and primitive design methods with contemporary production methods.122 Gertrude Street, Fitzroybrudstudia.comVolker HaugDecorative lighting practice creating pared-back, elegant and finely detailed pieces informed by a sense of discovery and experimentation.2-12 St Phillip Street, Brunswick East+61 03 9387 1803, volkerhaug.comMumbaiIndia’s financial capital has an equally bustling creative scene, where art deco buildings provide the backdrop for contemporary design innovation.CasegoodsFurniture line of architecture studio Case Design that creates products rooted in ancient craft traditions and contemporary aesthetics.A-49, Nandjyot Industrial Estate Andheri Kurla Road, Mumbai+91 80972 70837, casegoods.inAequoDesign gallery dedicated to advancing Indian craftsmanship by connecting global creatives with local artisans to produce innovative, collectable furniture.Unit 11, 1st Floor, Devidas Mansion Boman Behram Marg, Mumbaiaequo.inSamira Rathod Design AtelierArchitecture studio creating spaces informed by local culture and history to foster relationships between people and their surroundings.420-421, Unique Industrial Estate, TwinTowerLane, SVSRoad, Mumbai+91 22 24327249, srda.coSeoulA regional powerhouse, Seoul has a strong manufacturing tradition thanks to a postwar production boom. It’s a legacy that translates to strong product design today.Studio FNTGraphic-design studio and visual-identity specialists bringing clarity and coherence to corporate brands and cultural clients.32 Noksapyeong-daero 40na-gil, Yongsan District,Seoulstudiofnt.comMass StudiesAward-winning design firm creating designs that draw inspiration from traditional Korean architecture while meeting contemporary needs.46 Hoenamu-ro 44ga-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul+82 2-790-6528, massstudies.comSingaporeA distinctive blend of multicultural influences and a pragmatic approach to urban challenges results in a particularly innovative design scene in the Lion City.SupermamaDesign brand and museum shop blending contemporary Singaporean design with Japanese craftsmanship to create fine porcelain homeware.213 Henderson Road,01-01, Singapore+65 9615 7473, supermamastore.comPractice TheoryBranding and creative agency using strategic storytelling to create distinct and lasting brand identities.4B Lorong 32 Geylang, Singaporepracticetheory.com.sgRight Angle StudioInterior-design firm creating residential and commercial spaces defined by rich materiality, an efficient use of space and timeless appeal.280 Woodlands Industrial Park E5, 08-19, Singapore+65 8087 1552, rightanglestudio.com.sgSydneySydney’s creative scene is shaped by its spectacular harbour setting, balmy climate and strong culture of outdoor living, producing optimistic and environmentally minded design work.Arent&PykeArchitecture studio making colourful, material-rich environments that engage the senses and uplift the spirit.7 Nickson Street+61 02 9331 2802, arentpyke.comThe LettersType foundry creating contemporary and expressive fonts with progressive, inventive and high-quality typographic solutions.+61 02 9517 4871, theletters.coStudio Henry WilsonDesign firm producing furniture, lighting and accessories with a focus on utilitarianism and honouring the imperfect beauty of handcrafted objects.87 Paddington Street+61 02 9159 3963,studiohenrywilson.comActuel StudioMultidisciplinary design studio specialising in brand-identity development and expression, working with clients across fashion, retail and publishing.3/82 Myrtle Street,actuel.studioDangar Barin SmithLandscape-design practice combining horticultural expertise with in-house construction to create lush gardens for residential and hospitality projects.19 Rochester Street+61 02 9316 9044,dangarbarinsmith.com.auTaipeiThe Taiwanese capital’s thriving design scene draws on the East Asian city’s historic resilience and a forward-thinking spirit that brings together tradition and innovation.Waterfrom DesignThis firm’s name explains its design ethos, which is grounded in the belief that interior design and architecture should be like water – fluid and malleable.5F, 35, Alley 20, Lane 407, Tiding Boulevard, Neihu District, Taipei City+886 2 2700 5007, waterfrom.comMotif Planning&Design ConsultantsLandscape-design firm working to create aesthetically original and environmentally responsive parks and urban plans.4F, 278, Section 1, Xiyuan Road, Wanhua District, Taipei Citymotifla.com.twTokyoFire, earthquakes and rapid economic development laid the foundations for Tokyo’s dynamic architecture and its design scene, which plays host to numerous bubbly branding studios and sleek architecture outfits.Keiji Ashizawa DesignDesign firm that is renowned for creating finely detailed spaces, overseeing everything from architecture and interiors to furniture.5-6-13 Asakusabashi, Taito-ku, Tokyokeijidesign.comDesign Studio SIndustrial-design studio producing a diverse range of products, from electronic goods to furniture, defined by a joyful aesthetic and intuitive use.1-12-24-MT3-2F, Mita,Meguro-ku, Tokyodesign-ss.comKarimoku CommonsGallery-like space that is dedicated to its namesake furniture group, which oversees design research, production and the development of architectural case studies, rooted in a deep appreciation for Japanese timber.2-22-5 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyocommons.karimoku.comMMA IncArchitecture firm that draws inspiration from nature to create buildings made from traditional materials at a human scale.3-5-33 1F Aobadai, Meguro, Tokyom-m-architecture.comTankConstruction company and design studio delivering well-crafted spaces, from retail and hospitality to commercial sectors.2-29-11 Sakurashinmachi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo+81 3 5799 6684, tank-tokyo.jpWellingtonNew Zealand’s cultural hub has a creative scene that is shaped by its waterfront setting and seismic conditions, which drive creative architectural solutions and flexible planning.KlimType FoundryTypography studio creating contemporary typefaces and font families for global use.23-B Totara Road, Miramarklim.co.nzSeear-Budd RossArchitecture firm creating atmospheric residential, commercial and public buildings.+64 27 715 7990, seearbuddross.com

The quiet life: A look inside Casa O, Enrique Olvera’s rural weekend residence

2025-12-02 13:39:36

Enrique Olvera has 14 restaurants in cities from New York and Los Angeles to Mexico City but he likes to spend his downtime far from the hustle of a busy service. When Monocle pulls up at his wooden bungalow in Reserva Peñitas, a nature development in Valle de Bravo, a two-hour drive west of the Mexican capital, the chef is distractedly removing fungus from one of his 100 fruit trees. “It’s what I like to do with my free time,” says the Mexican chef with a smile. He acquired the site during the pandemic, built the Japanese-style residence, then set about planting local flora and helping it all thrive. “If a plant isn’t supposed to grow here,” he says, his fingernails black with soil, “then I must respect that.”Enrique Olvera preparing tiger prawnsDubbed Casa O, Olvera’s weekend residence is a long way from anywhere, marked only by a large steel “O” on a gate that even a neighbour struggled to direct us to. Here, Olvera – a man who changed the face of Mexican cuisine and put street food on the top table – seems almost anonymous. And, it turns out, that’s exactly how he likes it.Olvera’s story began in 2000 with the opening of his debut restaurant, Pujol, in the Polanco neighbourhood of Mexico City. It would prove to be a rather revolutionary idea. He saw no reason why the street food traditionally consumed by blue-collar workers couldn’t be fused with the likes of tuna tartare, lobster ceviche and beef empanada. He was 24 years old and only just out of the Culinary Institute of America in New York but Pujol quickly became the revelation that launched his career and his hospitality firm, Casamata. “Until very recently, Mexican restaurants abroad reduced our cuisine to stereotypes,” says Olvera, his brow briefly furrowing. “Our gastronomy is often exported as fast food but in Mexico we eat healthily because we have always relied on seasonal produce found within our borders.”Grounds of Casa OOverlooking the gently swaying heather from the veranda, Olvera says that he’s still riding high from Pujol’s 25th-anniversary celebrations in May. Attendees at the dinner included the great and the good of the Mexican dining scene: Lucho Martínez of Michelin-starred Em, Diego Klein, Joaquín López-Dóriga and Gabriela Cámara of Contramar, and Edo López of Mexico City’s growing Japanese-inspired hospitality empire, who gathered in Olvera’s newly renovated space to toast his achievements. More than the star-studded guest list itself, what pleased Olvera was the way that it demonstrated how the scene had grown in the quarter-century since he started out.The chef isn’t one to linger too long on an idea without leaping to the next. “There’s a misconception that Mexican food is expensive because in the US you pay $3 [€2.60] for an avocado,” he says pensively. “Here, the same amount will buy you a kilo because we have so many,” he says with an expansive gesture.Rustic fittingsOlvera worked with Mexican architect and developer Javier Sánchez to build Casa O. Sánchez was a safe bet, having also designed many of Olvera’s other projects, including Pujol and mezcal bar Ticuchi. “The brief was to design a residence from which I could give back to the territory, rather than taking away from it,” says Olvera, explaining theadentro-afuera(“inside-outside”) nature of the sliding doors and wide apertures.In the shadeChunky rustic chairsBrought up in Mexico City, where water rationing is common, Olvera has built a home that collects and recycles rainwater for self-sufficiency. He leads Monocle to the artificial pond where his labradors Maia and Uma, never far from his side, are lapping a little of the rainfall that has been collected. “It’s still the dry season,” says Olvera, who moves eagerly about amid the foliage and rarely sits down. “When I used to visit the area as a child, the wet season would begin in May but now it starts in June,” he adds, a cloud passing over his face as he considers the changing climate to which we’re all slowly adapting.Reading matterHanging towelsIs Casa O the vanity project of a wealthy chef? Olvera sees it as a long-term investment. “I built it for my children but also for my grandchildren,” he tells Monocle enthusiastically. Valle de Bravo’s climate allows him to grow tropical produce here. “We’re at the limit of the state of Michoacán,” says Olvera, pointing out his favourite tree, the floripondio, which is sprouting fragrant trumpet-shaped flowers. We might be hours from anywhere else but Olvera’s talk inevitably turns back to his obsession with plants and his restaurants. “At Cosme, we substitute the pumpkin flowers that grow here with rhubarb, which we don’t use in Mexico,” he says. “There are no good or bad ingredients.”Olvera has trained some of Mexico’s most prominent chefs, including Jorge Vallejo of Quintonil, currently ranked seventh globally, and Gabriela López of Máximo Bistrot, a regular on Latin America’s list of its 50 best restaurants. But it’s not past successes that Olvera wants to discuss. Instead, it’s the possibility of fresh ones. “You won’t find these methods used anywhere else in the world,” he says of his famously outré flavour combinations, from coffee in mayonnaise and a mole containing 100 ingredients to the use of ants and creepy crawlies. “Eating Mexican food means being open to trying new things.”Freshly harvested baby cornTending to fruit treesWe walk a little further and look back at the house, encircled by blackberry bushes, apple orchards and macadamia groves, as well as plum, pear and lemon trees. We see fat cucumbers, lettuce, crimson chillies, tomatoes and avocados, each crop planted according to the reserve’s sloping topography to give it the best chance of flourishing. There are two towering agave plants, one green, another brown. “The plant uses all of its energy to bloom and then it dies,” says Olvera, with the satisfaction of a botany professor eager for his student to understand his enthusiasm for the topic.Olvera and one of his labradorsOlvera is the consummate host but it’s hard not to feel as though you were intruding on somewhere special to the chef while you’re here. “I try not to invite guests – I like to walk by myself,” he says. “I feel at peace because I can’t see or hear the neighbours.” Away from the city in which Olvera became a household name, the introverted chef prefers to spend his evenings experimenting with flavours or examining his crops.So what does the future hold for the godfather of modern Mexican gastronomy? Olvera’s appetite for commercial success appears sated. “I don’t plan to conquer the world with Mexican food,” he says. “Every restaurateur’s dream is to be able to pay their producers fairly and to celebrate the value of the produce once it’s on the plate. If I have that, I’m content.” Right after saying this, Olvera admits a little ambition that subtly undermines his previous statement and opens up a conversation about a new hospitality project. “In a restaurant you have hours to impress your guests,” he says, his eyes lighting up. “In a hotel you have days.”casamata.com

Amid Paris’s everyday hustle, the city’s iconic Fermob chair is the perfect reminder to slow down – and take a seat

2025-12-01 00:50:28

If you’ve ever strolled through Paris’s public gardens, you may well have stopped to take a seat on its outdoor furniture: green chairs and loungers scattered around fountains and flower beds. Any time the sun comes out, residents and tourists quickly take to the park, where patio furniture is arranged around a table for a group picnic or under a tree for a quiet nap in the shade. On a sunny day it can be difficult to find a free seat – they’re all taken by sunbathers.Along with the Wallace drinking fountains, the rattan chairs lining café terraces or the iconic dark-green kiosks commissioned by Baron Haussmann in the mid-19th century, the chairs found in Parisian parks and gardens have become a symbol of the city. The sturdy, stylish outdoor furniture, which subliminally transmits a sense of Paris to millions of visitors, comes from a few trusted companies. One of the biggest suppliers is French manufacturer Fermob, whose chairs can be found in the Luxembourg Gardens, as well as on café terraces, squares and the banks of the Seine.The idea to add lounge chairs to the Luxembourg Gardens was first proposed in 1843 by the French senate, which is housed in the Luxembourg Palace and still owns the green space and its tennis courts. It took until the 1920s for the first collection of chairs, made by the craftspeople at city hall’s Ateliers de la Ville de Paris, to arrive. In the 1990s, Fermob won a competition to produce a modern version and, in 2004, the company called on French designer Frédéric Sofia to redesign the seats in aluminium, making them lighter, more comfortable and easily collected and stacked.The resulting sage-green “Luxembourg” collection (originally named Sénat) has since become synonymous with the Parisian park. “Our furniture creates a sense of connection,” says Fermob’s chairman, Bernard Reybier. “It’s recognisable and part of daily life and makes people feel that they are in a very Parisian setting. The idea is that you are part of the history of the city.”Founded in 1890 in Thoissey by a family of blacksmiths, Fermob takes its name from the wordsfer(“iron”) andmobilier(“furniture”). It remained a small workshop until it was acquired in 1989 by Reybier, who oversaw the growth of the company and expanded its appeal by collaborating with designers such as Pascal Mourgue, Andrée Putman and Matali Crasset. Today the business has expanded greatly but all of its manufacturing still takes place in the Ain region north of Lyon.Despite its production beyond the city, Fermob’s relationship will always be close with Paris – and it’s continuing to evolve. Last year the firm began furnishing another Parisian landmark, the Champs-Elysées, as part of a project to transform the avenue into a pedestrian-friendly garden by 2030. The Committee for the Champs-Élysées asked Fermob, along with other bistro-furniture manufacturers, to design a new chair for its café and restaurant terraces. “What people like best is a product that has both a good design and a history to go with it,” says Reybier. “The Champs-Élysées is a new story and we will see where it takes us. Maybe it will also become representative of the Parisian identity.”Click here to enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Paris

A look inside Elizabeth Byng and Craig Cohon’s getaway retreat where family comes together

2025-11-25 13:30:39

For New York-born literary agent Elizabeth Byng and Canadian entrepreneur Craig Cohon, building a holiday house was a significant step: though the couple had been together for close to nine years, they had not yet shared a house. Kairos was a way of making a permanent commitment to each other. “The whole design was centered around the idea of the house as a meeting place,” says Cohon. Byng agrees. “We don’t have a child together so this is our joint creation and a place where we can gather our friends and all of the different parts of our family,” she says. Blue skies offset the striking white of the main propertyTable made by a local artisan in the dining roomPool with a viewWith children from previous relationships aged between 13 and 26, and split between London and New York, convening loved ones can be a logistical challenge. “But when it works, it’s magical,” says Cohon. Byng and Cohon chose the Cycladic island of Antiparos after visiting a friend who had set up home there. They settled on a spot on the cooler, eastern side of the island and passed on their brief to London-based Studio Seilern Architects. In 2021 builders began work on the home, which was completed last summer. “Watching our children’s faces when we showed them our place for the first time was a beautiful experience,” says Cohon.The main house sits atop a steep hill overlooking the Aegean islands. As the sun arcs into the clear sky, the building’s white limewash is reflected in the still pool water as boats drift by on the sea below. Two guesthouses set into the hillside, camouflaged with cracked brown stones, provide five extra bedrooms. “In the morning, you can hear the sounds of the buzzing bees and the wind blowing in the grasses,” says Cohon. “The colours here are soothing and calm. There’s a herb garden, as well as fig and olive trees.” Cohon and Byng’s intention was to make the most of the views; to that end, there are three terraces that connect to the top floor of the main house and they also created a path that winds its way to the top of the hill. The atmosphere here is Byng’s favourite aspect of Kairos. “For me, the most luxurious thing about this place is the headspace that it puts me in,” she says. Bedrooms in the main house Laps in the infinity poolLarge windows soak the bath in lightThe couple tell Monocle that one of their priorities was to keep the build of the house – and its contents – as local as possible. The ceramics were sourced from a potter working on a mountain on the island and the marble that was used to make the dining-room table was extracted from a quarry on nearby Paros. A carpenter from the area was engaged to construct some of the furniture, including the mobile bar used for entertaining guests. “We didn’t hire an interior designer,” says Byng. “So it was a learning process. The idea was to blend a contemporary feel with the island’s airy Mediterranean sensibility.” Cohon attributes the beauty of Kairos to the intuitive knowledge brought by the craftspeople who worked on it. “If you go for the local option, you end up with builders who understand the place that they are working in.” One of the couple’s most cherished features of the property is the built-in amphitheatre, which they use to stage spontaneous performances with family and friends. “We are in Greece, the natural forum for conversation, debate and philosophy, so it was fitting,” says Byng. Describing the creative atmosphere that it inspires, Cohon tells us about a particular summer evening. “There were 14 of us and we were putting on theatrical shows with lights, music, props and staging, and suddenly there was a peal of thunder,” he says. “Soft rain started falling and it was just magical.” For anyone who might be considering embarking on a similar project, Cohon and Byng have some important advice. “Make sure that you create a thorough brief and really think through how you would like to spend time in the space,” says Cohon. “And hire an architect who really understands and responds to the brief. Go local when it comes to the construction, then step back. Don’t try to control the process.”

How to brand an airline

2025-12-11 07:31:29

Branding an airline is one of the most challenging but also satisfying endeavours for creatives. Design decisions need to be made to ensure the brand can live across a complex system of timings, movement, space and weight. You must consider the choreography between passengers, ground staff and cabin crew, while conveying a distinctive, stand-out visual brand. Here are seven considerations to help designers and airlines alike hit such a lofty mark.1. Build a worldLivery design is important but it’s not your whole brand. There are worlds of colours, hues, typefaces, patterns and textures. Design a system that can flex, a diverse system that fits from lounge to cabin and from uniform to communication.2. Show some tailEvery aircraft has one (at least for now) and it’s the prime place for your brand design. Ensure that your symbol, colour and scale of design stands out in the pageantry of the airfield.3.Your routes reflect youConsider not just your origin but where you fly to. Allow the destination to arrive in the experience, whether that’s reflected in the cabin crew’s accessories, the menu’s signature drink or the soundtrack that sets the tone for discovering new places. Change things up and don’t be afraid to embrace novelty.4. Sense of touchUse print where possible to break up the monotony of screen information: think a creamy paper for an in-flight menu; a crisp, folded route map or a flickable guide to the top spots in your destination. Such pieces underline the service offering, get passed around, stimulate conversation and are taken home as keepsakes.5. Keep it tightAircraft cabins are small and constricted. Optimise the choice and design of amenities and don’t go overboard with packaging. Excess waste ends up in the aisle and makes the environment feel messy and chaotic. Nobody wants that.6. Own your ambienceWhat kind of mood do you want to create throughout the experience and how is this conveyed and modulated across the lounge, cabin and in your imagery? Forgiving lighting, music, scent and temperature control are all aspects of your brand that can have a profound effect on people’s comfort.7. People matterYour crew are your most valuable touchpoint, so empower them to live the brand. Train their voice, coach their conduct and give them the right tools to do their job with confidence and flair. Don’t be afraid of rules and regulations. It’s an airline, after all.About the writer: Ariel Childs is CEO and executive creative director at Winkreative. The branding agency that has worked on numerous projects in the aviation industry, including the rebranding of Swiss International Air Lines and Air Canada. To read more about the ups and downs of the aviation industry, pick up a copy of Monocle’smobility-themed September issue. Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

Around the world in 40 designs: The best furniture, country by country

2025-11-27 13:35:32

Japan, for oustanding craftstmanshipMerging minimalist designs with innovative techniques, Japan’s artisan furniture-makers, renowned for their work with timber, create wares that are as durable as they are beautiful. To buy Japanese is to invite a legacy of outstanding craftsmanship into your home.1.N-T01byNorm Architects for Karimoku Case, 2022This drinks trolley is a collaboration between Denmark’s Norm Architects and Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku. A beauty on wheels, it comes with a paper-cord-wrapped oak handle and takes its form from the umbrella racks that stand at the entrances to many Japanese temples.2. Kigo Side Table 70byGam Fratesi for Koyori,2024Copenhagen-based studio GamFratesi drew inspiration from the organic forms and rich textures of Isamu Noguchi’s mid-century stone sculptures for its Japan-made table series. Light oak and dark walnut evoke the harmony of nature, while the skilled human touches that finish these small tables make for seamless, smooth surfaces.3. 1AD Akari lightbyIsamu Noguchi for Ozeki Lantern, 1951Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi started designing his Akari lights in 1951 and they’re still handmade with washi paper and bamboo ribbing in the Gifu workshop of Ozeki Lantern. Noguchi compared the Akari’s soft glow to “the light of the sun filtered through the paper of shoji”. There are many sizes and shapes but 1AD is a good start.4. Three-legged DrawerbyStudioYO, 2023This made-to-order piece reimagines traditional storage, stripping away the outer casing to reveal a set of drawers supported by three legs. The effect is a cabinet system that appears to be floating, blurring the boundary between design and art.5. Elephant StoolbySori Yanagi for Vitra, 1954With a masterly blend of functionalism and tradition that’s difficult to beat, Sori Yanagi set the standard for Japanese product design. His work on everything from cutlery to pots and pans are as fresh today as ever. This stackable stool from 1954 can be used either indoors or outdoors. It can be a seat or a side table, is easy to clean and will last for years. Another Yanagi classic.6.Mushroom StoolbyYamanaka Design Group for Tendo Mokko,1961This moulded-plywood masterpiece is so complicated to make that even though it won a competition in 1961, it didn’t actually go into production until 42 years later. A small piece in natural grain teak, it encapsulates so much about Japan: the skill of its artisans, the power of its postwar design and the enviable depth of manufacturer Tendo Mokko’s back catalogue.7. Foldable Clothing Rack 3000byKenmochi Design Institute for Akita Mokko, 1984Japanese designers are well-versed in making items for tight spaces and this folding clothing rack by Kenmochi Design Institute offers slimline hanging for clothes. Meticulously crafted in beech by Akita Mokko – makers of bentwood furniture since 1910 – it comes in a variety of colours and you can attach matching hooks for additional storage.8. Sing Sing Sing chairbyShiro Kuramata for XO, 1985Shiro Kuramata created functional, highly prized pieces that blurred the lines between art and design. The Sing Sing Sing chair, designed for French manufacturer XO, features steel mesh and a curvy tubular frame that perfectly encapsulate the designer’s architecture-meets-industrial style. And, as a bonus, it’s also a terrific (and comfortable) conversation starter.9. Meguro lounge chair and ottomanbyNaoto Fukasawa for Maruni, 2025The Hiroshima chair, also designed by Naoto Fukasawa for Maruni (for whom he’s the art director), is already in the pantheon of chair classics. His new Meguro lounge chair – here in walnut and brown leather with an accompanying ottoman – is just as special.10. Stone GardenbyTime & Style, 2024Sadly, we can’t all live in a historic Japanese temple but this Stone Garden collection from Time&Style can bring the same natural materials and contemplative mood into any home. Its low-level seating, made in Asahikawa in Hokkaido, comes with tatami mats or cushions to encourage relaxation and more appropriate posture.Spain, for designs as sunny as EspañaSpanish design is celebrated for its vibrant and playful character, which is in step with the national temperament of the sundrenched country. With a heritage of craft as well as manufacturing facilities that are still going strong, when it comes to design, it’s safe to bet on Brand España.11.Tatu lampbyAndré Ricard for Santa & Cole, 1972Named after the Portuguese word for armadillo, this lamp has an appeal that has endured since it was released in the 1970s. Conceived by Catalan industrial designer André Ricard, Tatu takes its inspiration from the focal glow of aeroplanereading lights. With three independently rotating sections and an adjustable beam, Tatu is best suited to quiet and focused activities.12.Suricata deskbyInma Bermúdez for Sancal, 2025This versatile desk-and-stool piece is inspired – and named after – the inquisitivesuricata, which is Spanish for “meerkat”. The desk embodies the energy and dynamism of the small mammal, while encouraging active sitting. Available in a natural maple veneer or a colourful range of wood stains, this desk can turn even the smallest of spaces into a stylish study.13.Altar tablebyMiguel Milá for Kettal, 2023Barcelona-born designer Miguel Milá created this table in the mid-1960s as an altar for his wedding. Later it became part of his everyday use. Though not mass-produced at the time, Kettal picked up the patent for this simple yet charming design in 2023. It’s made from teak and its top comes in a variety of colours and finishes.14.Salvador chairbyMiguel Milá for Trenat, 2013The elegant Salvador chair highlights not only Miguel Milá’s unending search for simplicity and economy of resources but also his appreciation for existing craft traditions. Manufactured by Trenat, the chair uses natural rattan cane, reed and reed strip or coloured ribbons, blending Mediterranean heritage with modern-day design sensibilities15.BKF chairbyAntoni Bonet, Juan Kurchan and Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy for Isist Atelier, 1938Known as the BKF but also the Hardoy, the Butterfly, the Safari, the Sling or the Wing, this chair was designed in 1938 by Spanish architect Antoni Bonet, in partnership with Argentinian design duo Juan Kurchan and Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy. The chair immediately became a symbol of postwar modernity. While many versions exist in the market, Isist Atelier has been handcrafting the original steel-and-leather model to exact specifications since the 1990s.16.TriabyJM Massanaand JM Tremoleda forMobles 114, 1978Tria, which means “choose” in Catalan, is a shelving system originally designed for Mobles 114 in 1978 by industrial design pioneers JM Massana and JM Tremoleda. The modular unit can be adapted to almost any space thanks to its configurable nature and range of materials, which include oak, walnut and cedar, and colours, such as ochre, orange, green and grey anthracite.17. Õru sofabyPatricia Urquiola for Andreu World, 2022Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola looked to the design direction of the 1970s and Japanese aesthetic sensibilities to create this curved and low-slung sofa. Its three oar-shaped feet are the result of woodworking prowess combined with cutting-edge industrial technology, all of which is brought together beautifully in the Valencia manufacturing facility of Andreu World.18. Dipping LightbyJordi Canudas for Marset, 2018Jordi Canudas’s lightbulb moment came when he was experimenting with plunging a lit lamp into a vat of paint at repeated intervals. The result is the Dipping Light, an instantly recognisable piece – and a Marset bestseller – that features gradients of colour and casts a warm glow.19.BalensiyabyGonzalo Milà and Juan Carlos Ines for Indoors,1991Balensiya is a sculptural seat with a gentle rocking motion that’s designed for playful interaction. Made from varnished beech plywood and incorporating traditional woodworking techniques, it was designed by Gonzalo Milà and Juan Carlos Ines in the early 1990s. The arch-shaped stool is now issued by Barcelona-based design company Indoors.20. Explorer cabinetbyJaime Hayon for BD, 2019This cabinet features in Jaime Hayon’s 2019 Explorer collection for Barcelona firm BD. The smooth lines and playful colour of the cabinet take their cues from hot dogs, a simple source of inspiration that exists in fun contrast to the hand-finished and high-gloss lacquer usually found on pianos. The result is a humorous and visually striking yet functional piece.Switzerland, for quality as reliable as clockworkThe Swiss enjoy a reputation for precise and clean-cut design that is simple, certainly, but never boring. Makers balance function with durability, often using local timber and high-quality metals. To buy Swiss is to invest in the enduring appeal of quality that lasts and lasts.21.B77 MK IIIbyRevox, 2024Released last year, Revox’s updated version of this classic tape recorder retains the brushed aluminium, dials and restrained design of the original. But its more modern electronics and digital counter bring it firmly into the present. Swiss-engineered, this is a machine for anyone who values outstanding audio quality.22.DS-1025 Terrazza sofabyUbald Klug for De Sede, 1973Part-furniture, part-landscape architecture, Ubald Klug’s Terrazza sofa takes its sculptural cues from terraced hills. With its leather layers and modules that can be mirrored, extended or combined, it is capable of forming the dramatic centrepiece of any living room. Manufactured in Klingnau, in the Swiss workshop of De Sede, the Terrazza continues to intrigue more than 50 years after its release.23.SBB ClockbyHans Hilfiker for Mobatime, 1944With its bold markings and luminous face, Hans Hilfiker’s iconic railway clock is easily legible by day or by night. With its sweeping carmine-red second hand and thick black markings, the pared-back design is recognisable around the world. In Switzerland, the clock is still on proud display in every train station, quietly keeping time on the nation’s comings and goings.24.Landi chairbyHans Coray for Vitra, 1938Though the Landi chair was designed for the 1939 Swiss National Exhibition, it wouldn’t look out of place at a contemporary design fair today. Made from durable weather-resistant aluminium, its perforated seat and back make it an ideal outdoor companion, while its stackable design ensures practicality.25.Rey chairbyBruno Rey for Dietiker, 1971Thanks to a patented screw-free wood-to-metal joint, this stackable classic from Bruno Rey combines curved forms with a clean, graceful look. Durable, comfortable and instantly recognisable, it is the first Swiss chair to earn this patent. Moreover, it still feels modern and worth owning to this day.26.Wall/Ceiling LampbyGeorg Gisel for Lehni, 1976This 1970s lamp by Zürich-born Georg Gisel uses a mirrored bulb to throw light onto a reflective disc, casting a glowing halo that softly illuminates a room. Designed to be used as a wall or a ceiling fixture, it pulls off the rare feat of being minimal, sculptural and atmospheric, all at the same time.27. USM Haller systembyFritz Haller and Paul Schärer for USM, 1963Built from chrome-plated steel frames and colourful powder-coated panels, the USM Haller system has been helping the Swiss stay organised since the late 1960s. Conceived as modular cubes, the storage units can be endlessly reconfigured. For its functionality, the USM Haller system is one of the undeniable benchmarks of Swiss modernism.28. Loop chairbyWilly Guhl for Eternit, 1954In the 1950s, Willy Guhl bent a single fibre-cement panel into a continuous loop, creating a seat and a backrest in a simple gesture. Made from repurposed roof panels, the chair was discontinued in 1980 because of the presence of asbestos in the material. It was later put back into production – thankfully without the carcinogenic content – and its elegance continues to impress even today.29. Spaghetti outdoor chairbyHuldreich Altorfer for Embru, 1948Huldreich Altorfer’s laidback lounger consists of colourful PVC cords stretched over a tubular steel frame. Stackable and comfortable, it earned the nickname Spaghetti chair thanks to its playful strands, which resemble the Italian pasta. A postwar garden staple, the chair has furnished Swiss terraces for generations.30. TMP paper collectorbyWilli Glaeser for Thomas Merlo & Partner, 1989Willi Glaeser was walking around his office when he identified the need for a design that could keep A4 sheets of paper stacked and tidy. The result is this simple steel frame that is functional but also surprisingly discreet. It turns out that Glaeser wasn’t the only person hankering for a quietly stylish paper collector: the design has since sold more than one million units worldwide.Brazil, for fun pieces with a touch of quirkCelebrated for its beaches, samba and football players, Brazil should also be acclaimed for its design. The country’s makers know how to infuse the austere with a touch of quirk and create designs that feel elegant but never boring; fun but never gimmicky. This is craftsmanship at its coolest.31.Botton lampbyJader Almeida, 2023Designer Jader Almeida’s style revolves around natural, sinuous lines. This quality is on display in 2023’s Botton lamp, a canopy-like structure that bends outward then collapses into itself. Its modest, compact shape lends itself to a variety of settings, from bedside tables and dining rooms to the office.32. Mesa cabanabyAndré Grippi, 2024Designed by São Paulo-based André Grippi, the Cabana series perfectly combines rattan and wood. Held up by three legs, this table’s amorphous shape is just the right amount of whimsical. With its playful silhouette, Grippi brings Brazilian modernism into the 21st century.33. Pé de Ferro armchairbyLina Bo Bardi, 1950Lina Bo Bardi was a modernist architect who lived in Milan, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Salvador and São Paulo. This chair, designed with Giancarlo Palanti, is all tubular shapes, clean silhouettes and white upholstery. As well as being beautiful, it is also functional. As Bo Bardi once said, “It is necessary that the work does not fall from the sky over its inhabitants but rather expresses a need.”34. Mole lounge armchairbySergio Rodrigues, 1961Designed in 1961, this armchair is Sergio Rodrigues’s best-known piece. Mole is Portuguese for “soft” but you don’t have to be fluent to guess that. The chair’s leather upholstery, which flaps outward from its base structure like a pair of wings, is equal parts plush and pleasant.35. Sleeper chaise longuebyLucas Simões, 2025Simões’s Sleeper resembles a chaise longue refracted and reflected back at you in a funhouse mirror. Its concrete base is sci-fi-like, while its undulating, seemingly gravity-defying design adds a touch of the surreal. The name is fitting: this feels like something out of a dream.Australia, for bold silhouettes and creativityLaidback attitudes and a landscape of natural beauty inspire Australian design. Here, bold silhouettes and a focus on fabrication and honest materiality underscore all that is important to its creativity and craftsmanship.36.Studio K desk lampbyBill Iggulden for Planet Lighting, 1962In the 1960s, designers such as Bill Iggulden put a practical, Antipodean spin on mid-century modern. Case in point is this lamp, which has a sharp armature jutting from a solid metal base, exposing coils and wires. The bulb cover creates a concentrated pool of light in which to work.37. Linear SunloungebyTait, 2022Melbourne-based Tait’s sunlounger is made from marine-grade stainless steel and timber, with a form that’s as sleek as its moniker suggests. Its two-wheel set-up means that it can be easily moved from poolside to backyard patio, making it a hit with those soaking up the sun or unwinding after a barbecue.38. Clipped wing side tablebySimon Ancher Studio, 2018Australian designer and maker Simon Ancher’s side table, which can also be used as a stool, is manufactured in Tasmania and made to order from the state’s famed blackwood timber. The result is a carefully crafted piece with visible, rich timber grains. Small but solid in stature, it’s robust like the Australian island from which it hails.39. Event Horizon tablebyMarc Newson Edition, 1992Fabricated in spun aluminium with four trumpet-shaped legs supporting a hollow tabletop, Marc Newson’s Event Horizon table was first made by an Aston Martin restoration firm near London. The coachbuilders worked the aluminium in an approach akin to that of glassblowers, creating its bulbous forms.40. R160 contour chairbyGrant Featherston for Emerson Bros, 1951This piece’s name sums up Australian designer Grant Featherston’s intent: to create a chair that comfortably contours to the body. The back of the seat curves along the length of the user’s spine, while its plush upholstery and the gentle taper of its ashwood legs make it a treat to look at.

The design agenda: An interview with Carlo Ratti and the redevelopment of a Bordeaux district

2025-12-16 19:33:26

Architecture: ArgentinaSpaces reinventedWhen architect Eran Chen first set foot in the derelict three-storey car park that he had been tasked with repurposing in Palermo – a hip yet historic neighbourhood in Buenos Aires – he was struck by the building’s spacious dimensions and vantage point. “I told the developer, ‘If we do it right this building will be attractive to anyone,’” says Chen, who is the founder of the New York-based architecture studio ODA. “People would love working here, people would love coming for leisure.” Developer BSD Investments was granted a lease by the city of Buenos Aires to revitalise the abandoned parking lot – and ODA has delivered on Chen’s vision.What stands there now is OLA Palermo, a mixed-use building of concrete curves, combining office space with retail and a landscaped rooftop terrace offering views of the adjacent hippodrome racetrack and El Rosedal Park. An open-air promenade links the green terrace to this green space, completing a loop within the park and reconnecting the former car park with the neighbourhood. Significantly, ODA kept 80 per cent of the old concrete shell, preserving features such as the exposed waffle slab ceilings while softening the original structure’s harsh angles with sloping ramps, organic forms and a mushroom-shaped extension that recalls the water tank that once stood in its place. “Repurposing existing buildings to do something exciting and give them new life, new energy and new meaning, without doing major work to them, that’s the most sustainable thing you can do,” says Chen.In the same spirit, all the building materials were sourced in Argentina. With its design-forward blend of public and private, old and new, OLA Palermo offers a blueprint for the future of urban infrastructure – and is a fine example of public-private partnerships. Everyone comes out a winner. Developers add value to the property. Tenants get an office environment that inspires them. And the people of Buenos Aires gain a new public space to enjoy in their city.Revival: FranceWarm welcomeThe area around a city’s railway station can often feel uneasy. Commuters come and go in a hurry; unsure tourists stumble off their rail connections. But visitors leaving Bordeaux’s station are in for a pleasant surprise when they enter Paris-based architecture studio Lan’s redevelopment of Amédée Saint-Germain, the former industrial district that borders the transit hub.“We were searching for a design that could function as an entrance to Bordeaux for people leaving the station,” says Lan co-founder Umberto Napolitano. With white stone residential blocks, leafy courtyards and spaces soon to be filled with bustling shops and offices, the district offers a modern vision of France’s southwestern city. Existing local architectural styles and industrial elements were also referenced in the new build.But for Napolitano and his team, the real challenge was transforming a district so different from the rest of the city into a place to live and ensuring that it had a connection to the existing urban fabric. “The real question for us with Amédée Saint-Germain was creating a geography that could help inhabitants create a sense of place. One of the answers lay in crafting a hybrid space between the interior of the apartments and the exterior,” says Napolitano, referencing the perforated stone balconies that shield residents from the street, while still allowing them to look out onto Bordeaux. “People can still see into the city – it helps them feel that they are a part of it.”lan-paris.comFurniture: USAHit paradeThe new MillerKnoll Archives at West Michigan Design Yard enables design buffs to drool over 300 pieces of furniture pulled from the catalogues of US firms Herman Miller and Knoll. Located at the headquarters of its namesake furniture group, it’s the first time that the brands’ wares have been permanently presented side by side. “We intend the archive to be a living resource,” says Amy Auscherman, director of archives and brand heritage at MillerKnoll. “We want it to be a place that fosters curiosity, learning and inspiration.”The archive is organised into three areas, comprising an exhibition space, open storage and a reading room. The debut exhibition, “Manufacturing Modern”, charts the rise of modernism in the 20th century. Through the lens of Herman Miller and Knoll’s products, visitors can see how the movement prioritised functionality and comfort, as well as affordability and accessibility. On show are a selection of Florence Knoll’s office furniture, Eero Saarinen’s prototype of the Knoll Womb Chair and Gilbert Rohde designs for Herman Miller.“By combining these archives, we can tell a multidimensional story of modern design, its evolution and its impact,” says Auscherman.millerknoll.comArchitecture: MoroccoLearning lessonsToo often, contemporary schools are uninspiring, grey spaces. Yet studies show time and again that students who learn in aesthetically pleasing, well-designed places are much more likely to score higher in tests. A benchmark for such educational environments is the Jacques Majorelle school in the Moroccan city of Ben Guérir. Designed by Rabat-based ZArchitecture Studio, it’s a warm terracotta red structure with sunny patios, shaded play areas and an abundance of palm trees.For ZArchitecture Studio founder Zineb Ajebbar, the key aim was to allow pupils to immediately feel comfortable in the space. “Our priority was to create a school that feels intuitive and fluid,” she says. “Take the patios – they are integral to social interactions, serving as natural gathering points and reinforcing the idea that learning happens beyond the classroom.”The way the school connects with the surrounding neighbourhood was also a priority for Ajebbar and her team. “During the design process, it was important for us to create a building that remains deeply rooted in the local identity,” she says. “It draws inspiration from Moroccan vernacular architecture, which is characterised by simple forms and openings. We tried to combine both tradition and modernity.” With its tranquil, design-forward surroundings, the Jacques Majorelle School’s classrooms could well be nurturing the next generation of creative talent.zarchitecturestudio.comDesign: ItalyQ&ACarlo RattiCurator of the Venice BiennaleAs curator of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, the Italian-born creative has set the edition’s theme:Intelligens: Natural, Artificial and Collective. Here, he explains why disparate disciplines need to pull together to deliver better architecture.Why is knowledge sharing across disciplines essential to architecture?Architecture starts when the climate is against us. Architecture is about survival. Today the climate and the natural environment are changing and transforming, and architecture must become a primary mechanism for adaptation. We have seen floods in Bangladesh and Valencia and fires in Los Angeles. The question is how do we respond to these disasters. And while there is not one single response, we do need to build in a more holistic way.How can we deliver these holistic responses?The built environment is about many disciplines combining: teams comprised of architects, designers and urbanists, but also scientists and those working in agriculture, fashion, the arts and sociology are well placed to tackle major challenges. It is the old dream of the great biologist EO Wilson from his bookConsilience. It is about the unity of knowledge because a different type of intelligence is needed. It’s our only hope.

How Paris Design Week is now emerging as a contender to Milan’s design reign

2025-12-03 00:07:41

Much like the global fashion calendar, the design industry’s annual circuit is increasingly packed. From Mexico City to Melbourne, there are numerous design festivals around the world each year, including more than a dozen notable design “weeks” in Europe alone. These are often held in national capitals and significant creative centres. Yet Paris Design Week, which is run by the Maison&Objet trade show, is fast becoming the principal challenger to the reign of Milan Design Week. So what is it that has helped the event stand out in just 15 years of existence?“Our main focus is to make Paris synonymous with new trends and aesthetics,” the director of Paris Design Week, Franck Millot, tells The Monocle Minute on Design. “To stand out, we emphasise the exhibition of emerging designers in the best light and as affordably as possible for them.” That strategy sees its organisers leverage both outstanding private projects in the French capital as well as the city’s breathtaking landmarks to serve as venues for designers hailing from more than 30 countries. This year’s highlights include: a presentation in Beautreillis; a Parisian apartment interior design by Studiovlach (pictured below); Le Corbusier’s Maison Atelier d’Ozenfant will be a platform for Hyacinthe and Leitmotiv to present their work (pictured); the Hôtel de la Marine on the Place de la Concorde will host an exhibition by designer Jérémy Pradier-Jeauneau; and the towering column on the Place de la Bastille will host a show by Aude Franjou dedicated to fabrics calledTextile resilience: Corals of Freedom. The flamboyance of these grand venues sets Paris apart from any other design week.Another factor in Paris’s growing clout is the increase in reverence for themétiers d’art,a catch-all term for France’s historic decorative arts, from leatherwork to goldsmithing. Not so long ago, these skills and the efforts to preserve them were treated with mild neglect. But today,métiers d’arthas become synonymous with quality, character and refinement – as demonstrated by partnerships with some of the country’s biggest brands. Case in point is the work of French designer and cabinetmaker Pierre Renart, who will be presenting two exclusive pieces finished with leather seats in collaboration with French fashion house Longchamp.“France is not a great nation in the industry of design but we are a great nation of creation,” says Millot. French design might not be as evocative as its Scandinavian or Italian counterparts but it does have an unrivalled know-how when it comes to making. This, combined with the dialogue that Paris Design Week nurtures between history and the cutting edge, is giving rise to designs unbeholden to a particular aesthetic or code. In a jam-packed design calendar, that makes Paris one of the year’s most special events.Simon Bouvier is Monocle’s Paris bureau chief.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

São Paulo, South America’s rising design capital

2025-12-16 21:44:12

“All of Brazil can be found in São Paulo,” says Manu Reyes, co-founder of Studio Reyes. “My father came to São Paulo [from Bolivia] because he saw that it was full of possibilities.” After a stint abroad, enrolling in courses and doing apprenticeships, Reyes returned to the metropolis and established her studio with her sister, Moira, in 2023. “There are so many different ways to inhabit and engage with this city. It’s a constant source of inspiration.”Studio Reyes is just one of dozens of design studios, ateliers and art galleries to open in recent years in the post-industrial Barra Funda neighbourhood, where large warehouse spaces can still be found at a reasonable price. “There’s a strong sense of community here,” says Reyes. “For designers and artists, it’s a chance to exchange ideas.”Original designs at Studio ReyesMoira (left) and Manu Reyes of Studio ReyesA few metro stops away, Centro, the city’s historic heart, is also being revived by creative communities. Once home to most of São Paulo’s major art institutions and businesses, this is where Brazil’s modernist movement began in the 1920s and the first Bienal de São Paulo was held. A wave of relocations in the late 20th century saw the neighbourhood slide into dilapidation. But young cultural players are now returning in force, transforming abandoned spaces, driven by a love for the area and the possibilities on offer.Work at the Bienal de São PauloArchitects are also fuelling Centro’s renaissance. Setting up shop are big names such as Metro Arquitetos Associados, while smaller firms are opening up offices in buildings such as Galeria Metrópole, an open-topped 1950s shopping mall. Many of the district’s new generation of architects are graduates of the Escola da Cidade, an architecture university that opened in the neighbourhood in 2002 and is run by disciples of Brazil’s greatest architects, such as Oscar Niemeyer and Paulo Mendes da Rocha.Metro Arquitetos Associados co-founders Gustavo Cedroni (left) and Martin Corullon“The Escola da Cidade has been a catalyst for Centro’s boom in architects,” says Andrea Vosgueritchian, who runs architecture firm Estudio Tupi with her partner, Aldo Urbinati. Like the Reyes sisters, they have migrant roots. Vosgueritchian’s ancestry is Armenian, while Urbinati moved to São Paulo from the Amazonian city of Belém to study architecture.Artworks at Estudio TupiAldo Urbinati and Andrea Vosgueritchian of Estudio TupiThe private library at Estudio TupiEstudio Tupi, in a converted warehouse in PinheirosEstudio Tupi, which opened in 2004“People come to São Paulo with a desire to make things happen,” says Urbinati. “It’s the ugliest city in the world and that’s why it attracts the best architects and artists. It is so disorganised that people want to resist this and create things that are more orderly and beautiful.”There will almost certainly be designers and architects who disagree about the city’s beauty – or lack thereof – but most can agree that its size and financial muscle make São Paulo a place where creative movements and emerging talents can gain traction and scale quickly.International audiences now flock here for the city’s many galleries and dealers; there are several museums and cultural centres, as well as a handful of high-profile events catering to the sector. The annual SP-Arte has become Latin America’s biggest commercial art fair. Design-only events – from DW! design week to Made (Mercado Arte Design) and Casacor – generate buzz and offer a chance to network. Then there are smaller open-studio gatherings such as those in Barra Funda and in Galeria Metrópole.While Alameda Gabriel Monteiro da Silva, São Paulo’s so-called “design avenue”, is home to flagship furniture shops such as DPOT – a verdant, light-filled space by architect Isay Weinfeld – the city’s creatives are coming up with more accessible solutions too. “Before, there was just Alameda Gabriel,” says Manu Reyes. “But in São Paulo, every day brings a million new possibilities. This is where it all happens.”DPOT has reissued pieces created by a range of design mastersModernist chairs, designed in the 1950s and 1960s, at DPOTDPOT’s spacious showroom was designed by São Paulo architect Isay WeinfeldDPOT on Design Avenue, Alameda GabrielLuiza lounger by Fernando Mendes at DPOTBrazilian architect Gustavo UtraboGustavo Utrabo’s architecture studioMid-century furniture is the focus for Apartamento 61Armchair by Luiza Solano at Apartamento 61André Visockis and Vivian Lobato, the owners of Apartamento 61Sesc Pompeia, an arts and leisure centreSesc Pompeia, an architectural icon by Lina Bo BardiFurniture by Andrew de Freitas at Aalvo GalleryAalvo Gallery’s founder, Lola Maria TulleBrazilian furniture and design at Verniz in Barra FundaNewsstand on Avenida Paulista covered with golden mirrors by artist Rizza

Why selling a brand is about getting back to basics

2025-11-29 05:03:22

“Terence Conran would say, ‘It’s better for customers if everything is designed with a single pair of eyes and a singular vision,’” says Mark Landini. After starting his career in London and working for the likes of Fitch&Co – and then as creative director of the Conran Design Group – the Sydney-based designer founded Landini Associates with his wife and managing director, Rikki, in 1993. Today they have 24 employees, four children and Chester, a Staffordshire terrier-sheepdog mix, who is the most vocal presence at the firm’s office in Surry Hills.Over the course of more than 30 years, the studio has become renowned for developing cohesive brands across retail, hospitality, beauty and more. Despite its current standing, however, it had less polished beginnings. The initial idea for the practice came about after a night of drinking. Mark LandiniSketching out a planPerforated sheetLandini, who had long worked for Conran, had been offered a partnership in an architectural design outfit in Sydney but realised within a few weeks that it wasn’t for him. “We bought a couple of bottles of cheap champagne from a shop called Liquorland,” he says. “About two bottles in, I wrote a letter to the managing director of Liquorland and said, ‘Your bottle shops are rubbish. You’ll never have any credibility in wine. You need to start a wine shop.’”Landini never imagined that he would receive a response but the phone rang within days and a relationship began. This eventually led to him designing the company’s new fleet of wine shops known as Vintage Cellars, then reinvigorating the Liquorland brand. “We had our first clients,” says Landini.The practice has since become renowned for reviving and reinventing brands, with a broad church of clients. Supermarket firms Aldi and Esselunga, fashion labels Glassons and Petit Pli, Australian tea retailer T2, cosmetics brand Jurlique and even McDonald’s are now on Landini Associates’ books. And while the clients and the end products are substantially different, there is a consistent approach across the firm’s creative process.Inside the firm’s office in Surry HillsMembers of the Sydney team“We have this thing called the blindfold test,” says Landini. “The idea is that if you were kidnapped, blindfolded and then taken to a brand’s space, you should be able to recognise exactly where you are as soon as the blindfold comes off.” The designer explains that to create such a space, his team – regardless of who the client might be – works to build physical spaces that are neutral in form, allowing the product to become the most important element. “If you can find a way of creating an environment that celebrates the product and the brand is immediately recognisable, then you have passed the blindfold test.”However, the blindfold test is only worthwhile if the brand in question has a clear core idea. “The word ‘brief’ means short and precise. That’s why when you write a brief for a company, it should be brief,” says Landini. Breaking breadOffice entrance areaThree projects of note“We don’t have a fixed list of client services,” says Landini. As a result, a job might encompass everything from identity evolution and graphic design to interiors, lighting, signage, packaging and uniforms, as well as the digital experience. What does unite the firm’s projects, however, is the approach taken: identifying a single driving idea, often distilled to a few words. Here we outline three Landini Associates projects to show how the company works across scale, industries and business requirements.1.EsselungaSupermarket, ItalyDriving idea: ‘Dimmi’(Italian for ‘tell me’)“We had worked in Canada for 15 years with Loblaws supermarket, starting with Maple Leaf Gardens, and it introduced us to the Caprottis in Italy,” says Landini. The Caprotti family owns supermarket chain Esselunga, which began in the country’s north and now comprises 192 shops. It also has the highest turnover per square metre of any supermarket globally. “It started with the notion ofdimmi, which means ‘tell me’ in Italian,” says Landini, explaining that the driving idea for the project was to show the work that goes into Esselunga’s products. “We did this by putting the bakers,pasticceri,salumerieand chefs in a glass box at the front of the shop to expose customers to the wonders of what they do.”2.JurliqueCosmetics, AustraliaDriving idea:Biodynamic Beauty Landini Associates was commissioned by Australian biodynamic skincare company Jurlique to reinvigorate the brand. “We started by visiting its flower farm in South Australia,” says Landini. “It was obvious to me that if it wanted to make the brand big, it had to celebrate the smallness of it – to tell the story of the biodynamic farm.” The Landini team went on to create a logo, packaging and shop fit-outs inspired by the shed on the farm.3.McDonald’sFast food, USADriving idea:Make McDonald’s cool againLandini Associates developed “Project Ray”, which has been rolled out over the past 10 years. The first shop to be overhauled as part of the initiative was the Admiralty Station outpost in Hong Kong. One of the busiest McDonald’s locations in the world, it serves an astonishing 1,200 customers per hour.“The brief was basically to make McDonald’s cool for millennials,” says Landini, who made a point of developing uniforms that would be equally at home in a nightclub and on the production line. “We also changed the furniture and turned the lights down.”

Japan has taken up the mantle for Expo 2025, showcasing the design world’s brightest ideas

2025-12-08 07:25:58

Japan’s longstanding relationship with the World Expo dates back to the country’s debut at the Paris Expo in 1867, when the previously isolated nation unveiled its culture and aesthetics to new audiences. About a century later in 1970, Osaka hosted the first expo in Asia, amid Japan’s economic boom. That event has been etched into the nation’s modern folklore, with memories of Japanese artist Taro Okamoto’s avant-garde sculpture “Tower of the Sun” complementing works by the country’s avant-garde metabolist architects, not to mention the Thai elephants that were paraded along the motorway after arriving at Kobe port.More than 64 million visitors attended the 1970 event, seeking a taste of international culture and a glimpse of the future. “There was even a moon rock,” said one Osaka taxi driver on the cusp of the 2025 edition’s opening day. “How can you possibly beat that?” The collective memory of that event remains strong and while Expo 2025 Osaka unfolds in a far different world, his sentiments echoed those of many locals looking on with a mix of caution and curiosity.Yoshimoto Kogyo, one of Japan’s oldest talent agencies and production companies, has its own pavilionRunning until mid-October, the event is coordinated by the Bureau International des Expositions, an organisation established in 1928 and comprising 184 member countries. The ambition? To foster international collaboration and address universal challenges. This year’s event is taking place against a tense global political and social backdrop – and it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing in the lead-up to the event at the Yumeshima (“Dream Island”) venue either. Concerns around the fair’s economic viability, soaring budget – almost doubling to ¥235bn (€1.43bn) – and sustainability were accompanied by rather tepid pre-opening ticket sales, threatening the target of 28.2 million visitors. Early reports of long waiting times and problems navigating the vast site added to the challenges.Yet when Monocle arrives at the 156-hectare site by Osaka Bay, there’s optimism in the air. The newly opened train station is brimming with life, with the Expo’s quirky mascot Myaku-Myaku appearing on digital displays. Meanwhile, eager travellers compare notes from their guidebooks, and staff from the Japan Pavilion make their way towards the venue in kimono-inspired uniforms, complete withtabisocks and sandals. Once through the gates, visitors are greeted by Sou Fujimoto’s Grand Ring and pavilions from 158 countries and regions, along with international organisations and a swath of leading Japanese companies.Everything from public amenities to bespoke uniforms and conceptual installations has been given consideration – many drawing inspiration from the central theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives”. It’s a call to action that has inspired much talk of unity and dialogue, while also giving rise to innovations that respond to global challenges. Here, we visit a clutch of the expo’s contributors to see how nations, organisations and individuals might work together to build a better world.1.Inner circleThe Grand RingJapanese architecture’s biggest names have shaped Expo 2025. Pritzker Prize-winners Toyo Ito, SANAA and Shigeru Ban, as well as Kengo Kuma, Nendo and Yuko Nagayama, have all worked on buildings for the event. The defining figure, though, is Sou Fujimoto. In addition to master-planning the site, the Hokkaido-born, Tokyo-based architect is responsible for The Grand Ring. At 2km in circumference and reaching 20 metres high, it is the world’s largest wooden architectural structure.The Grand Ring by Sou FujimotoView from the top of The Grand RingThe Grand Ring encloses many of the country pavilions. In practical terms, it works harder than any other structure on the site. It brings a verticality to the windswept artificial island of Yumeshima and provides shelter from the blistering summer sun, while also functioning as a viewing deck, with the city in one direction and the sea in another. Built by three of Japan’s most powerful construction giants – Obayashi, Shimizu and Takenaka – its latticework design pays tribute to the ancient Kiyomizu Temple in nearby Kyoto, making it a showcase for Japan’s history of wooden architecture.“This ring is a symbol of our times,” says Fujimoto. “At a moment when diversity around the world seems to be coming apart, it reflects our desire to hold it all together.” The ring’s fate has yet to be confirmed. Fujimoto says that he hopes that it will be preserved in its entirety. Many visitors would also like the ¥34.4bn (€207m) wonder to stay put. Sadly it won’t – and how much of it will be preserved and reused remains unclear. Even if it is entirely demolished, The Grand Ring will endure in the memory as the architectural emblem of Expo 2025.Daihatsu’s e-Sneaker mobility vehicle2.Wealth of nationsCountry pavilionsIn a field of national pavilions with each jostling for attention, the countries at Expo 2025 present a mixture of ambitious visions, collective solutions and expressions of soft power. Occupying prime position is the US Pavilion, designed by Louisiana-based Trahan Architects, but the Philippines holds its own next door with a lively mix of AI and traditional crafts. Nations are playing to their strengths: the Chinese pavilion unfurls like a bamboo scroll and the Italians have a Caravaggio, while the Japanese pavilion’s circular structure is made from recyclable pieces of timber. France, meanwhile, leans into its cultural might; its expansive, museum-quality space hosts Rodin sculptures alongside works from heritage fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.Saudi Arabia’s pavilion by Foster 1 Partners references Arabic architectureSerbia’s “floating forest” conceptThese visions are counterbalanced by pavilions tackling broader challenges such as climate change. Visitors to the Netherlands Pavilion can learn how the country’s complex relationship with water (a third of the nation sits below sea level) is fuelling solutions relating to food security, renewable energy and future mobility.Links to the natural world are also at the heart of Latvia and Lithuania’s Baltics Pavilion, where the installation “Nature’s Pharmacy” comprises some 300 plant specimens from the region’s meadows. It highlights their unique properties and health and wellbeing benefits, alongside crowd-sourced imagery celebrating an outdoors lifestyle.The Nordics’ shared wooden pavilionPortugal called on Kengo Kuma to celebrate its connection to JapanFood culture is also on the menu, with the Australians preparing flat whites and lamingtons, and the Nordics serving traditionalskagen(open-faced sandwiches) andsemlabuns. At the UK Pavilion, afternoon tea is on offer. The aim of all of this is to present friendly forms of nationalism, reminding visitors that many of the solutions to our most pressing issues might lie in our own – or our neighbours’ – backyards.3.Dress to impressUniforms and mascotsWhile it is architecture that is making the biggest national statements at the expo, fashion reinforces the message. The Japan Pavilion’s gender-neutral grey uniforms by 6 Yuya Nakata are inspired by kimonos and made from recycled materials. The Malaysians are looking stylish in national dress; for men that’s traditionalbaju melayu, comprising a five-button collarless shirt, loose trousers, a decorative sarong and a blacksongkokhat to top it off. Japanese designers are involved in multiple pavilions. Textile designer Akira Minagawa, who runs fashion brand Minä Perhonen, has given staff at the Dialogue Theatre (a signature pavilion commissioned by the expo organisers, celebrating the power of conversation) loose-fitting outfits and bandanas, with hair and beauty direction by Shiseido. For the Better Co-Being Pavilion (an open-air space with a cloud-like roof supported by metal uprights), Japanese outdoor brand Goldwin worked with designer Yuima Nakazato to create staff uniforms to withstand the sun, wind and rain. Such 7 qualities are particularly important in light of the rise of unpredictable weather patterns across the globe.Kuwaiti styleJapanese recruitment firm Pasona, which has a pavilion dedicated to nature, has gone all out with a striking uniform by nonagenarian designer Harumi Fujimoto. It blends futurism and tradition with Nishijin-sourced silk fabrics andyuzendyeing methods, transforming the beauty of classic kimono andobifabrics into modern uniforms.Some countries have even been brave enough to introduce a traditional Japaneseyur u kyara-style mascot. Look out for Belgium’s cheery BeluBelu (pictured, right) – a cell rendered in furry form – which you’ll see posing for selfies and winning friends. It’s a bold move in Japan, which has made the genre its own, but shows the power of delivering a complex message in a cuddly package.Outside Latvia and Lithuania’s shared Baltic pavilionOutdoor brand Goldwin produced uniforms for the “Better Co-Being” pavilionBelgium’s mascot, BeluBeluMeet the mascotIt’s hard to miss Myaku Myaku. Created by illustrator and picture-book author Kohei Yamashita, it’s said that it emerged from a spring somewhere in the Kansai region. The mysterious creature has attracted a cult following as the official mascot of Expo 2025. Fluid in form, friendly but goofy, it has been known to transform into everything from trainers and smile-detecting robots to manhole covers anddarumadolls. Even the country’s traditional crafts industry has been involved, with Nara-based retailer Nakagawa Masashichi spearheading the creation of figures in hand-painted Nabeshima ceramics,washipaper, glass and more. As for the name, Myaku-Myaku replicates a heartbeat and carries the meaning of “continuously”, in reference to the event’s ambition to leave an enduring mark.4.Infinite potentialDomestic and signature pavilionsStationed outside the Grand Ring is a host of so-called domestic pavilions, which include private-sector players such as entertainment conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo and electronics giant Panasonic, both from Osaka and presenting playful installations for young and old. The Japan pavilion, overseen by design studio Nendo and all about sustainability, even features micro-organisms that decompose rubbish and turn it into biogas.One of the most interesting is the pavilion of the Pasona Group, which commissioned a fossil-inspired building to house exhibitions that champion physical, mental and social health. The company has also announced that it will relocate the Dutch Pavilion to Kansai’s Awaji Island, where it will be a contributor to the region’s revitalisation after the event, showing the potential for Expo 2025 to shape design and discourse for generations to come.Pritzker Prize-winner Toyo Ito’s Expo hall, Shining Hat, can hold up to 2,000 peopleThe visionary work of key figures from the arts, academia and more takes shape in the cluster of eight signature pavilions, produced by leading Japanese experts in fields such as art and science. This includes Japanese media artist and academic Yoichi Ochiai’s popular Null2. Standing at the intersection of architecture and interactive technology, it is a pulsating mirrored creation where visitors engage with screens that throw up digitalised duplicates of them while they move through the space.Null2 by media artist Yoichi OchiaiAt the Kengo Kuma-designed Earth Mart, screenwriter Kundo Koyama (ofIron Cheffame) explores the future of food with the help of producers, chefs and food-technology companies. The pavilion is designed as an imaginary supermarket and tackles environmental challenges and hunger, shining a light on the potential of Japanese food and technology. A selection of 25 ingredients and innovations, fromkatsuobushi(dried bonito) tokojimould, showcases what the country’s rich gastronomic traditions continue to offer.Expo 2025 in numbersDuration of the event:184 daysVisitor target:28.2 millionConstruction budget: ¥235bn (€1.43bn)Days it took to reach a million visitors:11Participating countries and regions:158Signature pavilions:8Domestic pavilions:17Inner diameter of the Grand Ring:615 metresPillars marked for navigating the Grand Ring:78Trees planted in the central Forest of Tranquility:1,500Length of the conveyor belt at Kura Sushi restaurant:135 metresBig takeawaysSmall changesWorld Expos have a long history of showcasing innovation, from the steam locomotive to the Singer sewing machine and the wireless “telephone of the future” at Osaka in 1970 – all of which have had an outsized impact on life across the globe. This year’s event embraces this heritage with a cross-section of next-generation technologies: autonomous robots, flying cars, electricity-generating garments and a “heart” made from induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells.Everyday Japanese fixtures have also been given a makeover. Japan Post invites people to dream big, with an AI-powered service that delivers personalised letters of encouragement from the future; Fuji Electric has partnered with Coca-Cola on a hydrogen-powered vending machine; and 7-Eleven’s expo-only “Future Store” is deploying initiatives ranging from energy-harvesting tiles to plant-based products and biodiesel-powered delivery trucks. Even Hello Kitty, a star of the Japan Pavilion, makes an appearance, alongside science-fiction franchise Gundam and children’s toy Tamagotchi, reinforcing the enduring power of the country’s pop-cultural icons.Astro Boy atop the Natureverse pavilion by recruitment company PasonaMyaku-Myaku trainers by MizunoGundam looms large at Bandai Namco’s Next Future PavilionBeyond the symbolism and spectacle, the expo’s outlook on sustainability is prominent. Some pavilions visibly weave the issue into the narrative of their presentations: the Saudi Arabia Pavilion by Foster&Partners, for instance, embraces a net-zero operation target and has been designed for reassembly at future events. While the post-event fate of many other pavilions and facilities remains unclear, the official Reuse Matching Project invites applications for the “legacy preservation” of everything from buildings to furniture, fixtures and trees. And with its acquisition of the Dutch Pavilion, Pasona has demonstrated that the corporate world can also play an important role.Robots in action at NatureverseSo, while Osaka’s Expo 2025 opened at a time of uncertainty, it has also been a demonstration of the potential for incremental and drastic change. Only time will tell whether these innovations will leave their mark. With the world’s eyes focused elsewhere, it can be easy to downplay such an event – but there’s something heartening in seeing countries come together from far and wide to share the stage alongside some unlikely neighbours.Traditional parade before opening dayDaihatsu has 150 mobility vehicles at ExpoQ&A: Takako YagiFounded with the aim of providing solutions to society’s problems, Japanese recruitment company Pasona Group believesthat personal wellbeing is today’s most significant challenge. TakakoYagi is its managing executive director, as well as the project lead for its pavilion, Pasona Natureverse. Here, she introduces its concept,“ThankYou, Life”.Pasona Natureverse references Expo 1970. How did that earlier expo influence this pavilion?Visitors enter through the “History of Life” zone, where they can reflect on life on Earth. The centrepiece is an installation called “Tree of Life Evolution”. The 10 layers in its trunk depict different stages of evolution, from single-celled organisms to the sun’s eventual expansion into a red giant. The branches extending out represent the future’s infinite possibilities. The design is a homage to the symbol of Expo 1970, the “Tower of the Sun”.The pavilion uses anime characters Neo Astro Boy and Black Jack as guides. What’s the powerof this distinctly Japanese genre?Anime is an aspect of Japanese pop culture that really resonates. As a robot with a human spirit, Astro Boy represents harmony between humanity and technology. He has been reborn as the original character “Neo Astro Boy”, equipped with an “IPS stem-cell heart” by fictional surgeon Black Jack.What do you hope visitors will take away?The theme of both Expo 2025 and our pavilion expresses a desire for harmony between technology, humanity and nature. We hope visitors come away with a greater sense of gratitude and respect for life.Q&A:Ries Straver and Pim SchachtschabelAmsterdam-based design studio Tellart led the experience design for the pavilions of the Netherlands and the Philippines. Partner and executive producer Ries Straver and design director Pim Schachtschabel share their insights.Water is a central theme of the Dutch Pavilion. How did you bring it to life?Ries Straver: The Netherlands has a unique relationship with water. Being below sea level, the Dutch used to have to fight to keep it out. But through active management, water was allowed in and made an ally. Now we’re looking at related innovations that might hold the key to solving the world’s biggest challenges today: climate change, the preservation of biodiversity and food security.The pavilion doesn’t shy away from global challenges. What would you like visitors to take from their experience?RS: We hope that visitors will leave the pavilion with a sense of hope and agency. Unconventional thinking and joining forces as an international community can help us to find solutions.For the Philippine Pavilion, how did you combine tradition and technology, handcrafts and interactive AI?Pim Schachtschabel: One of our design philosophies is “form follows story”. How can technology, handcrafts and AI all be part of the same tale? In the Philippine Pavilion, handwoven textiles hang beside interactive AI installations. These juxtapositions celebrate the continuity of Filipino culture – how it adapts, evolves and stays rooted. It’s a conversation between past and future, nature and technology, human and digital.

Not your typical Greek villas: The coastal residences mixing art and architecture

2025-12-17 18:52:46

Few places in Greece are more postcard perfect than Pefkali. This stretch of the northern Peloponnese coastline consists of pine-tree-covered hillsides that stretch down into the crystalline waters of the Saronic Gulf. It’s here that artist Alexandros Ntouras spent his summers as a child, when he and his family would escape Athens for the seafront holiday home built by his father. “It’s very beautiful here and only a 90-minute drive from the city,” says Ntouras. “But not many Athenians know about it.”It’s a corner of Greece that Ntouras is keen to share with others. Several years ago he decided to build additional residences near his family home – an ongoing endeavour. “I had the idea to start a hospitality project that combines architecture, design and art,” he says. Ntouras opened his first ancillary residences in 2022: a duo of guesthouses named Laspi. “I wanted to create something that wasn’t your classic Greek holiday villa.”It was the first commission for young Athenian architecture studio Askiseis Edafous, which was tasked with creating the two properties. The design involved slotting together vast slabs of raw concrete in a brutalism-inspired construction that juts precipitously from the hillside. Making the most of the striking views afforded by the location was a priority for the studio, which fronted the property with floor-to-ceiling windows that reveal majestic panoramic vistas across the water.Ntouras worked on the interiors of the properties himself. His design carefully balances the concrete walls with warm, wooden surfaces, diaphanous curtains and effusions of greenery. He also created custom lamps and hand-painted plates, which were manufactured at his ceramics studio in Athens, Korkodilos.For Ntouras, Laspi offers an opportunity to showcase the work of young Greek creatives. “I wanted to fill the space with pieces by new artists and designers,” he says. There’s a rotating selection of photography, sculpture and paintings by emerging talent placed thoughtfully and unobtrusively around the properties.The villas, named Petres (“Stones”) and Skóni (“Dust”), accommodate six guests each and are available for rent year-round as holiday homes. During the summer, guests can take a dip in the private pool on the terrace or, if they’re feeling adventurous, amble down to the rocky coastline below. In the cooler months, there are plenty of scenic trails to explore, as well as some of Greece’s best-known archaeological sites nearby, such as the ancient ruins of Mycenae and Epidaurus.Following the success of Laspi, Ntouras has decided to expand the project with a new guesthouse in the area and is currently working on another, larger property on an even more remote corner of the land. “I see these buildings as big sculptures,” he says. “They’re going to be around a lot longer than we are so I want to at least leave something inspirational and interesting behind for future generations.”laspi.life/Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

Monocle’s rundown of the top 20 thrilling new design discoveries to experience now

2025-12-22 09:13:32

1.Centre de CongrèsRabatAt the heart of the Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique campus in Rabat is a conference centre that combines grandeur with a warm welcome and the spirit of intellectual inquiry.(Image: Gregori Civera)Conference centres can be sterile, unimaginative spaces. An outstanding exception is the new Centre de Congrès on the Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique campus in Rabat. Designed by Barcelona-based Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, it’s a benchmark for the creation of inspiring meeting spaces. While the building’s exterior – with its sweeping stone arches and grand, angular porticoes – makes a striking impression, its interiors are calm and welcoming. The auditorium has deep emerald walls and matching upholstered chairs, with the stage sitting beneath a white domed skylight, which diffuses a gentle glow in the space. The result is a facility that’s not only capable of hosting events of all kinds, from industry conferences to public performances, but quietly elevates campus life.About Bofill:Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill founded his practice, Taller de Arquitectura, in 1963, alongside a creative team of architects and engineers but also poets, philosophers and filmmakers. Through this unconventional firm, Bofill helped to shape the postmodern architectural landscape in Spain with a socially minded and colourful approach to design.2.Space HouseLondonThe eye-catching, Grade II-listed former home of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority is now flying high – revived after a three-year revamp that has brought it firmly into the future, deliberately flaunting its classic brutalist features.(Image: Edvinas Bruzas)(Image: Edvinas Bruzas)On the fringes of London’s Covent Garden, amid an entanglement of retailers and university buildings, stands Space House – a monolithic, beehive-like 16-storey building. Though it’s hard to comprehend today, the towering brutalist office block was largely overlooked by the public’s undiscerning eye when the building was completed in 1968.It was architect George Marsh, who was then working at R Seifert and Partners, who radicalised this plot of land. Marsh and his team set out to create a structure with a circular floorplate and 360-degree views that stretch from the Houses of Parliament and the Thames to the BT Tower in Fitzrovia. The result was a concrete behemoth that was in keeping with the period’s burgeoning brutalist movement (think the now-iconic Barbican housing estate in central London and the National Theatre on the South Bank).From 1975, Space Home served as the home of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. But when the government body vacated the premises at the end of its lease in 2019, it was time for a pep up. Property developer Seaforth Land obliged when it purchased Space House in 2022. “The building is magnetic – there’s an incredible optimism in the architecture, almost absorbed by the future-facing sentiment of the period,” says Tyler Goodwin, Seaforth Land’s CEO. “It was an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up. We wanted to maintain that beauty, which is far more appreciated now than it was then.”When it came to the three-year renovation, the building’s Grade-II status and 23,700 sq m of floor space meant that careful consideration of the existing structure was paramount. Squire&Partners, the architecture firm leading the redesign, shifted the main entrance to create a grander, more welcoming south-facing foyer. New lifts with fluted-concrete interiors were designed in keeping with the building’s visual language. Sustainable implementations saw a complete overhaul of its internal heating and cooling systems to meet modern standards. “On a project such as this, it’s the authenticity that’s important – uncovering it and then celebrating it,” says Goodwin. “That’s the real joy of refreshing original properties.”spacehouse.londonBrutalist Britain:The UK’s love affair with concrete dates back to the 1950s, when a postwar reconstruction effort called for a type of architecture that was low-cost and utilitarian. Thus emerged brutalism, a style that evokes grey, bare-bones and angular façades – and continues to polarise popular opinion.3.PAL 1 BT by Tivoli AudioBostonA charming throwback to a simpler time that’s packed with modern features.(Image: Benjamin Swanson)Want to stay in the know with a podcast or play the latest tunes on the go? Then Boston-based Tivoli Audio’s portable Pal 1 BT radio is your ideal companion.Though it evokes the reassuring solidity and feel of a 1950s wireless, it doesn’t skimp on technological prowess. This new iteration of the design features both a Bluetooth-supported speaker and a DAB and FM radio, all while offering a well-balanced sound. It’s available in a range of colourways, including this particularly loud yellow – a reminder that great sound is worth shouting about.tivoliaudio.com4.Eames HouseLos AngelesHaving survived January’s Los Angeles wildfires, the mid-century home of Charles and Ray Eames has reopened to visitors – and now offers access to the designers’ studio.(Image: Chris Mottalini)The wildfires that ravaged LA came perilously close to destroying the Eames House – the former home of mid-century designers Charles and Ray Eames and now a museum. After avoiding catastrophe and undergoing smoke restoration, it’s ready to welcome visitors once again. For the first time in its 76-year history, this includes the adjacent Eames Studio, where Charles and Ray worked on everything from furniture prototypes to film editing. “People know them mostly for their chair designs but by coming here you also learn that they were graphic designers, artists, industrial designers and filmmakers,” says Eames Demetrios, the designers’ grandson.eamesfoundation.org5.Golden AvenueBrisbaneA new multi-level restaurant by J.AR Office transports the cool and calm of a Middle Eastern courtyard to the heart of Brisbane’s commercial district, serving as a lush oasis with its climate-responsive design.(Image: Jesse Prince)(Image: Jesse Prince)Designed by architects J.AR Office, Golden Avenue is a new restaurant from Brisbane’s Anyday group. Its defining feature is a central space with an adjustable roof and shutters that let in sunshine on cool days and diffuse heat when it’s warm. “In Middle Eastern architecture, this courtyard typology is valued for the air, light and refuge that it provides,” says J.AR Office’s Jared Webb. Combined with the building’s thermal mass, additional shading and passive air circulation, it ensures that the restaurant doesn’t have to rely on air conditioning. “We wanted to emphasise the feeling of being outdoors and embrace Brisbane’s climate,” says Webb.anyday.com.au6.Los Angeles Bus ShelterLos AngelesThe bus shelter has been given a long-overdue revamp, offering real-time arrivals information, plus some very welcome shade.(Image: James Juarez)“Bus shelters have long been an underappreciated feature of city streets. Now, Los Angeles is tapping their potential with a network of modular bus stops inspired by Californian modernism. Designed by Skidmore, Owings&Merrill with the help of Designworks, Studioneleven and Tranzito-Vector, the shelters serve various needs. Every model features digital displays with real-time arrival times, weather information and alerts. Some will also feature e-scooter racks and e-lockers.So far, the city has installed 150 units, with a total of 3,000 planned over the next decade. As climate change drives temperatures to unprecedented heights, the structures also provide shade in areas that lack tree cover.som.comOlympic effort:Ex-Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti is championing 28 infrastructure projects set to be delivered before the city hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.7.Miramonti Boutique HotelMeranoThe beloved hotel’s new cabins promise a soothing stay among the trees.(Image: Silke Kverneland)(Image: Elias Hassos)Merano’s Miramonti Boutique Hotel has expanded its offering with three new cabins adjacent to the property, renovated under the direction of designer Harry Thaler. The project, he says, is about “simplicity, quiet and character. I developed Monti as a contemporary forest retreat that respects the heritage and the unique energy of the place.” To bring the project to life, Thaler worked with Tara architects.The residences are designed to blend with nature: think muted tones, plenty of wood and floor-to-ceiling windows. Best of all, the rooftops feature steel tubs for cold-water therapy and warming wood-fired saunas. “Each house is like a different chapter in the same book,” he says. “It’s a story of retreating into the forest and finding balance.”hotel-miramonti.com8.ValentynsKölnDesigned by celebrated German architect Thomas van den Valentyn, the Köln-based company’s new workspace offers well-appointed rooms, evening wellness options and plenty of natural light. Small wonder the employees seldom take sick days…(Image: Felix Speller)(Image: Felix Speller)Architects and designers don’t typically utter the words work and wellness in the same breath. But Valentyns’ new office set-up in a 1960s modernist building in Köln proves that this doesn’t have to be the case. Designed by German architect Thomas van den Valentyn – best known for his restoration of Berlin’s Presidential Palace, as well the Beethoven Haus Archive and Chamber Music Hall in Bonn – this workspace overlooking the Rhine riverbank is equal parts business and pleasure.During the day, members and employees in the 43 private offices can work in well-appointed rooms equipped with pieces by the likes of USM, Le Corbusier and Fritz Hansen. In the evening they can indulge in a host of wellness offerings, from Finnish and infrared saunas to custom-made ice baths and workouts using Technogym kit. Natural light floods most of the building’s spaces, creating an inviting and creatively stimulating atmosphere. It’s the kind of place that feels intimate and welcoming without trying too hard to emulate a home: it’s sleek but not impersonal. Valentyns claims that there has been a 30 per cent decrease in sick days since moving in – a reminder that when it comes to effective design, constructing an environment that makes people feel good is often just as important as prioritising what looks best.valentyns.comThomas van den Valentyn:The Köln-based architect founded his namesake firm more than three decades ago, after studying under famed Austrian architect Hans Hollein at the Academy of Arts in Düsseldorf. Van den Valentyn has designed buildings around Germany, from the Max Ernst Museum in Brühl to the T-Home Campus office space in Bonn.9.Barista by MonowareLondonUpgrade your home-brewed espresso with this collection of UK-designed, Portuguese-made stoneware coffee cups.(Image: Benjamin Swanson)“Looking for the kind of crockery worthy of the buzziest cafés? Then take your pick from London brand Monoware’s latest collection, made in Portugal from matte glazed stoneware. The cups’ soft, round shapes make them an attractive addition to any kitchen.monoware.comAbout Monoware:Founded in 2019 by Swiss creative consultant Daniel Baer, Monoware creates tableware with enduring appeal.10.Surat FlyoverSurat, IndiaA neglected space under a flyover has been transformed into a sports facility that’s accessible to all.(Image: Shivam Vasava)Like many cities, Surat in the Indian state of Gujarat has plenty of underused urban pockets and not enough accessible spaces for recreation. To address this, the Surat Municipal Corporation asked architecture firm Aangan Collaborative to reimagine the void beneath a flyover as a sports facility and community hub. The design unfolds along a pedestrian spine, with a series of enclosed micro-cement courts offering durable, high-performance surfaces for various activities. Encased within a skin of aluminium mesh and polycarbonate, the facility offers security and acoustic insulation from traffic.“The project is a break from the exclusivity of clubs and gated institutions, making sports accessible to everyone,” says Niti Shah, a senior associate architect at Aangan Collaborative. “The city’s urban voids hold immense potential to be transformed into vibrant spaces. The project is a prototype demonstrating how Indian cities can make the most of them.”aanganarchitects.org11.Casa MontelongoFuerteventura, Canary IslandsAn artfully designed micro hotel in Fuerteventura where tradition meets modernity offers the chance to slow down and connect with the island’s charming vernacular.Close to the northern shores of Fuerteventura, a 19th-century family home in the town of La Oliva is enjoying a renewed purpose as a two-suite micro hotel. Casa Montelongo, designed by Lanzarote-born and Berlin-based architect Néstor Pérez Batista, reinterprets Canarian vernacular with a deft, subtle touch. While Fuerteventura features no shortage of sprawling resort complexes, Casa Montelongo’s revival centres on the blending of traditional island materials – volcanic stone, lime and clay – with contemporary elements. Skylights and clean-lined interiors seamlessly integrate with thick stone walls and wood accents that regulate heat while creating a tactile, inviting atmosphere.Guests are gently nudged to engage with the architecture as much as the island. “We want Casa Montelongo to become an artful alternative to generic, mass hospitality,” says Batista. As a tasteful, small-scale counterweight to other hotels on the island, the casa quietly proves that slowness and cultural memory can still set the pace.casamontelongo.com12.Folding Torch by SnowpeakJapanGoing on an excursion into the great outdoors? Then go prepared with this elegant torch that combines utility with a minimalist Japanese aesthetic.(Image: Benjamin Swanson)Planning on pitching a tent but determined not to sacrifice style for unwieldy camping supplies? Japanese brand Snow Peak distils generations of technical mountaineering know-how into this compact folding torch that screws straight onto a portable gas canister. With an attractive natural wood handle and a robust stainless-steel frame, this flambeau will add plenty of fuel to any campfire.snowpeak.com13.Gunia ProjectKyivFor its new shop in the Ukrainian capital, homeware brand Gunia has created an immersive space that incorporates elements of its location with its own gentle outlook.For its new shop in Kyiv’s Golden Gate district, fashion and homeware brand Gunia decided to take a fresh approach. “We wanted to create a space where all of the aspects of our brand could coexist,” says Maria Gavryliuk, who co-founded the company with Natalia Kamenska in 2018. “It was about immersing visitors in our universe.”The duo hired Anastasiia Tempynska’s architecture studio Temp Project. “The inspiration was Gunia itself,” says Tempynska. “The brand evokes a sense of innocence, like the feeling of drinking tea in a garden or walking through a quiet village.” Inside the former Panamanian consulate building, carved wooden panelling is offset by green tiling and soft blue carpets, while metal and glass contrast with the pastel effect. The shop also brings in aspects of the neighbourhood. “The wood’s chocolate brown and the blue echo Saint Sophia Cathedral.”guniaproject.com14.LangelinieskuretCopenhagenStudio David Thulstrup’s new wine bar, in a landmark 1902 customs building, gives patrons a taste of the site’s rich history.(Image: David Thulstrup)The Langelinieskuret has long loomed large in the collective memory of Copenhagen’s residents. Designed by architect Vilhelm Dahlerup, the building was completed in 1894. Its 350-metre-long façade and rooftop promenade served as a loading bay for ships transporting goods through the Danish capital’s port until the late 20th century. Now, it has been transformed into an event space and wine bar by development firm Karberghus. “This was originally a very popular place for the public to come and watch the harbour,” says Karberghus’s CEO, Andreas Karberg. “Today it can be a place where people come for a glass of wine after work.”This vision was brought to life by Copenhagen-based Studio David Thulstrup, which revamped the interiors using materials referencing the building’s existing industrial aesthetic. Polished versions of Ølandstone have been deployed for selected counter tops, patinated steel clads the bar, structural walls have been lime-washed and the existing wooden floor has been retained and stained black.“I always investigate a place and look at what the building is made from,” says Thulstrup. “I want to see how I can use that materiality in my work.” The Danish architect broke up the building’s cavernous interior by installing hanging panels and screens throughout the space – interventions that didn’t compromise the structural integrity of the listed structure. “We had to protect and celebrate the building mass,” adds Thulstrup. “At the same time, we needed solutions that could ensure that it can function now.”Other additions by Thulstrup have also enhanced the building’s contemporary functionality. Full-length dark-brown leather curtains add warmth, tactility and acoustic padding, while also concealing wine storage. Font chairs, designed by Thulstrup and produced by Møbel Copenhagen, are upholstered in Savanne brown and burned grey Sørensen leather; these flank smoked grey float glass and Norwegian stone tabletops. It’s a hospitality space that perfectly fits Just Karberg’s brief and stays true to the vision of Dahlerup’s original structure.davidthulstrup.com15.Stainless-steel cutlery from Millimeter MilligramSeoulThis cutlery set by a South Korean retailer brings plenty of character to the table.(Image: Benjamin Swanson)This cutlery set is sure to be a conversation starter at any dinner table. Made from stainless steel, its flat form is reminiscent of the knives, spoons and forks found in first-class cabins during the golden age of aviation: think Raymond Loewy’s mid-century cutlery set for the Concorde or Arne Jacobsen’s work for SAS. Stocked by South Korean retailer Millimeter Milligram, it’ll make a delicious addition to any cutlery drawer.mmmg.krAbout Millimeter Milligram:Since 1999, South Korean design brand Millimeter Milligram has upheld the idea that small but carefully designed objects can elevate our daily lives. From ceramic teacups to glass flowerpots, the company manufactures its wares in small ateliers in Seoul’s historic downtown area.16.Schafbergbahn StationSt Wolfgang, AustriaAustria’s steepest cogwheel railway has been given an upgrade with the award-winning revamp of a station designed to strengthen the connection between its users and the natural environment.(Image: Albrecht Imanuel Schnabel)Best known for its hiking and skiing spots, Schafberg in Salzburg is also home to Austria’s steepest steam-rack railway. The design of its terminus, Schafbergbahn Station in St Wolfgang, recently won a Prix de Versailles architecture award. “I had to google what that was,” says Mario Mischelin, managing director of the railway owners, laughing. “The landscape is protected so we tried to integrate the building with the surroundings,” says Michael Höcketstaller of Salzburg-based practice Dunkelschwarz. The architects created a jagged wood-and-steel roof, breaking up the building’s scale, while installing panoramic windows to take in the grandeur of the landscape.dunkelschwarz.com17.Bidadari ParkSingaporeThe reinvention of a park in the city-state has brought residents not only much-needed recreation space but a first-of-its-kind flood defence system.(Image: Finbar Fallon)Singapore’s Bidadari Park was home to a cemetery until the 2000s. Seeking to transform “the former place of rest into a restful place”, design studio CPG Consultants, together with Henning Larsen’s Singapore studio, decided to take a leaf out of AA Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories, says Caijin Huang, its vice-president of architecture. The designers created their own take on its Hundred Acre Wood, implementing play areas, winding boardwalks and log piles that foster a sense of joy and discovery.The team also enhanced the park’s flood protection, adding terraced wetlands, marshes and an artificial stream, as well as Alkaff Lake, which doubles as a stormwater retention pond. With floods increasingly common, this system is more essential than ever.cpgconsultants.com.sg; henninglarsen.com18.Another Country&GoldfingerLondon, United KingdomA socially minded union showing the way to a sustainable design future.British natural furniture brand Another Country recently acquired Goldfinger, a London-based design studio known for bespoke commissions, tree-cycling and community programmes. A reminder that there’s strength in numbers.anothercountry.com; goldfinger.design19.Tala Wake lampLondonEase into the day with a lamp that adjusts its brightness to your natural circadian rhythms.(Image: Benjamin Swanson)Owning the correct bedside lamp can help make getting up in the morning a genuine pleasure. London-based lighting company Tala’s Wake model features a hand-glazed base and a custom-made bulb that mirrors the sun’s luminosity to work with your circadian rhythms. The result? A soothing soft glow in the evening and brighter, energising illumination in the morning, reinforcing your natural sleep patterns. Its distinctive globular design makes it an eye-catching addition to any bedside table.tala.co.uk20.Between the coversGlobalLooking for a deep dive on the work of an outstanding architect or design movement?Here’s our pick of the bunch.(Image: Tony Hay)Published by Park Books,Visitingexamines the high-quality affordable housing of mid-century German architects Inken and Hinrich Baller. Also from the Zürich-based publisher isConcéntrico, which documents 10 years of the titular urbanism festival. Oro Editions’Episodes in Public Architectureby Canadian architect Andrew Frontini is an exploration of civic projects, whileCity Livingfrom Australia’s Uro focuses on the residences of Melbourne-based developer Neometro. Rounding out the selection isThe Complete Work in Progress, a lever-arch file containing sheets celebrating the portfolio of Danish design firm Spacon. The binding method allows it to be updated as the practice grows.What makes a good design monograph?Design writing can often feel dry or inaccessible. So what does an exceptional monograph offer? In our opinion: clear text, compelling layouts, and an abundance of sketches, drawings, photos and blueprint illustrations, as well as the odd personal essay and contextualisation within a broader sociopolitical landscape.

The London home that helped shape a new lighting design

2025-12-04 15:17:30

Running a design studio can be challenging and isolating. Inspiration for your work can be wide-ranging, spanning everything from art to everyday objects. For designer Joe Armitage, architecture is such a source. “I was stuck on the design of a lamp but a discussion with architect William Smalley helped me to finish it,” says Armitage. The longtime friends were discussing Smalley’s London Modernism, a mid-century courtyard house and refurbishment project in the southwest of the UK capital, which the architect believed might have some details that could help Armitage to complete his design. “There’s a Smalley-designed bench in the entryway,” says Armitage. “He asked me, ‘Why not add a curved element, similar to the bench, to the bottom of the table lamp? It’s practical and you can keep your keys or pen there.’”Ahead of the curve: Function and form come together in the Modernist desk lamp by Joe Armitage (on right)Soft touch: Smalley’s refurbishment of the mid-century courtyard house in London(Images: Courtesy of Joe Armitage)If the marriage of practicality and aesthetics in Smalley’s advice wasn’t convincing enough, a visit to the project proved to Armitage that the curved element would complement the lamp’s design. This ultimately became the starting point for the design’s completion. The addition also reflects the ethos of Smalley’s work: projects that put people at their heart through meticulous attention to detail and rich material selections, exemplified by said bench at London Modernism. “We always like to provide a seat at the entrance to our houses for those coming and going to take off wet shoes and tie laces. In this project the bench is inside, next to the front door, with a gently curved seat along its considerable length, carved from sapele wood,” says Smalley. “The base of Joe’s desk lamp took a cue from this following a conversation that we had about how to soften the lighting and make it feel personal.”The home and resulting lighting collection – called Modernist – use these curves to soften spaces. At London Modernism, for instance, a bending staircase leads to a primary-bedroom suite that Smalley added atop the original single storey mid-century home designed by Leslie Gooday. The staircase’s curvature eases the journey to bed. Armitage’s collection includes a desk lamp, two wall sconces and two overhead suspension lights. The lamp’s curved base invites human touch, while its distinct U-channel shades gently cast light across interior spaces.Like Smalley’s work, Armitage’s collection features rich materiality: most fixtures feature walnut-and-brass components, while the shades are made from PET felt parchment developed in close collaboration with a Swiss engineering firm. To come full circle, the collection was installed – albeit temporarily – in London Modernism (pictured), bringing together the lighting and the architecture that inspired it. This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Return-to-office mandates won’t keep workers in their cubicles – but a lavish workspace can

2025-12-18 08:30:12

At first glance, 100 Pearl Street seems like a case study of the crisis facing downtown New York. Entire floors of this 1980s brick tower in Manhattan’s Financial District are empty – a problem that many of the building’s neighbours also face. A quarter of the office space around Wall Street is vacant after an industry-wide exodus to the home office. Yet on 100 Pearl Street’s 28th floor, the lift doors slide open to reveal part of the pristine headquarters of asset management firm Alger, a hushed, double-height space with soaring windows and Jean Prouvé-designed lobby chairs. Inside, sharply dressed analysts dart between their desks and sparkly new boardrooms. “It’s a mark of success for any business to get to build your headquarters from scratch,” says Daniel C Chung, Alger’s CEO, sitting in a lounge chair in his corner office. “Our decision to invest was the result of a combination of terrific space, the views and a good deal.”Towering influenceDaniel C Chung, CEO of AlgerAmid a glut of unwanted commercial real estate in New York, some companies are taking advantage of reduced rents to secure bigger and better headquarters. Alger, which has a relatively modest $28bn (€23.7bn) in assets under management, signed up for its new office in 2020 and moved in two years ago. Its three floors – of which the upper two are newly built – feature felt-lined conference rooms and custom-made wooden workstations for a staff of 170 stock traders, wealth managers and analysts. The team was previously based in a cramped, open-plan office in Midtown.There’s a heated competition emerging at the upper echelons of Manhattan’s commercial property market. To lure staff back to the office, canny firms are spending lavishly on amenities, furnishings and location, all in a bid to outdo each other in terms of digs. Alger’s trophy HQ is just one example of many. Rising above skyscrapers built by Gilded Age industrial tycoons, the latest addition to New York’s silhouette is a 423-metre-tall bronze skyscraper that will house the new headquarters of multinational finance corporation JPMorgan Chase. Designed by UK-based practice Foster 1 Partners, it is expected to be completed later this year. Any old class-B office space simply won’t do and the battleground includes everything from in-house gyms and on-site doctors to plunge pools and the size of the fish tank on the executive floor.But it’s not all about the frills. The property race among New York’s high-flying firms is about projecting an aspirational, even somewhat cinematic image after years of dour pronouncements about the death of the workplace. “The office has turned from a mere nine-to-five place into a cultural destination,” says Jonathan Olivares, the design director at Knoll, a firm that has furnished corporate America since the 1950s. This new crop of trophy offices often evokes some of the glamour of Madison Avenue’s mid-century heyday (and there’s more than a nod to the sets of 1960s-set TV dramaMad Menin one or two corner suites that Monocle visits). For many workers, it’s no longer necessary to be physically present to complete their tasks, so bosses are realising the importance of creating spaces that both look the part and make staff feel part of something exciting.“I couldn’t really justify [Alger’s investment in its HQ] beyond the fact that it’s inspirational to employees,” says Chung. “The dream of coming to New York is associated with the city’s glamour, its nightlife and the idea of successfully making a career in one of the world’s most competitive markets.” He gestures around the C-suite, with its views of Manhattan and Brooklyn. “I tried to make our office a place where a young person might come in and say, ‘I want to be here.’”Before the lease was signed, Chung had already chosen the interior designers for Alger’s new base: Brittney Hart and Justin Capuco, the founders of New York-based studio Husband Wife, best known for elegant residences. The pair spent three years on the $15m (€13.2m) project, tailoring their work to the wishes of Alger employees. “We booked a conference room for a day and spoke to every senior member of staff and most junior ones,” says Capuco. “It was clear that nobody wanted their workplace to feel like an old-fashioned cubicle farm.”Brittney Hart and Justin Capuco of Husband WifeOne Hanover, another Wall Street revival by Husband WifeMeeting room at One HanoverFor the layout, Hart and Capuco drew inspiration from the glass-pavilion homes of early Californian modernism, creating “floating” offices with metal blinds for privacy. The meeting rooms come in hues of blue – Alger’s company colour – with carpeting and felt walls, scalloped ceilings, curving eucalyptus-wood desks and presentation screens inspired by science-fiction films. In the open-plan workspaces, where some type of cubicle was unavoidable, they designed roomy nooks crafted from stained oak, with fabric panelling for optimal acoustics. Seating, all in black leather, comes courtesy of mid-century power-office designers Marcel Breuer, the Eameses and Mies van der Rohe.Alger’s double-height lobby designed by Husband WifeCustom eucalyptus-wood table and acoustic panels“We are seeing a complete market split,” says Volker Zinkl, the head of real estate for the US subsidiary of German reinsurer Munich RE. “The top offices are all going, while downtown is 40 per cent empty.” Zinkl shows Monocle around one of the firm’s flagship assets: an Eli Kahn-designed office tower on Madison Avenue. Since buying the building in 2020, the new landlords have been busy upgrading its amenities and adding spaces for a café and a bar. “We see ourselves almost as hotel directors,” says Zinkl. “Our tenants are fighting to attract top employees, retain talent and impress their clients.” He points to the bouquets of cherry blossoms on the receptionist’s desk. “Take these flowers. We spend $3,000 [€2,560] every month on them. When you have thousands of people passing by every day, you might as well make it count.”The seating that Zinkl bought for the lobby – a pair of beige curving couches on aluminium legs – is something of a secret handshake in the world of top-flight office interiors. Last year, Italian furniture company Unifor began producing the Andromeda collection, which also includes a credenza and tables with a mirror-like polish; its designer, LSM, has become a go-to architect among the new crop of trophy offices in Manhattan. “We always ask our clients, ‘What do you want and what are your business goals?’” says Debra Lehman Smith, LSM’s founding partner. In the case of a financial firm on Park Avenue – one of the firm’s recent projects – the answers to those questions were translated into pleated marble walls and a full suite of Andromeda furniture. LSM has also kitted out a double-height atrium inside Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram building for private equity firm Centerbridge Partners.Debra Lehman Smith on her firm’s signature Andromeda couchAs Monocle meanders from office to office in neighbourhoods from Wall Street to Midtown Manhattan, the Dow Jones stock index is taking a similarly zigzagging route. Donald Trump’s various pronouncements are shaking up the economy; bankers and traders have found themselves at the centre of it all. We accompany Lehman Smith for a brisk stroll up Fifth Avenue towards the skyscraper at Rockefeller Center, an art deco marvel with a lobby covered in green Tinos marble. In 2018, when the Rockefeller family office launched an expansion to become a full-fledged financial firm, it turned to LSM to help define its physical footprint. The team toured the available spaces in the company’s namesake tower and settled for a high-ceilinged space with a terrace overlooking St Patrick’s Cathedral. “No matter how great you are, if you’re in a low, dark space, it’s never going to work,” says Lehman Smith. The result is an open-plan office with stripped-back columns revealing the tower’s original iron structure. It has served as inspiration for some younger firms seeking to evoke previous eras of corporate power with their HQs.Rockefeller Capital employeeThe Gilded Age lives on at Rockefeller Plaza“We organise our client cocktails, art exhibitions and town halls here,” says Michael Gaab, Rockefeller Capital Management’s chief administrative officer. “This space represents our company’s heritage.”Not every firm enjoys an address that’s as iconic as the Rockefellers’ but the centre of gravity in New York is shifting. Many companies have decamped to the lofty steel-and-glass heights of Hudson Yards, a development on Manhattan’s western waterfront that stood desolate for years after opening in 2019 but where rents now begin at $1,400 (€1,190) per square metre – for comparison, a grade-A office in the City of London will set you back less than $1,080 (€920) per square metre. In Midtown, those buildings that are fully leased out tend to be architecturally significant skyscrapers, such as the Seagram, even if tenants pay rents starting at $1,615 (€1,380) per square metre, compared to the area’s average of $900 (€770) per square metre.In 2020, Alger’s decision to relocate downtown to the old heart of US finance seemed like an edgy decision, given that the area was emptying out. “We’re a little contrarian,” says Chung. Outside the office is Harry’s, a legendary Wall Street watering hole, which used to be packed by 16.30 in the old days with a hard-drinking crowd of investment bankers, stock brokers and portfolio managers. “Then they would all rush to their commuter trains and, by 18.30, this area would be a ghost town,” says Chung. After a long lull following the pandemic, however, the Financial District has become a place to linger after dark. Quite a few places to shop and dine have launched in the past year, including The Observatory, a private dining lounge on the top floor of an art deco apartment building, and department store Printemps, which opened in March on One Wall Street.Sunny prospects for the Financial DistrictThese green shoots suggest a surprising revival for New York’s traditional office heartland, even as so much floor space remains empty. It is attracting a new breed of workplace: at 161 Water Street, the vacant former HQ of insurer aig has been transformed into Water Street Associates, or WSA, a new hub courting creative businesses. The drab 1980s tower has been reimagined with travertine floors, cognac-coloured carpeting and faux cubicles assembled from usm shelving, as well as liberal pickings from the catalogue of vintage furniture reseller 1stDibs. WSA has a concierge and butler service; there’s a floor with a barber and an acupuncturist. The tenants include the old guard of law firms and financial start-ups, alongside a crop of designers, stylists and upstart media companies. WSA has expanded to nearby 180 Maiden Lane.“There’s no reason to only offer young people Wework nightmares,” says WSA’s Sam Wessner. “If you actually make it nice, people will still want to work in offices.”Smart amenities at Water Street Associates

Amassa: A bucolic retreat attuned to nature’s gentle rhythms

2025-12-15 17:22:29

A commission to restore an old residence or building is tricky enough. But when Bindloss Dawes was asked to take on a project in Gascony, a southwestern region of France, the UK architecture firm was faced with the task of sensitively renovating what was once an entire hamlet – workers’ cottages, bakery and piggery included – and turning it into a wellness retreat.Named Amassa, the property is located between Toulouse and Bordeaux, and is owned by Tania Eber and Ben Rose, a London-based couple who have had a longstanding interest in Gascony since first visiting and buying a home in the region 20 years ago. For Bindloss Dawes, working with clients with an inside track on local builders made the process of finding the right people – with the right tools – for the job a smooth process. “Craftspeople in France aren’t easily found online – it’s all word of mouth,” Oliver Bindloss, architect and co-founder of Bindloss Dawes, tells monocle. “We relied on a good builder who did all of the masonry and found someone to do the timber for the roofs. The result is various pieces by different tradespeople coming together in one cohesive project.”Amassa retreatBreaking breadBucolic escapeAssembling a skilled force of builders and craftspeople, Bindloss Dawes got to work on restoring the stone, timber and clay roof structures of the existing cottages, as well as the addition of new spaces, including two outdoor swimming pools and communal areas for relaxing and dining. “There’s no shortage of ruins around France so builders here aren’t afraid to tackle structural issues, cracks and movements,” adds Bindloss. Once the structures of the cottages were refreshed, Eber sourced traditional Basque designs to furnish the guest rooms.Central to the project is a 300-year-old stone barn that needed stabilising before a concrete mezzanine level could be added to the space. At its tallest point, the barn is 10 metres high, evoking the vertical architecture of churches. Stone walls half a metre thick also keep the interiors cool. “There’s a monastic feel that comes from the scale of the barn,” says Bindloss. In addition to the concrete intervention, the architects included a west-facing, four-metre-high window that catches the afternoon sun. Here, visitors on Amassa retreats are invited to practice yoga, meditate and even take part in arts and crafts sessions.For an architect, how does it differ from residential or commercial projects to design a space intended for serenity? “There’s a focus on the rhythm of the day, the different moments for eating, relaxing, exploring. We wanted to make sure that there was a possibility to use the space all through the day.” As such, the barn and its surrounding buildings allow for the beauty of Gascony to take centre stage. “Though we put in new windows and did structural repairs, it almost feels like we’ve done very little. Sometimes the skill of the architect is to make your work invisible.”amassaplace.comSoak it inTraditional furniture

Five collectable design trends for the year ahead, as seen at Design Miami

2025-12-10 06:24:38

Collectable design is on the rise. While there’s no hard-and-fast definition of the term, it can encompass everything from bespoke contemporary pieces and limited-edition creations to rare, out-of-production works from mid-century masters. For proof of the sector’s growing popularity, you only have to look to major auction houses such as Christie’s, Phillips and Sotheby’s. In June this year they collectively reported a year-on-year increase in design sales of 62.3 per cent.Experts suggest that this sales spike is thanks to growing budgets for interior fit-outs; institutional buying; and clearer auction records that demonstrate design’s investment value. The trend is also reflected in the rise of collectable-design events – and the mother of them all is Design Miami. Its 20th-anniversary edition is taking place in its namesake city this week, featuring 70 exhibitors from across the globe. Monocle attended the preview yesterday and picked up these industry tips from the trade floor.1.Blur boundariesThere are plenty of parallels between the fine-art and collectable-design markets, so the two could learn from each other. At Design Miami, Roosendaal-based Mass Modern Design is presenting works by the likes of David Delthony and Studio Job, which blur these disciplinary boundaries. “It challenges our perception of daily life, transforming furniture into a medium for artistic expression,” says the gallery’s founder, Etienne Feijns. “It can provoke thought, evoke feeling and elevate the spaces that we inhabit into experiences of art itself.”2.Find room for industryIf collectable design is focused on rare or bespoke pieces, where does that leave industrial production powerhouses? Certainly not out of the picture, according to high-end appliance specialists Gaggenau, which won a Monocle Design Award earlier this year. In Miami, the German brand is presenting its Expressive Series oven on a monolithic wall of deep-green marble. “Being present at a collectable design fair lets us engage with an audience that values objects for their cultural and material qualities,” says Gaggenau’s managing director, Peter Goetz. “It’s the right context to show off our appliances for what they truly are: thoughtfully crafted design pieces.”3.Bring design to the peopleTo share the power of design with the public, the event makes an effort to bring the fun of the fair beyond the marquee with its annual commission in Miami Design District. It’s an important initiative that installs work in the civic realm. This year’s winning project by New York-based Katie Stout is called “Gargantua’s Thumb” and features sculptural benches drawn from the forms of miniature clay animal figures.4.Lean on the pastNew York-based gallery Superhouse has titled its showcaseAmerican Art Furniture: 1980-1990, a reflection on what its founder and director, Stephen Markos, says is a defining period in design history. “Many of the works on view were made in small studios, far from the mainstream industry, and they collectively defined a new American avant-garde,” says Markos. “The decade’s energy reflected broader cultural shifts; artists pushing against convention, questioning identity and using materiality as a form of rebellion.” It’s a noble brief for today’s designers.5.Expand your horizonsIn this case, to the Gulf – or at least that’s what Design Miami is doing. The fair’s CEO, Jennifer Roberts, announced a new, multi-year partnership with Dubai-based cultural organisation Alserkal. The organisation will curate a flagship fair in early 2027, reflecting the simultaneous rise of collectable design and Gulf markets.Nic Monisse is Monocle’s design editor. For more news and analysis,subscribeto Monocle today.Read next:Salone del Mobile launches ‘Raritas’ as collectable design booms among younger buyersThis story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Ateliers de Paris, a city-hall initiative committed to nurturing young creatives

2025-12-05 21:47:03

There are plenty of places vying for the title of Europe’s design capital. On the one hand, there are smaller cities, such as Rotterdam or Lisbon, with a disproportionate number of world-class studios. On the other are established powerhouses, such as Milan or Copenhagen, whose industrial output is unparalleled. Paris might be the best of both.In the French metropolis you’ll find outposts of global furniture brands such as Ligne Roset, Roche Bobois and Fermob. At the other end of the spectrum are a host of smaller, independent makers that rely on the city’s artisans to craft unique pieces. In recent years these partnerships have come to the fore at events such as design fair Matter and Shape and Paris Design Week (held annually in September).At the latter’s most recent iteration, there were countless outstanding collaborations between atelier and designer, chief among them Chloé Nègre’s partnership with rug maker Editions 1.6.9. “There is a new perception of Parisianmétiers d’art, of know-how, of provenance of piece and production methods,” says Franck Millot, the director of Paris Design Week. “Craftsmanship has taken on a new modernity and the bond between creatives and artisans is part of our DNA.”François-Xavier Fonbonnat and Chloé Nègre of LaclauxChloé Nègre’s Paris apartmentThe French capital’s many design schools keep fresh ideas flowing, while city-hall initiatives such as the Ateliers de Paris – a publicly funded design incubator – serve as a support system for up-and-coming creatives.“We try to welcome people who are pushing the boundaries of what is traditionally considered design by the public or even policymakers,” says Mathilde Nony, the deputy director of the Ateliers de Paris. “We want to expand their horizons.”The Ateliers de Paris is an incubator for the creative community in ParisEvery year, she explains, the Ateliers select a number of designers whose projects run the gamut from furniture to public policy and give them access to affordable workspaces. Advice is also provided to help participants find their market, while a gallery in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine neighbourhood exhibits their works.“The great advantage of being based in Paris is easy access, not just to exhibition spaces but also to resources for research,” says designer and visual artist Clémence Althabegoïty. She was accepted into the Ateliers in September 2024 and regularly collaborates with fellow creatives, as well as scientists, on projects devoted to exploring how urban spaces can thrive in our overheated world.The seemingly limitless cultural options have long drawn creative people to the city. Those who are design-inclined flock to the outskirts for the Saint-Ouen flea market, one of the largest in Europe, to stock up and get inspired.Saint-Ouen flea market has been open since 1870Hidden-away furniture findsDrift chair in black-stained oak“The world’s best decorators and interior designers have always been regulars, along with actors and celebrities from around the world,” says Augustin Deleuze, one of the three founders of Parisian furniture powerhouse Pierre Augustin Rose. “The design collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is also an incredible source of inspiration.”Table for two at Pierre Augustin RosePietra coffee table by Pierre Augustin RosePierre Augustin Rose interiorsOttoman by Pierre Augustin RoseThe Louvre-adjacent museum’s permanent collection of modern pieces is a touchstone for the capital’s designers. “Paris’s dynamism is supported by many public and private initiatives, as well as an exceptional network of galleries and globally recognised fairs,” says the museum’s director, Bénédicte Gady.A vintage piece by Marcel Jean at the Musée des Arts DécoratifsBénédicte Gady, director of the Musée des Arts DécoratifsThe institution regularly adds pieces to its collection, underscoring its vitality, with this year’s works including a Gelato chair and TGV lamp by French designers Moustache. It’s no wonder that the French capital, already a force in fashion, is a design hot spot in the ascendant. Or, in Gady’s words, “At the moment, Paris is effervescent.”Aluplié collection at the Ateliers de ParisSistema, a new modular sofa designed by Pool studioThéorème Éditions showroomDrift chair by Studio BrichetzieglerTableware on display at Merci#2 on Rue de RichelieuStéphane Arriubergé, co-founder of design house MoustacheVincent Quesada, co-founder of TiptoeTable legs by TiptoeKann Design’s showroom on Rue des Trois BornesGoa storage by Kann DesignWorkshop at Kann DesignMeghedi Simonian and Houssam Kanaan, co-founders of Kann DesignRead next:Amid Paris’s everyday hustle, the city’s iconic Fermob chair is the perfect reminder to slow down – and take a seat

Tutankhamun has a new stage in Egypt. Meet the architect behind its creation

2025-12-23 22:24:55

Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum (Gem) has been a long time coming. First announced in the early 2000s and originally slated to open in 2013, the project has weathered more than a decade of delays: political upheaval, shifting budgets, regional instability and a global pandemic– but that’s all ancient history now. What does a few years of delays matter in a country where centuries are mere chapters? Doors are now set to open on 1 November.Perched on the Giza Plateau neighbouring the pyramids, the Gem is the largest archaeological museum in the world. Designed by Dublin-based firm Heneghan Peng Architects, the building follows a chamfered triangular plan that aligns precisely with the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Menkaure. Its alabaster-clad façade, inscribed with repeated motifs, glows softly at dusk. Inside, visitors are met by a soaring six-storey staircase and a vast atrium dominated by an 82-ton colossus of Ramses II, which once stood outside Cairo’s main train station.Since October 2024, the Gem has been in a carefully choreographed soft-opening phase, offering visitors a glimpse of what’s to come. But its crown jewel, the long-awaited Tutankhamun galleries, has remained hidden. Following the official opening, the collection will take centre stage – two expansive halls showcasing 5,000 objects from the boy king’s tomb, including his iconic gold mask and glittering royal regalia. The design of these galleries, along with the Grand Staircase and atrium, is the work of Stuttgart-based design studio Atelier Brückner. Monocle sat down with its CEO, Shirin Frangoul-Brückner, to find out how to build an experience worthy of a pharaoh.Making history: Shirin Frangoul-Brückner, Atelier Brückner CEO(Image: Sven Cichowicz)Showcasing so many artefacts from a tomb as famous as this, where do you even begin?The good thing with Tutankhamun is that the story almost tells itself. We were dealing with 5,600 artefacts, and that sounds like a lot but compared to other projects that we’ve worked on, it’s almost modest. Sometimes, you’re juggling upwards of 50,000 objects with only the vaguest thematic through-line. Here, the narrative was clear: to illuminate the world of Tutankhamun through the objects buried with him. For the first time, these treasures are presented together, across 7,500 sq m of exhibition space. Every object is a masterpiece in its own right.How do you bring that to life?The exhibition unfolds across two vast, elongated galleries – each up to 180 metres in length and 16 metres in height. Within these monumental spaces, the layout is structured around three elemental themes: life, death and the afterlife. To cater to the 15,000 expected daily visitors, we created two opposing pathways. One follows a chronological arc: you meet the young king, witness the rites of mummification, encounter the golden mask, pass through shrines and sarcophagi, and eventually reach the realm of the afterlife and finally the moment of the tomb’s discovery. The opposite path is more forensic: it begins with [Howard] Carter’s excavation and works backwards, peeling away layers to find out: who was Tutankhamun?How do you help visitors understand the objects rather than just admire them?Many major museums tend to treat ancient artefacts as aesthetic trophies. Our goal was to go beyond beauty – to reveal the culture behind it. We built a full-scale reconstruction of the tomb, so visitors can truly grasp that all these treasures came from a space no larger than a studio apartment. We also created a layered vitrine that shows the nested sequence of shrines and sarcophagi, allowing access to hieroglyphic inscriptions – not just as surface pattern but as meaningful text. There’s even a walk-in family tree, looking out toward the pyramids, that anchors Tutankhamun in a longer dynastic narrative.Built to last: Grand Egyptian Museum main facade(Image: Rehab Eldalil)Echoes of eternity: Main atrium with a statue of Ramses II(Image: Rehab Eldalil)What was the biggest challenge?Time. In Europe, a project of this scale might stretch more than eight years. We had six months – not just for the concept but for technical planning and the entire tendering process. But tight deadlines can bring a certain clarity. You don’t have time to second-guess. The contractual situation was more complex. We weren’t commissioned directly by the museum but by the general contractor. That added a few extra rounds of communication.In what way?We didn’t just design the Tutankhamun galleries but also the entrance piazza, the atrium that houses Ramses II and the Grand Staircase. Lighting Ramses alone was an architectural operation – the roof structure was so intricate that changing anything set off a domino effect. At the staircase, we were asked to install 80 sculptures. But they were colossal and no one had considered the weight distribution. Even lighting them meant designing entirely new fixtures.How many people were involved?About 25 from our core team, plus several external collaborators. Some people became unexpectedly important. When we submitted our bid, we had to send printed documents by courier. I kept refreshing the tracking page but the package wouldn’t leave Frankfurt Airport. The deadline was 12.00, so at 04.00, I began emailing every copy shop in Cairo. One of them came through, printed the entire submission – thousands of pages – loaded it into a van and got it there just in time. We ended up working with him throughout the project.Any anecdotes that stayed with you?We brought a replica of the famous golden mask to Germany to test different lighting scenarios. On the return trip, even with all the paperwork in order, Cairo’s customs got quite agitated. They immediately recognised the outline of the mask and called the police – the entire area got locked down. Let’s just say it was a moment that we’ll never forget.Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology is bringing prestige back to the trades and helping America’s skills shortage

2025-12-21 02:58:58

In 1835, a packed Pennsylvania legislature nearly voted to repeal the state’s fledgling free education system after opponents labelled it too expensive and gathered 32,000 signatures. Enter Thaddeus Stevens, a fiery 43-year-old lawyer who was raised in poverty in rural Vermont and paid for his Dartmouth College tuition with the proceeds of his mother’s sale of the family farm. He delivered an impassioned defence, arguing that public schooling was both economically sound and morally imperative – its repeal would be “an act for branding and marking the poor”. His speech elicited cheers and swayed the legislature, making Pennsylvania a global leader in free education. Nearly two centuries later, the state is again pioneering educational innovation through an institution bearing Stevens’s name.Boots on the ground: Students master practical skillsThaddeus Stevens College of Technology is a trade school, where students learn skills such as carpentry or masonry rather than earn a degree in economics or philosophy. The concept isn’t new – the nation’s first school of this kind opened in Boston in 1881 and European guilds have been teaching trades through apprenticeships for centuries – but the college’s time-tested approach is an ideal fit for the current moment. US higher education is in flux, while the construction industry is desperate for skilled workers.Established in Lancaster in 1905 with funding from the estate of Thaddeus Stevens and the Pennsylvania government, an hour’s train ride west of Philadelphia, it seems like a traditional college campus, with a vibrant student life and well-rounded course offerings. Students might spend more time wielding tools than reading books but they still live in residence halls and cheer on the school’s American football team (nicknamed the Bulldogs). The end result is designed to overcome classist stigma around technical education and careers. In the popular imagination, such two-year trade schools result in dead-end blue-collar jobs, which is seen to be inferior to four-year undergraduate universities that theoretically lead to a white-collar career path. But as the latter loses some lustre, the former is poised to shine, with renewed attention from parents and education professionals alike.The US construction industry is in desperate need of skilled workersThe courses appeal to students looking for careers that don’t involve sitting at a desk“Thaddeus Stevens has disproven the binary,” says Pedro Rivera, a former Pennsylvania secretary of education who became the school’s president five years ago. “You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.” Borrowing a metaphor from the hospitality industry, he argues that with a Thaddeus Stevens degree, “you can be prepared for both the front and the back of the house”. A prime example is the architectural technology programme, which is one of 24 associate degree offerings. Students learn the ropes of drafting software that will make them immediately employable in an architecture firm. They also have an ace up their sleeves in terms of soft skills that will make them useful beyond the desk: sharing classrooms and dorm rooms with future carpenters and welders who will be tasked with converting an architect’s vision into reality. As a result, graduates of this scheme are prepared for a professional design setting while speaking the language of tradespeople. “I’ve often seen a traditional architect butt heads with contractors,” says instructor Jana Belack. “The open lines of communication aren’t there.”Belack is a Thaddeus Stevens alumna who went on to pursue an architecture degree and earned her licence. She worked for firms in Boston for more than a dozen years before returning to teach at her alma mater, while retaining a part-time remote job that helps her bring real-world construction questions into the classroom. While Belack’s students are mostly hunched over computer screens, the bread and butter of a Thaddeus Stevens education is the “back of the house” – such as the pile of crushed stone and aggregate the size of half a football field that greets Monocle in the civil engineering construction technology programme.Inside a warehouse-like facility, students get their boots dirty as they lay rebar in a lattice on top of the pile. Instructor Mitch Kauffman provides a group with a loose set of drawings to prepare the rebar grid, a core component for stabilising concrete bridge decks, floor slabs and runways. They spend an hour talking over the assignment before the physical element: rebar stakes are piled in wheelbarrows and a dusty smell perfumes the air.That ratio of laboratory to classroom time won over second-year student Ryan Beppel, who transferred to Thaddeus Stevens from Pennsylvania State University, the state’s flagship institution with an enrolment of 89,000, where he studied engineering. “I liked everything about Penn State, except it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life,” he tells Monocle after class. “I didn’t want to make the drawings; I wanted to build them.” Beppel is the grandson of a tool salesman and collaborated closely on home remodelling projects with his father. He knew that he wanted to work with his hands and wasn’t sure if he needed to pursue higher education in lieu of on-the-job training. But in a secondary-school culture that still prioritises college preparation, he followed a more traditional path to Penn State and enrolled in civil engineering, which was the closest field to construction.The courses were held in large, impersonal lecture halls. It wasn’t Beppel’s preferred style of learning but he ploughed through five semesters. About halfway through his four-year degree, he says, “I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and it revealed that I would be more in the office and not working with my hands. That’s what led me to Thaddeus Stevens.”Most classes take place in the workshops and labs of Thaddeus StevensThe other factor that led him to the college was his employer at the time. Beppel was an intern for Allan Myers, the largest civil construction firm in the mid-Atlantic region. It sponsors the school’s civil construction technology programme. The company’s banner hangs from the rafters and the equipment and skills in the lab align with what its employees use in the field. That imprimatur was enough for Beppel to choose Thaddeus Stevens over rival trade schools.On the day that Monocle meets him, the 22-year-old has just signed an offer letter to start as a full-time field engineer, making $75,000 (€64,000) per year. He sees a viable career path to becoming a foreman and can imagine spending years at Allan Myers, which, he says, encourages its employees to learn new skills and move into different roles. “I don’t like doing the same task every day,” he says.Well-paid, secure employment is Thaddeus Stevens’s calling card. While it initially opened its doors to serve orphaned boys willing to learn a trade and acquire an academic education, it now teaches Pennsylvanians of any gender or income. The school became accredited in 1991 and today there are nearly 1,500 students who are almost guaranteed to find a suitable job.In the class of 2024, 91 per cent had jobs at graduation and 6 per cent went on to additional education. Programmes are vetted based on demand for graduates and earning potential; if there aren’t enough job vacancies and a given field pays below a living wage, it doesn’t make the cut. For example, there’s no web design programme, even though related fields such as graphic communications are offered. Additionally, courses at Thaddeus Stevens cost markedly less than a “traditional” university education, so the ability to graduate with little or no student loan debt – a $1.81trn (€1.54trn) albatross round the collective necks of US college graduates – is a key part of the school’s value proposition.The Mellor Hall clock tower on the Thaddeus Stevens campusThe maths added up for first-year masonry student Caden Stone. Both of his parents went to college. His father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer. But in secondary school, seeking to “toughen up” his son, Stone’s dad found him a summer job working with a mason. Unexpectedly, he enjoyed the work. Stone anticipated studying accounting in college but the prospect of being stuck at a desk instead of working outside was a non-starter. Then a teacher ran students through an exercise in his last year of secondary school: envision the lifestyle that you want to live and ask what you can do to make it happen.“In seconds, I saw the life that I wanted for myself and I thought of what masons bring in,” he says. “There’s a traditionalism that I feel like you could achieve. If you work hard, you can support a family that way. The old American dream is still possible in the trades.”Stone and his classmates are part of a growing wave among Gen Z students and their families whose traditional faith in a college education is starting to crack. Trade-school enrolment is at its highest level since 1992. According to a survey in the 2025 Blue Collar Report, sponsored by contractor software firm Jobber, only 16 per cent of Gen Z’s parents now believe that a traditional four-year college degree guarantees long-term job security. At the same time, the cultural pressure to attend college is high – in those same surveyed families, three-quarters of Gen Z students still plan to attend a four-year school.Rivera, the Thaddeus Stevens president, acknowledges his complicity in perpetuating that culture. During his time as a teacher and school district superintendent, before his five-year stint in charge of public education statewide, he enthusiastically pushed students to study for four years. “Thaddeus Stevens opened my eyes,” he says. “It’s no longer about being a traditional tradesman. We’re teaching you the skills that you need to be really good at your job but also building the competencies in you to be a lifelong learner.”The college football team, nicknamed the BulldogsThat is the pitch that Rivera gives the more than 1,000 parents and prospective students who are now packing the school’s twice-yearly open houses to browse the career and technical offerings, while noting with approval that there’s still coursework in composition, history, economics and even literature. Compared with commuter-style trade schools and community colleges that feel more like clocking in and out of a job, Thaddeus Stevens has the trappings of the traditional college experience.After quietly existing for 120 years, the school is now receiving wider attention. Its faculty will begin teaching in Philadelphia next year and Rivera says that he fields regular queries from across the US about how to replicate the college’s success. As higher education gets swept up in changing political currents, trade schools could soon experience a windfall. One proposed use of funds from White House settlements with Ivy League universities is financial support for new and existing trade schools.Beyond the current administration’s stated preference to encourage more domestic manufacturing and industrial might, there is a potential fringe benefit to trade education – one that might soften the country’s culture wars. On the Thaddeus Stevens campus, there is a notable absence of polarised political activism. Given that classes start at 07.30, just as students’ future jobs might, there perhaps isn’t the time or energy for political theatrics.Instead, students focus on physical work that also pays civic dividends. For more than 70 years, the capstone for students across the construction-related degree programmes is the home project. They design and build a house from scratch, then turn over the keys to an estate agent; some of these homes are designated “affordable housing” and are sold at below-market-rate prices. While professional firms take on some crucial tasks such as pouring the foundation, students are involved in everything from drawing blueprints to acquiring permits from the local planning authority. When Monocle visits the project site, students in hard hats and Carhartt jackets are busy firing nail guns into wood beams, as country music plays from a speaker. It looks like a construction site – because it is one.The complexity involved in home construction, especially when students themselves call the shots and aren’t just taking orders from a foreman, disproves outdated notions about manual labour. Back in the masonry lab, Caden Stone chats next to an ornate fireplace, the handiwork of last year’s students. “You’re not the brightest bulb in the shed,” he says, mimicking snobby misconceptions of trade-school students. But the Gen Z future mason brushes aside those stereotypes. “We need plumbers,” he says. “We can’t all be influencers.”

The porch does more than just improve the weather – it’s a staple of American life

2025-12-20 06:15:39

Mark Twain is said to have once averred that the least that architecture could do was “improve the weather”. It’s a useful aphorism in any climate but has particular relevance to Hannibal, Missouri, along the Mississippi River, where Twain was raised (just ignore the fact that the attribution is apocryphal). In a place where the summer humidity builds to an afternoon crescendo of crackling thunderstorms, architecture has a responsibility to help and can improve people’s quality of life.Enter the porch. In simple terms, it’s a raised platform with columns that support a canopy or roof. While it was originally just a primitive, hut-like structure, the porch today has achieved high levels of sophistication, especially in a domestic American context. Finely tuned to weather and climate, it provides shade and helps to cool the exterior of a building. It’s also a liminal space. Like a townhouse’s stoop, it has a social function beyond the privacy of a home’s interiors. It’s a vantage point, a threshold.Porch bearers: The veranda has long been a feature of US architecture(Image: Walker Evans/Getty Images)The porch is deeply rooted in US culture. The classic 1960 novelTo Kill a Mockingbirdtakes place almost entirely on a veranda; in many ways, it’s a dialogue of sorts across a street between young Scout Finch and Boo Radley. In the early and mid-20th century, photojournalist Walker Evans captured numerous stoops and lives of quiet dignity in his photos of the Great Depression and New Deal America. Edward Hopper’s paintings have a porch-like quality too, while Bell Hooks’ poetry highlights porches as places of public appearance, especially for women. But the importance of this space isn’t as widely acknowledged as it should be. The US has often been viewed as a nation of houses but if you look at these buildings, from schoolhouse to house of worship, you see that their porches make them stand out.The more I have investigated this idea, the more I have discovered that the porch – a staple of the American South – is thriving across the country. Its shape and scale are evolving. At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, a local food co-operative in Fayetteville, Arkansas, relocated to a downtown building, renovating the interiors but also constructing a broad, high veranda. It’s a simple feature with columns supporting a robust roof canopy, furniture for gathering and space to enjoy a meal or watch children playing. It’s not just the prominence that’s important; it’s also the shade, the captured breezes, the lowered temperature and the view outwards to the city’s main thoroughfare and surrounding landscape.Under cover: ‘Porch: An Architecture of Generosity’ at the 2025 Venice Biennale(Image: Andrea Pugiotto)Charlie Hailey, author ofThe Porch: Meditations at the Edge of Nature, writes that “to think like a porch is to witness and to change our point of view”. This is what the US Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale does withPorch: An Architecture of Generosity. In previous years, the Pavilion hasn’t been as accessible; putting a stoop in front of the building seemed like the obvious answer. As the name suggests, it’s a place for all to enjoy – to find respite and engage with others. Twain – or whoever made the comment – would have approved. It might not change the world but at least it improves the weather.MacKeith is the lead commissioner for the US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He is also the dean and professor of architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, University of Arkansas.This piece was published in ‘The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas on Architecture, Design and Building Better’, which is out now. The fifth title in our Companion series of paperbacks, it’s packed with fresh ideas on design, creativity and the built environment, with a focus on the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs until 23 November. This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Inside House Montagna, the stunning alpine chalet renovation by Maison Osaïn

2025-11-30 14:46:05

When Ann Butaye and Thomas Maria Verschuren were asked to renovate a timber chalet just outside the Italian Alpine resort of Courmayeur, the co-founders of Belgian design and architecture firm Maison Osaïn knew what they wanted to do. With its muted interiors, House Montagna invites its guests to slow down and disconnect from the outside world. The three-storey chalet’s secluded location on the slopes of Mont Blanc meant that construction was trickier than usual. “We had to use a helicopter to get the materials up there,” says Verschuren. “But the challenge spoke to us.”The chalet’s windows boast unobstructed views of Courmayeur. Nestled beneath the Alps’ highest peak, the resort town offers serenity and adventure – a combination that Butaye and Verschuren sought to reflect in House Montagna. Its concrete walls and floors mirror the mountains’ ruggedness, while larch furniture evokes the feel of the woods. The open interiors and windows, meanwhile, capture the Alps’ vastness and airiness.Muted interiorsBefore launching Maison Osaïn in 2022, Verschuren ran his own architecture firm, while Butaye worked in fashion. But when the partners faced a health scare, they decided to shift gears. “It gave us time to focus on different things and to think about life,” says Butaye. Together, they began to examine how their surroundings and lifestyle affected their wellbeing.Today, the creation of healthy living spaces is at the very centre of their practice. “It all starts with natural materials,” says Butaye. “Our baseline is sincere living – sincere in the ways that we communicate, in our connection to nature.” Taking a holistic approach is one of Maison Osaïn’s guiding principles: the firm is named after the Yoruba god of healing, magic and wild plants.Courmayeur imposes architectural restrictions to preserve the region’s traditional character, so the façade of House Montagna remains untouched. But Maison Osaïn had carte blanche to revamp the building’s interior. As with all of their projects, Butaye and Verschuren worked with local craftspeople. The result is a refined balance of rustic and modern ideas.Spiral staircase at House MontagnaThe house, for example, is equipped with an intelligent ventilation system that allows it to “breathe” by itself, ensuring a healthy indoor climate. Two fans supply air through filters while humidity – from the ski room, for example – is swiftly extracted.“We wanted to use the local style but make things contemporary,” says Verschuren. “We also didn’t want big art on the walls because the main focus is the architecture and the nature outside.”Living among the grandeur of the Alps might make one feel small but it’s also a reminder that there’s more to life than the bustle of city living. “It’s a great place to disconnect and to reflect on intimacy – to think about what it means to take care of one another,” says Butaye.maison-osain.comThree design lessons from House MontagnaHouse Montagna brings a healthy dose of Belgian creativity to the Italian Alps. Here are three lessons to glean from the project.Get well:Prioritise health through natural material selection and holistic principles.Fitting in:Work with regional artisans to create thoughtful interiors that honour local traditions.Calm and collected:A pared-back palette can help to create spaces that allow you to disconnect from urban noise and commune with nature.

What does a designer’s couch tell us about their approach to creativity? We speak to five creatives to find out

2025-12-11 07:13:11

The sofa in your living room reveals a lot about your priorities and your outlook on life. For designers and architects, there’s often an added layer of meaning: their choice of perch can reflect their core creative philosophies. Monocle explores this idea in our newly published bookDesigners on Sofas, for which we spoke to 50 leading architects and designers about their relationships with their settee. Here, we visit five more.Find a comfy seat and settle in.1.Amanda LeveteArchitect, LondonSofa of choice: Anfibio, Giovannetti(Image: Benjamin Swanson)Plump and easy to expand, UK architect Amanda Levete’s Anfibio sofa is steeped in history. A leather- covered version of it can be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where designer Alessandro Becchi first showed the unconventional sofa-bed as part of the trail-blazing 1972 exhibitionItaly: The New Domestic Landscape– a show that helped to put the country’s contemporary-design scene on the map.But Levete came across the model about 10 years later, when she was house-sitting for her then-employer, British-Italian architect Richard Rogers. “Looking at it still reminds me of those happy days when I used to work for him,” she says.Levete’s Anfibio is in her library. “It’s one of my weekend rituals to sit there in the morning sun, reading or playing Scrabble with my husband.” During holiday seasons, the sofa’s convertible form comes in handy. “Some of the best moments are at Christmas, when all of our kids are here,” adds Levete. “We open it up and it becomes a cosy nest for reading and chatting in.”Despite its domestic appeal, the Anfibio is uniquely stylish. “It’s clever and consists of just one piece,” says Levete. “The soft profile is elegantly low enough so that it fits perfectly below a window without obscuring the view.” Manufactured by Tuscan brand Giovannetti, which had a long creative relationship with Becchi, the Anfibio is the product of a radical turn in design history whose ideas continue to resonate.About the owner:One of UK architecture’s leading lights, Amanda Levete is a Stirling Prize winner who established her practice AL_A in 2009. The studio’s portfolio includes Lisbon’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology and Bangkok’s Central Embassy.2.Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna RentzouArchitects, AthensSofa of choice:Vimle, Ikea(Image: Marco Argüello)“The couch is like a home,” says Athens-based architect Konstantinos Pantazis, who co-founded Point Supreme studio with his wife, Marianna Rentzou, in 2008. “It’s a place where you need to be comfortable.” The couple designed their home in the Greek capital’s Petralona neighbourhood, updating an early-20th-century residence by blending surrealist ideas with contemporary Greek aesthetics. Taking pride of place at the centre of their living room – perhaps surprisingly, given their high architectural standards – is a Vimle sofa from Ikea.“It’s so comfortable and unpretentious,” says Pantazis. “It’s not a couch that you need to be very careful with. You’ll find us on it during the day and also our two young children and their friends.” The couple’s configuration is composed of three deep, large cushions that can be easily removed to create additional room. Significantly, the sofa responds to the home’s architecture. “The house is pretty extreme in its proportions,” says Rentzou, explaining that the living room’s ceiling is three storeys high, with a tree planted at the centre. “It has a very strange feeling, a bit like being outside in a courtyard when you’re indoors.”The resulting atrium-like atmosphere, combined with a multitude of hard surfaces (including a large table), could make for a cold and uninviting space – which is why the couple chose such a large sofa. “When you’re on the couch, it’s the only place that’s horizontal, soft and comfortable,” says Pantazis. “Everything else around it is hard. So that’s why the sofa feels so welcoming and warm.”About the owners:Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou co-founded Athensbased Point Supreme Architects in 2008. The studio’s work has a distinctive Mediterranean flavour, using vibrant colours and graphic elements, and seamlessly blurring indoor and outdoor spaces.3.David MontalbaArchitect, Los AngelesSofa of choice: Hamilton, Minotti(Image: Peyton Fulford)David Montalba is obsessed with the details. In his work, every line, junction and material is calibrated with precision – and that same sensibility extends to his own living spaces. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Santa Monica Canyon home that he designed for his family, where a custom Hamilton sectional sofa by Italian brand Minotti acts as both a centrepiece and a case study. Purchased in 2020, the couch was chosen to harmonise with the home’s restrained palette, spatial clarity and lived-in elegance.“It’s a piece that changes with us,” says Montalba, who is the founding principal of Montalba Architects. Originally conceived as a single large L-shape, the sofa has since been rearranged multiple times to meet changing needs – from opening up space for a Christmas tree to framing conversations and allowing for easier movement through the room. “It became two sofas that speak to each other,” he says. “That dialogue made the room feel more alive.”What began as a formal focal point has now evolved into a place of casual intimacy. His daughter has claimed a corner; the family dog perches on another ledge. And like the house itself, the settee has lost its sacredness, becoming a feature of daily life, family habits and spontaneous gatherings. “At first, we barely used it,” says Montalba. “Now we eat on it, watch TV and lounge. It’s part of our routine.”Still, even in its most relaxed moments, the couch carries the refined sensibilities of its maker, Minotti. Montalba’s obsession with scale, proportion and tactility has turned a simple piece of furniture into an active participant in the home’s architectural effect. “A good sofa isn’t just something you sit on,” he says. “It helps to shape how you experience a room. It is part of the choreography.”About the owner:Swiss-American architect David Montalba bridges the design cultures of his two nationalities, combining Californian experimentation with Swiss precision. His work is characterised by volumetric forms that connect indoors and outdoors.4.Chen ChenDesigner, New YorkSofa of choice: Togo, Ligne Roset(Image: Meghan Marin)Brooklyn-based designer Chen Chen first encountered Michel Ducaroy’s low-slung Togo sofa – a 1973 design classic that is still manufactured by French furniture firm Ligne Roset – when he was a student at New York’s Pratt Institute. It immediately made a big impression on him. “It was unlike anything that I had ever seen before,” says Chen. “From that moment, I knew that I had to have one.” So when the time came to kit out his own apartment, he decided to buy one. “For me, it was the fulfilment of a dream – though, at that moment, I had never actually sat on one.”Chen wasn’t disappointed and the Togo has become an integral part of his home set-up. “When it was delivered to my apartment, I was really surprised to find that there wasn’t a frame inside,” he says. “It’s essentially like a giant foam pillow.” The designer found that he could move the sofa – which was lighter than he expected it to be – without assistance, making it a perfect fit with his domestic arrangements.“In New York, we don’t have a lot of space so it had to be functional, comfortable and also visually appealing,” says Chen. The Togo’s leather upholstery is another charm. “There are scars on the material from wear and tear over the years, like a history that is being written into the sofa.” This mutability appealed to the designer, whose practice with fellow Pratt Institute alumnus Kai Williams has a keen interest in the transformative qualities of materials.Despite his deep love for the piece, however, Chen confesses that his ideal couch would be a roomier version than the one that he owns. “A lot of sofas funnel you in towards the centre,” he says. “If I were to design one, I would make sure that it had a lot of structure. It needs to keep people sitting where they are.”About the owner:Chen Chen creates furniture and lighting in partnership with fellow designer Kai Williams. The New York-based duo are known for their use of industrial materials and their playful reinterpretations of everyday objects.5.William Smalley LuisArchitect, LondonSofa of choice: B&B Italia(Image: Dan Wilton)“Sofas tend to be divided into those that look nice and those that are comfortable. And, as a rule, you can have either one or the other.” Architect William Smalley is describing the problem that often complicates the purchase of a home’s biggest piece of furniture. “So after I moved in here, I didn’t have a sofa for four years because I couldn’t find the right one.”Thankfully, those days are over and Smalley’s home – a heritage-listed building in central London’s Bloomsbury neighbourhood – is now fully furnished, with a large modular sofa by B&B Italia taking pride of place in the living room. Designed by Antonio Citterio, the couch, titled Luis, has been through various configurations.“I got the chaise and the ottoman, which went on the end of the couch,” says Smalley. “Then I wanted another, so I bought a chair section, which used to sit as a separate piece. And then, one day, the sofa and the chair made friends and the square thing at the end became the ottoman. So it has been sequential. The sofa has been added to and it is very comfortable.”Smalley originally alternated brown and white covers for winter and summer. “The problem is that the white one is much nicer and I don’t really like being gloomy in winter,” he says. “And it’s not very white any more because I have a dog.”The introduction of Smalley’s Jack Russell, Dylan (“as in Thomas”), served as a corrective to the idea that architects live in pristine, minimalist spaces. “I think that everyone has been very amused by Dylan messing up what they see as my perfect life.” The sofa is now a piece that has been lived in – and on – and has accrued its own history.About the owner:Known for his quiet, elegant style, William Smalley is a master of blending heritage and modern architecture. He runs his namesake practice from London, where projects range from Manhattan apartment renovations to Alpine château reconstructions.The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas | Pre-orderMonocle meets 50 celebrated designers from across the globe who get cosy on their couches (with their pets, partners and children) and tell us about their sofa choices – why they designed it, why they chose it, how they use it. They reveal fresh insights into their work, their lives, their passions and their style. Original photographic portraits and in-depth interviews transport us into the homes of some of our favourite creatives. We also take you on a fascinating journey that starts at an English country house in 1675 to find out about the 350-year history of the sofa. And we have compiled an illustrated guide to 100 of the most iconic examples, representing the best from 125 years of settee design. Take a seat and join the conversation. Pre-order here

Salone del Mobile launches ‘Raritas’ as collectable design booms among younger buyers

2025-11-29 02:02:35

Last week, Salone del Mobile announced that it will be delving into the rarefied world of collectable design as it returns to Milan for its 2026 edition. Titled Salone Raritas, this addition to the line-up will take centre stage in the Rho Fiera. “We chose ‘Raritas’ from the Latin because it’s the best way to describe what doesn’t sit within the strict rules of design,” said Salone del Mobile’s president Maria Porro over lunch at London’s Claridge’s hotel. “Of course, collectable design is a big trend. And with all big trends there’s a risk of overproduction,” she added. “But there has always been a constant dialogue between design and unique pieces, antiques, crafts and one-of-a-kinds. And throughout the history of industrial design, the development of a new chair is only possible thanks to the hands of craftspeople.”‘Im Zwischen’ at Parisian gallery CØR Collectible(Images: Tom Dagnas)Porro went on to mention that Salone del Mobile draws more than 300,000 visitors, including buyers, architects, interior designers, journalists and editors from around the world. As such, the intention is to give an international platform to collectable design galleries – and the noble craftspeople who they represent. But this downplays the fact that collectable design has been on a seemingly unstoppable ascent in recent years. Showcases and fairs dedicated to exquisite one-off, antique and handcrafted pieces (with hefty price tags) can be found roving the globe. Design Miami makes an annual pilgrimage to Paris while Pad hops across the pond from Paris to London. Then there’s Nomad, the salone showcasing in hotspots from the Hamptons to St Moritz. So keep an eye out, a Lalanne sheep could be coming your way.Perhaps the most surprising thing to note is that the demand for collectable design is reportedly being driven by a younger crowd. Given how expensive it is to furnish a flat through exclusive design galleries peddling in the ultra-rare, this might seem counterintuitive. But as a “Zillennial” (the micro-generation born between Generation Z and the millennial generation), I see collectable design as the antidote to interiors that suffer the fate of over-exposure on social media feeds. These days, the ultimate luxury is knowing that no one can copy your carefully put-together home. Collectable design is, inherently, undemocratic but it upholds values of craft, quality and narrative that industrial design cannot compete with. Galerie Gastou at Design Miami Paris(Images: Courtesy of Galerie Gastou)Ultimately, I wonder whether the appeal of collectable design also lies in its potential as a salve to overconsumption – that bugbear of sustainability that design companies struggle to genuinely confront. I dare anyone to walk through the halls of a design fair without feeling slightly nauseous about the quantity (and at times the average quality) of new products flooding the market, year in, year out. Nowhere is this feeling more acute than in the halls of the Rho Fiera. This next chapter for Salone del Mobile is a bold attempt to reconcile two conflicting ideas within the realm of design. Whether or not this hybrid approach works is another question. We’ll report back in the spring.Grace Charlton is Monocle’s associate editor of design and fashion. 

Inside Iittala’s glass factory, where fashion meets fire

2025-12-20 05:56:00

On an autumn afternoon, the Iittala glass factory hums with a rhythm that has remained largely unchanged for more than 140 years. The air is heavy with heat from the furnace, which roars at 1,450C as glassblowers – masters of a craft that can’t be learnt at school – pull glowing masses of molten glass from the fire. They blow and shape the material in a way that feels both age-old and modern. “I spend every other week here,” says Janni Vepsäläinen, Iittala’s creative director. “This is the most inspiring place. It’s where the magic happens.”Janni Vepsäläinen, the creative director of IittalaVepsäläinen, who took the helm in spring 2023, comes not from the homeware sector but from fashion – knitwear, to be precise. But the pull of Iittala’s heritage, its craft and its factory proved irresistible. “When I was approached about this role I couldn’t say no,” she tells Monocle. “Being Finnish, I grew up with Iittala. It felt like I was joining a family.”Her background shapes her creative vision. She describes having an “epiphany” as a student when she discovered that she could make her own fabrics: selecting yarns, colours and techniques to create something from scratch. Visiting Iittala’s factory during her interviews for the creative-director role, she felt the same spark. “I was again in front of a material being shaped and formed right there and then,” she says. “I had never done glassware design but I realised that the process was the same. Both knitwear and glassblowing are about craftsmanship and century-old techniques that can be used to create something modern.”Glass from the Solare seriesCrystal clearHer conviction that disciplines can inform and enrich one another underpins her philosophy at Iittala. “Creativity should know no boundaries,” she says. “The best projects are always born from conversations between creative fields. When you’re new to something, you ask different questions. You see the possible in the impossible.”One of Vepsäläinen’s recent projects was a collaboration with London-based musician Damsel Elysium, in which glassblowers crafted glass instruments that were used to compose new pieces. “It was about stretching the material, pushing the boundaries of what glass can do, then bringing in a completely different form of expression – music. That’s the kind of project that excites me.”She has also introduced a fashion-inspired rhythm to the brand by instituting two seasonal drops every year – concept-driven collections that tell stories beyond individual products. “That’s completely new to Iittala,” she says. “It’s about creating coherence, not just through products but through campaigns and the whole expression of the brand.” The forthcoming autumn collection, for example, includes the company’s first scented candles that draw directly from glassmaking’s essence. The scents are named Sand, Fire and Water – all integral to the process.Next year, Iittala will celebrate the 90th anniversary of Alvar Aalto’s Savoy vase with a series of collaborations reimagining the avant-garde spirit of the 1930s original. “When it was first presented, journalists hated it so much that they threw it out of taxi windows,” she says. “Now it’s our crown jewel. That story tells you that Iittala has always been about pushing boundaries.”For Vepsäläinen, keeping the brand relevant is as much about the future as it is heritage. “We can’t just be a museum,” she says. “We love our history, but we have to use it as inspiration to guide us into the future.”She says that Iittala’s DNA consists of three elements: Finnish identity, craftsmanship and exploring creative frontiers. Vepsäläinen sees untapped potential in allowing disciplines such as fashion and homeware to collide. “There is always something to learn from different parts of culture,” she says. “The best artists are the people who are brave enough to ask those questions.” She points to global design fairs, which she notes are increasingly less about single industries than about cultural conversations that bring together designers, musicians, artists and thinkers.Asked what she hopes her time at Iittala will be remembered for, Vepsäläinen says, “I would like people to think of our curiosity, the conversations that we started and the opportunities that we gave different creatives to explore glass and design.” Her leap from knitwear is proof of what can be achieved when creative boundaries are crossed.

How Devaux & Devaux revived Mont Salève, the iconic 1930s cable-car station above Geneva

2025-12-09 06:06:34

Sitting at a height of 1,100 metres, the Mont Salève cable-car station might technically be located in the Haute-Savoie region of France but the area is commonly referred to as “the balcony of Geneva”, thanks to the views of the Swiss city and the surrounding lake that it offers.Dreamed up by Swiss architect Maurice Braillard and built in 1932, the station was resurrected last year after extensive work by Paris-based architecture firm Devaux&Devaux Architectes (DDA). “It’s a very poetic project because, all the way up there, you’re suspended between the sky and the ground below,” says DDA’s founder, David Devaux. “It’s a type of architecture that doesn’t really touch the ground. When you’re in the building, you feel as though you’re flying through the clouds.”The exposed façades of the buildingPanoramic views from the restaurantWith his partner, Claudia Devaux, David won a competition in 2018 to restore the structure to its former glory – as well as going one step further. Today, a climbing wall on the western side of the building, an exhibition space, coffee shops on the ground floor and on the top level terrace, as well as a restaurant with panoramic views offer a wide range of visitor experiences.However, hikers, paragliders and climbers on their way to the great outdoors can simply bypass these facilities if they want to. “It was important for us to provide direct access to the mountains without people having to pass through an exhibition or a gift shop,” says David, before adding that the strength of the project lies in the station’s inherent role as a piece of infrastructure that requiring the use of a car.Cable car approaching the stationInto the cloudsA key goal of the restoration was to reveal the original concrete façades from the 1930s that had been covered up in the 1980s as part of a preservation effort. “It was an atypical project in many ways because it was a historical, unfinished monument and perched halfway up a mountain,” adds David. “There were very specific stakes at play but the intention was never to pick up the commission where [Braillard] had left it. We took over a space that he had built but wasn’t habitable. Then we made the space come to life, as he had imagined.”DDA chose to keep additions to the structure that were in keeping with the existing concrete, steel and glass – materials often used throughout the mountainous region for their durability and ability to withstand the elements. And as the station projects forward over a cliff, the use of hardy concrete offers the reassurance of human engineering within a natural context, albeit in a way that seeks to celebrate, rather than dominate, the landscape. “What’s interesting is not really the building itself but the rapport with nature that it facilitates,” says David. “It frames the horizon, the sky, the emptiness underneath. It’s very powerful as an experience.”dda-architectes.com

Lounging with legends: Inside the living rooms of the world’s favourite designers

2025-11-25 12:38:17

Are you sitting comfortably? Without wanting to knock you from your perch, it turns out that where you choose to sit says a lot about who you are. The sofa in your living room can reveal a great deal about your priorities and outlook on life. But for designers or architects, there’s often an added layer of meaning: their choice can (or perhaps even should) reflect their core creative philosophies. This notion is explored in The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas – available to buy now – for which we spoke to 50 leading architects and designers about their relationships with their settee, unpacking what it says about them and their design sensibilities.For some, it was quite literal: take Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who designed his own Brick sofa in collaboration with Lithuanian firm Jot Jot. Living on a houseboat in Copenhagen’s harbour, its shape is partly inspired by the sandbags found along the capital’s waterfront. Appropriate given that Bjarke’s “journey as a practising architect” ended up coinciding with his rediscovery of the harbour.”The sofa, it seems, is both a silent witness and active participant in family and work life. For Hong Kong-based Betty Ng, her purchase of a Marenco sofa by Arflex symbolised the act of putting down roots. This informed the layout of her space, much like Naoto Fukasawa’s decision to install Maruni’s Hiroshima sofa in his studio-cum-residence. The Japanese designer was so intent on using this particular make that he had it craned into his top-floor living room prior to a renovation of the property; it was, he assures us, the only way to deliver the piece into the space.In putting this book together, it became clear that the sofa is far more than just a place to sit. Australian architect John Wardle’s Gentry sofa by Moroso has witnessed years of use by his children, friends and family. Now, as he prepares to move, it’s the one significant piece of furniture that’s coming with him. So, while sofas are often the largest item in a room, they also play a large role in our lives, collecting memories of family milestones, quiet evenings and lively gatherings. With this in mind, join us as we visit the homes of leading creatives to hear about their sofas. Get comfy, read on and don’t forget to plump the cushions when you’re done.  Nic Monisse is Monocle’s design editor. You can order your copy of ‘The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas’ now. The Monocle Book of Designers on SofasMonocle meets 50 celebrated designers from across the globe who get cosy on their couches (with their pets, partners and children) and tell us about their sofa choices – why they designed it, why…

The artisans battling to keep craft alive with achingly beautiful creations

2025-11-25 10:40:59

The upholstererWigrens DöttrarStockholm, SwedenBased in Stockholm’s Södermalm district, upholstery atelier Wigrens Döttrar is a beloved part of the city’s urban fabric. “The community around here is close-knit,” says owner Sara Lidenmark. “Locals pop by to have a chat every day and many of my clients live in the area.” That friendly, inviting rapport is central to the workshop’s reputation. “Sometimes I’m even invited to dinner at clients’ homes.”Lidenmark removes old staples from a sofa frame before adding a new material that will sit under the cushionsOpened in 1926 by upholsterer Anton Wigren, the studio is now managed by Lidenmark. She joined in 2012 after completing an apprenticeship with the then-owner, making her the fifth artisan to head the studio. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an interest in beautiful fabric and furniture with a history,” says Lidenmark. “It’s magical to see a piece transform from something tired into a beautiful object.”A look at Lidenmark’s order book shows locals putting in requests for the upholsterer to spruce up their armchairs and sofas. But she is also working with larger clients such as restaurants and museums. With such a variety of projects, Lindemark runs a tight ship. “Upholstering is a very creative process,” she says. “It gets quite messy when I’m working on something but I’ll have a moment after I’ve finished to stop and clean it all up. Then I’m ready to move on to the next piece.”On the day when Monocle visits, Lidenmark is about to put the finishing touches on cushions destined for an outdoor-seating area on a roof terrace. It’s a slightly unusual job for her – but she has just as much fun with it as she does with any other project. “I love working here and having such close ties to the neighbours,” she says. “It feels so special to carry on the history of my forbearers in this spot.” Lidenmark says that she isn’t alone in that sentiment. “People know the history of this place – they want it to live on.”wigrensdottrar.seThe weaverAntico Setificio FiorentinoFlorence, ItalyA few minutes’ walk from the waters of the Arno, Antico Setificio Fiorentino is one of the last vestiges of Florence’s golden age of craftsmanship. The city’s old-world San Frediano neighbourhood would have once bustled with artisans. Now though, the workshops are far fewer in number and weaving ateliers like this 18th-century remnant have almost disappeared from Italy.The team at Antico Setificio Fiorentino is determined to keep their practice thriving. “This isn’t a museum or a foundation – it’s an actual business,” says Fabrizio Meucci, a third-generation technician who handcrafts replacement parts for the heirloom equipment. “The task of keeping the company alive motivates us to work harder.”Every working day, the team weaves threads to turn out silk fabrics, from intricate fleur-de-lis jacquard to glossy satin. The more modern 19th-century looms produce 10 metres a day. The oldest wooden-framed contraption dates back to 1650 and turns out just a metre or two of fabric a day.Punch cards – the origin of computers’ binary language – determine which pattern is being wovenSome looms are more than 300 years oldThis machine for preparing wefts was designed by Leonardo da VinciThe space echoes with the percussive sound of the looms. Clients arrive to leaf through the fabric archive that includes Medieval and Renaissance-era designs. Some are looking to make purchases for hotels and churches. Others are drawing up plans for custom patterns or commissioning reproductions of historical materials.The sense of how important the atelier is to the city is signified by high-end Florentine menswear brand Stefano Ricci’s decision to acquire it from locally based fashion house Pucci in 2010. “[The process was about] safeguarding the artisan techniques needed to make these fabrics,” says team member Maria Rita Agliolo Gallitto. For Pucci, it was important that the buyer was also a Florentine.The workshop is run as tight as a ship – every implement and fabric has a placeThe archives include patterns that date back to the Medieval and Renaissance erasDespite the changes, the weavers have remained at the looms. And local homes and institutions will continue to shimmer with the intricacy and splendour of Florence’s ancient weaving craft for a long while yet.There’s no such thing as a digital archive hereThe patterns are filled with heraldic imagery, much of it representing Florence’s aristocratic familiesanticosetificiofiorentino.comThe carpenterMogami KogeiTokyo, JapanAs the only son of a craftsman in edo sashimono (traditional Tokyo-style joinery), Yutaka Mogami always planned to join the family business. Playing in his father’s workshop from early childhood, he entered the craftsmen’s ranks at the age of 23. “In this part of Tokyo’s historical Kuramae district, there used to be workshops making sashimono furniture, platformed geta sandals, woodblock ukiyoe prints and more,” says the 71-year-old Mogami. “But now many of them have been replaced by apartment buildings.”Despite this, makers remain central to the community in Tokyo’s old downtown area. Mogami’s workshop has been in business for more than a century – and the ability to change with the times has been key to its longevity. While Mogami’s father passed on his craft by training 12 apprentices, co-founding the Edo Sashimono Co-operative Association and paving the way for the craft’s official national recognition, Mogami has sought to merge traditional joinery techniques with modern designs. Keeping the studio open and accessible to visitors is key to its success.“Many people arrive with an idea based on something that they’ve seen in an exhibition or in a relative’s home,” says Mogami. Sets of drawers are made to order from wood native to Japan, such as zelkova or paulownia, while family Buddhist altars and paper andon lanterns finished with urushi lacquer are also popular choices. “I’ve even been asked to make a gunbai, the wooden baton used by the referee in sumo wrestling bouts.”Mogami isn’t shy about letting customers see him at work. Seated on the floor with his chisels, hand-planes and saws, he crafts dovetail joints and beveled edges entirely by feel. It’s a process that reinforces the value of sashimono – these meticulous details are often concealed within the finished product. “A true craftsman finishes each and every detail, even those parts unseen.”sasimono.ciao.jp

Other Circle blurs fashion, design and culture in Copenhagen

2025-11-25 22:52:34

Design intersects with a host of disciplines: ask Silas Adler, the creative director of new design salon Other Circle. “We feel that these boundaries between creative disciplines are dissolving and the way that we engage with culture is shifting,” he tells Monocle. The platform’s first event debuted alongside Copenhagen’s design week earlier this year, to showcase how design, art, music, food and fashion often overlap. It featured more than 50 participants, including local food institutions Atelier September and Noma Projects, as well as Berlin-based Lotto Studio and Reidar Mester, Stockholm-based Joy Objects and Italy’s Meritalia. Adler’s background in the fashion industry (he founded streetwear brand Soulland in 2002) might explain his desire to do away with the rule book.Why create a showcase that blends so many different disciplines?We felt that there needed to be a curated exhibition experience that highlights creative culture beyond disciplines. We need these platforms to happen within design week, within fashion week – at these moments, there should be a platform that can be a catalyst for upcoming designers to be in the room with established furniture brands and fashion labels, and next to artists, chefs and people who don’t even put labels on themselves.How did your experience in the fashion industry lead you to co-create this showcase?We often put boundaries on ourselves creatively. That was, perhaps, one of the toughest things when I worked in fashion. But creatives are questioning the old models and pushing for something more connected, more alive.If the boundaries are dissolving, why are there still labels such as ‘fashion’ and ‘design’?It’s harder for the people selling the work to explain it without a label. But for people consuming creativity, it’s all the same. If you have a great meal or listen to a great record or see design that you really enjoy, it’s the same neurological experience.othercircle.com

How Villa Ervi in Helsinki preserves Finland’s mid-century modernism

2025-12-01 09:03:18

What’s the best way to protect architecture of note? One solution is to seek heritage listing, which would help to prevent demolition or unsightly additions. “Often protected buildings are made into museums,” says Mauri Tommila, who established Tommila Architects in Helsinki in 1984. But Tommila decided to take a different approach when he and his wife, Aila, bought Villa Ervi in 1990.The building was looking somewhat tired and didn’t reﬂect its status in design circles: the former residence of prominent mid-century Finnish architect Aarne Ervi, it’s a notable example of the country’s postwar residential modernism. Mauri, now 74, says that if the structure had been listed or turned into a museum, small alterations to make it liveable would have been almost impossible. “There would always have been someone looking over your shoulder,” he adds, explaining that, without any interference from a heritage body, he has been able to maintain the building’s original function – that of a residence and architecture studio.The low-slung sauna building and pool of Villa ErviThe ﬁrst part of the structure was built in 1951, the year when Mauri was born. Ervi wanted the site to function as both a family home and a studio (an office annexe was added in 1962). Amid a maritime landscape in the Finnish capital’s Kuusisaari neighbourhood, the villa has a white, plastered façade that is softened by lush vegetation, and is positioned to take advantage of sea views. The roof is made from clay brick and stone tiling appears on the thresholds, where large windows open onto a garden planted with alpine roses and a Japanese maple, with the water visible beyond.When Monocle visits, Mauri and Aila are waiting at the wide wooden front door – their usual spot when welcoming guests as they reach an entrance hall that has curved ceilings rising high overhead and natural light ﬂooding in from skylights. Elements such as oak cabinetry with patinated brass handles feature in the foyer, which has a ﬂoor lined with handmade Italian tiles. The effect is both ethereal and earthy.Mauri and Aila Tommila’s daughter, Miia-Liina, the CEO of the family practiceOriginal oak cupboards are complemented by pieces by Alvar AaltoFrom here, the interior unfolds in a sequence of staggered, interlinked spaces: the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the bedrooms. Each has large windows with views of the garden, sky and sea. Natural materials and a connection to the elements are prioritised. The living room has a central, open ﬁreplace; in the kitchen, you’ll ﬁnd sapele mahogany cabinets; bedrooms can be closed off by sliding timber doors and feature the original oak cupboards; the bathrooms are deﬁned by deep-green tiles. Transitions are marked by columns wrapped in rattan cord and doors provide direct access from the kitchen and living room to the garden.Mauri tells Monocle that the building still works well as a home, decades after its construction. It is human in scale, delivering comfort without ostentation. “Villa Ervi was built to be a home and should be used as one,” he says. The kitchen and living room, with an original Aalto table and a smaller side piece by Ervi, are still where most of the family’s everyday life takes place. The long and welcoming dining table is surrounded by 1950s Fanett chairs by Ilmari Tapiovaara, with Paavo Tynell’s lighting ﬁxtures and Unikko-patterned Marimekko textiles dotted throughout the space.Marimekko textiles and Artek’s A810 floor lamp in the living roomThe large, copper-coated hood in the saunaThe family’s collection of vintage Finnish glassMeanwhile, the garden is used during summer, as is the swimming pool, whose form echoes the staggered footprint of the office annexe. The sauna, an anchor of Finnish life, is in regular use, thanks to a 1995 renovation that restored its original patinated iroko-wood façade.The office annexe now serves as the home of Mauri’s architecture practice. As in the residence, there is a strong focus on embracing the site and the use of natural materials. “It’s the most Japanese building in Finland,” says Mauri, as he walks Monocle through the low, long structure, which is deﬁned by a Oregon pine façade. Its proximity to the home means that work often overlaps with personal life; staff meetings take place in the garden and over long dinners at the weekend.It’s a situation that has beneﬁted Mauri and Aila’s daughter, Miia-Liina. Now the CEO of Tommila Architects, she was immersed in her father’s practice while growing up in Villa Ervi. “I was surrounded by it all and it shaped how I think about space,” she says, recalling how she used to look into the garden, perching on the building’s broad windowsills and noticing how the changing light would alter the appearance of the walls and wood grain. “It made me an architect because I understood the value of good architecture early.”Handmade Italian tiles were used in the foyerThe office annexe is clad in Oregon pineThe family-run practice now works on strategic planning, and regeneration and repair projects – architecture that’s not just about building but also maintaining and evolving an environment. Its approach is partly a response to what Mauri and Miia-Liina see as a tendency among developers to demolish old buildings, even when they still have plenty of life left in them. “We should preserve the layers of architecture in our cities,” says Mauri. “They are layers of our culture.”It’s this outlook that continues to inform Mauri and Aila’s hopes and dreams for Villa Ervi. With their children grown and no longer at home, the scale of the residence exceeds their daily needs. As such, the property has been put up for sale, though not aggressively. The couple is particular about potential future owners – and for good reason. The property’s future custodians will not only inherit walls and windows but a way of being, an architectural legacy of care and a collection of historically signiﬁcant buildings that remain in constant use. It’s not, according to Mauri, architecture to be preserved as an exhibit – it’s to be lived in.“If it sells, it sells,” he says. “If not, we’ll stay. What matters is that this place continues to be used – not turned into a museum.”

Take a tour of The Shelborne, a freshly revamped art deco hotel in South Beach, Florida

2025-12-20 02:01:02

The word “iconic” is chronically overused but it is perfectly applicable to the venerable fleet of art deco hotels being relaunched along South Beach’s Collins Avenue. The Raleigh is set to reopen as a Rosewood, while The Shore Club will become part of the Auberge Resorts Collection. And then there is the beautiful Shelborne, built in 1940.The property underwent its first renovation in the 1950s, when Miami modernism pioneer Morris Lapidus added the pool, cabanas and more guest rooms. Now, Proper Hotels has applied the latest licks of paint and lively finishes to the 251 guest rooms designed by ADC&Tuneu. “Being able to bring it back to life in such a beautiful way was very exciting for the team,” says Guy Chetwynd, the managing director of The Shelborne by Proper. The hotel’s beach club is only steps from the sea but the best place to spend an afternoon is by the pool amid the mint-green daybeds and parasols – ideally with a drink in hand and bossa nova on the breeze.The Shelborne’s poolLiving area in a seafront suiteGuest rooms are designed by ADC&TuneuRestored terrazzo walls in the hotel’s caféshelborne.comTimeline1941:The Shelborne opens its doors. During the Second World War, the US Army Air Forces leased the building as a training centre. It is reopened to the public in 1945.1958:The Shelborne undergoes its first major expansion, overseen by the architect Morris Lapidus.1993:A portion of the building is temporarily transformed into residential condo-style accommodation.2023:The Proper Hotels group acquires The Shelborne and commissions ADC&Tuneu to begin a $100m (€86m) transformation.2025: The reimagined Shelborne opens to the public.

The most beautiful outdoor furniture for long summer dinners

2025-11-28 14:28:21

Whether you want to soak up the sun or cool off with an ice-cold spritz in the shade, Monocle has rounded up the outdoor furniture and terrace-ready homeware that will help you make the most of the season’s long days and balmy evenings.These chairs, tables, ice-cream cups and more will be perfect accompaniments to brightly coloured apéritifs, tasty tidbits and sizzling barbecues that beckon as dusk descends. Summer is fleeting, so relish every sunny second in style.Berlingot glasses and carafeby Laguna BItalyMurano-based Laguna B’s striped glasses and carafe will bring Venetian flair to your cocktail hour or table setting.lagunab.comEmbrace outdoor dining chairby Carl Hansen&SønDenmarkFor Danish design company Carl Hansen&Søn, Vienna-based design studio Eoos created this supremely comfortable outdoor dining chair that hugs the body’s contours. Made from untreated teak, the chair will develop a distinctive patina over time, making it uniquely yours for this summer season and many more to come. carlhansen.comThe Classic table lamp by Lumena for The Monocle ShopSouth KoreaWhen the sun sets but the drinks keep flowing, a little ambient lighting will go a long way. Crafted with precision by South Korean lighting experts Lumena, in partnership with The Monocle Shop, this handy lamp can stand on its own or be unscrewed from its base so that it can be hung like a lantern. lumena.co.kr; monocle.com/shopCosta chair by Andreu WorldSpainAndreu World’s Costa chair’s characteristic double-cinched woven seat and backrest beckons, unfussy and unphased, offering the perfect spot to rest even if still dripping from the pool. The fresh and resistant fabric is ideal for outdoor or indoor use so there’s no need to be restricted to one or the other.andreuworld.comAtena side table by Dolce& Gabbana CasaItaly Nobody does aperitivo hour like the Italians. Case in point: Dolce& Gabbana Casa, the design and homeware subdivision of the Milan-headquartered fashion house. Its Atena side table, made from gloss-finished wood with a sturdy steel stem, is meticulously polished and pleasingly curvaceous. Drag it out onto the terrace to support drinks and snacks until it’s time for dinner.   dolcegabbanacasa.comSolas café table by CaseUK British designer Matthew Hilton’s refined café table is the perfect place to perch an icy spritz. The evenly keeled stainless-steel base and teak-slatted tabletop will ensure nothing can topple your summer tipple. casefurniture.comItalian ice cups by HayDenmarkDanish design firm Hay’s Italian-made ice-cream cups are worthy of the creamiest pistachio gelato or freshest raspberry sorbet. Constructed from stainless steel with a slim stem and rounded bowl, they’ll have you hankering for a chilled dessert every day of the warmer months.hay.dk

How an Italian lighting brand is keeping Ingo Maurer’s anarchic charm alive

2025-12-05 19:36:54

“A company whose name consists of the first name and surname of its founder will have a hard time moving on without them,” says Carlo Urbinati, the founder and president of Veneto-based lighting brand Foscarini. “It’s an almost impossible mission.” This was briefly forgotten when, in 2022, Urbinati heard that the company of Ingo Maurer, one of Germany’s most beloved lighting designers, was on the market. Given the chance to bid on the legacy of a trailblazer he had long looked up to, Urbinati couldn’t resist and brought it under the Foscarini banner.Prototype for the adjustable Bruce Springsteel lampOut-of-production models in Ingo Maurer’s factory turned showroomFounded in Munich in 1966, Maurer’s namesake company is famed for its witty, irreverent pieces that helped to define the zeitgeist for decades. Its first key design was Bulb, an oversized light bulb that became associated with the pop art movement. In the 1970s, there was Uchiwa, a wall sconce made using a bamboo and rice paper fan; in the 1980s, the YaYaHo, a spindly tension-wire system; and in the 1990s, the Lucellino, which gave an incandescent bulb some feathered wings.Merging cutting-edge technology with an affection for objets trouvés, Maurer produced inventions that have become industry standards, including the first lighting system using low-voltage wires. The designer worked until his death at the age of 87 in 2019, leaving behind 40 people based between an office in central Munich and a factory at the city’s edge.“The heritage of this company is infinite,” says Urbinati. “It was based on an almost anarchic liberty to create things.” During his lifetime, Maurer took pride in eschewing all German rules of business management and running the workshop like an artist’s atelier. Everybody in the team worked directly under Maurer and his wife, Jenny Lau, with no hierarchy. There was no distribution network and no marketing department. Because everything was made in-house, it was never a problem that the company might only sell a small number of a product that had been developed from scratch.Five Pack, designed by Axel Schmid in 2007, with adjustable lampshadesThe Porca Miseria! can be made with any ceramics the client chooses“The goal here was never to make money,” says Axel Schmid, who became the company’s design director after Maurer’s death. “It was to keep making things.” This became an issue when the firm lost its driving force, prompting Maurer’s daughters to sell. Foscarini won the bid. “We are investing a lot of time and money in reorganising the business, all while respecting what there already is,” says Urbinati.Shortly after the purchase, Urbinati organised a workshop with the existing staff to understand Maurer’s design approach. One of the tasks was to construct something that was a characteristic Ingo Maurer piece. “The team ran down to the workshop and took whatever they could find,” recalls Schmid. After a few minutes, the designers had outfitted a large light bulb with 3M earmuffs, which became the Shhh! lamp, launched in April 2025 at Euroluce, the lighting section of Salone del Mobile, the world’s biggest furniture fair.Prototypes are never discarded – they might just end up in the staff kitchenAfter visiting the workshop and factory, where boxes of old prototypes are still stashed, Urbinati asked the team to rummage through the archives and present some of what they found. “We didn’t even remember what was inside the boxes,” says Schmid. Maurer’s creative process involved travelling across the globe and bringing back objects and impressions, from erotically shaped Thai porcelains to toy racing cars. These often ended up boxed with the dozens of models that they inspired. Among the findings presented to Foscarini was a tiny LED light hung from a USB-C charger – an idea that Schmid had tinkered with years ago before forgetting it in a drawer. This became Strange Little Thing, also launched in 2025.In the Ingo Maurer design department, housed in a former stable in a leafy courtyard in Munich’s Schwabing neighbourhood, Monocle finds Schmid, Sebastian Hepting, Julian Auch and David Engelhorn tinkering with a happy jumble of works in progress. Miniature prototypes and sources of inspiration, from fishing baits to confectionery ribbons, are hung from the lamps above the desks. Crowded in one corner are dozens of iterations of Bruce Springsteel, a new adjustable lamp. The team members work as they have always done, with each looking after one product from beginning to end. The difference, under Foscarini, is that they now judge the results collectively.The influence of the new Italian owners has also gradually seen some organisational structures introduced to the company, including a stronger sales network and more respect for EU certifications, while trying to keep the magic that Maurer weaved. It’s too early to say whether Urbinati was wise to defy his own better judgement – the company remains far from lucrative – but the Venetians are playing the long game. “The team is perfectly capable of working on ideas à la Ingo,” says Urbinati. “Yes, Ingo is dead but his method and his teaching still have a lot to say.”Villeroy&Boch tableware is sacrificed to make the Porca Miseria! chandelierJapanese paper is checked for flaws before being cut and folded by hand

Portugal’s best beach house: creating a secluded retreat in a crowded community

2025-12-20 07:27:29

Tróia, a coastal peninsula just south of Lisbon, is little more than a 15km sliver of sand. Here, pristine dunes form a barrier between the Atlantic and the estuary of the river Sado, with villa after villa of the well-heeled Alfacinhas (Lisbon locals) lining the coast. Holidaymakers can choose to spend their day on an uninterrupted golden beach where the waves crash in from the ocean or jump across to more secluded waters, where a pod of bottlenose dolphins also swim.As a project site for a Lisbon-based architect, it doesn’t get much better than Tróia. It is exactly what landed on the desk of Inês Cortesão, founder of Bica Arquitectos. Lisbon financier Vasco Machado came to her with an oceanfront plot in the middle of the peninsula – one of the last available – and an almost carte-blanche design brief for a holiday home to host family and friends. “Everyone’s dream place to live is in a house by the sea,” says Cortesão. “It’s a dream to design one too.”Architect Inês CortesãoBespoke ash fixturesThe commission wasn’t all carefree: the land is inside a gated community, with a close neighbour on one side and a communal pathway to the beach on the other. The project needed to provide plenty of privacy while being sensitive to its built and natural surroundings. But Cortesão, who shows Monocle around on a sunny summer Saturday (while friends are visiting for a swim and some holiday sun), didn’t have to think long about the concept. “I’m not the kind of architect to make drawing after drawing,” she says. “The location is so strong that knowing what to do was intuitive.”For the architect, the only solution for building on the dunes was to mimic them. On entry, the home reveals itself immediately: there is a long corridor that opens to a combined living room, kitchen and pool area, while six bedrooms are spaced out symmetrically on each side. The key architectural element is a four-metre-high wall of fir planks that wraps around the building’s exterior, directly inspired by the wooden palisades typically built on dunes to keep the sand in place and to demarcate property.Open kitchen in sandy huesPlaying a key role in the building’s design is the surrounding landscape. Together with landscape architect Mariana Mendes, Cortesão created a buffer of sand around the pool so that sunbathers aren’t visible from neighbouring properties. All around the building, Cortesão planted stone pines, marram grass and flowering shrubs that are native to the dunes. The interiors also continue the sandy theme, with grainy plaster floors, heavy travertine kitchen surfaces and custom-made fixtures in honey-hued ash. Cortesão herself is dressed like an extension of the house in a cream knitted dress and rattan sandals. “I can’t separate architecture and design in my work,” she says. “It’s all one; there has to be harmony.”This holistic, no-nonsense approach is why Machado tasked Cortesão, who had previously designed his apartment in Lisbon, with the project. “She’s not only an architect but she knows how to do everything,” he says. During the construction process, Cortesão, who has completed more than half a dozen standalone villas, was at the building site every week, fussing over details and keeping an eye on the builders. “With someone like Inês, you know it’s going to work out,” adds Machado. “She’s really picky.”Machado grew up spending his summers in the nearby village but he currently lives in Spain. He stays in Tróia in both summer and winter together with his wife and four children. “Even at night the kids walk freely in and out,” he says. “It’s total liberty. The door is always open.” Unsurprisingly, his favourite part of the house is the pool, which Cortesão designed to slope down like the seashore and coated with a mortar mixed with sand from the area. “It was Inês’s idea to make the pool resemble the beach,” he says.Seaside living at its finestA sunny enclaveCortesão’s only qualm about the house relates to the pool area, where there once stood a scraggly, sculptural pine tree. The architect had gone to great lengths to preserve it and oriented the entire house around it. “That pine was the protagonist of the central corridor,” she says. Suddenly, just three months before construction completed, the needles turned yellow. In its place is now a smaller, straighter specimen that acts as the home’s focal point. But Machado is giving the young pine, like the house, time to grow into its own. “I’ll only consider this project done when the house appears like being inside a forest,” he says.https://bicaarquitectos.com

Thom Mayne on designing cities, museums and The Line in Saudi Arabia

2025-11-25 21:39:33

“I’m more interested in the compelling than the beautiful.” The message is the medium at Thom Mayne’s studio, a nondescript cube of concrete breeze blocks on a busy corner in Culver City, Los Angeles. Across its walls are statements such as the one above, rendered and layered in stainless steel and crawling like calligraphy over its façade.At the age of 81, Mayne remains an imposing ﬁgure – born in Connecticut, he was raised in Chicago and Los Angeles, where he forged his legacy. From humble beginnings in a studio above a bait shop in Venice Pier, he founded Morphosis in 1972 and co-established the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC).After greeting us at his studio’s front door (which has “door” written on it, also in metal), Mayne leads Monocle into a cave-like workspace. His practice spans continents, from Orange County museums to Saudi Arabia’s new US embassy, but he’s far from everybody’s architect – his buildings frequently raise the hackles of critics and detractors. He belongs to no school, outside of a modernist’s imperative to always make things new.Los Angeles is full of concrete boxes. How has the vernacular of the city inﬂuenced you?Early in my career, I began to think about the idea of “architecture without architects”. A building that isn’t “architecture”, as it were, will still have its own characteristics and have formal qualities, even if you strip the design right down. Los Angeles is a temporary city. It is made up of these simple little buildings that were almost the ﬁrst growth of the city. Architects were the second growth, taking down the little buildings or adding to them. And over time, the city was ﬁlled in.Your ﬁrst studio was in Venice Beach. How did the area inspire your early work?At the time, it was an affordable place to be. It was pretty rough and I would hear gunshots at night. I had only just ﬁnished school and everybody used to gather at this café called DuPar’s, where you could get dinner with a beer for a few bucks. Ed Ruscha was there with this whole group of architects and artists, who were just kids then. I remember buying one of his early books, which was all about stripping stuff down visually. I connected with that.How should Los Angeles rebuild itself after the recent wildﬁres?At an architectural level, it’s a question of materials. So many of the houses here are faux-something – people want to build faux-Greek villas, for example. But they should build it like an actual Greek villa: make it out of stone, rather than ﬂammable wood. In the recent ﬁres, the architecture became the fuel. Fires of this scale happen maybe once or twice a century. But they can be used to create a positive outcome.You worked on the original designs for The Line, a 170km-long development in Saudi Arabia arranged in linear form through the desert. Why did you want to design a city in this way?I’m interested in how landscape informs architecture. They can have a hybrid, in-between relationship in which the project becomes more like “augmented land” than a building in the purest sense. In Saudi, there are mountains and ocean, and it’s a site the size of Belgium – a fascinating scale. It has since become a complicated project that many different people have worked on.In California, you designed the Orange County Museum of Art. You described the building as “a fragment, not a whole”. What does that mean?The project is open-ended – it’s not static. I want my buildings to be dynamic, with the viewer translating it and understanding it on their own terms. That would be different for someone who is highly educated in architecture and someone who is not.You have said before that there’s “no zeitgeist”. What does that mean for architecture?Go to a place that has vast amounts of new architecture – Shanghai or Shenzhen, for example – and there’ll be a couple of hundred buildings that are more than 50 or 60 storeys tall. There isn’t a set of constraints or rules, so you get a city that’s something of the moment and not about agreement or continuity. It’s a very modern notion of the city: a political, social and cultural expression of the individual, personiﬁed and concretised in the architecture of these cities. They give it form. And that’s where the conversation starts.

Why Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design leaves such a lasting impression

2025-11-29 22:23:41

It’s all about context and working together at 3 Days of Design. That’s the message that was hammered home at this year’s event, which functions as Copenhagen’s de facto design week. Designers and brands presented work in galleries and studios across the city and the fair was billed by many as the biggest competitor to industry behemoth Salone del Mobile – and for good reason. It has grown year-on-year since its establishment in 2013 and is now drawing an international cohort, with Spain’s Santa & Cole and Italian firms such as Flos and Alpi all taking part.In truth, the two events are quite different: Salone del Mobile is focused on trade and the industry’s commercial side. Copenhagen, meanwhile, seems intent on putting the practice into context. “It’s rooted in the Danish way of thinking about design,” says Marie-Louise Høstbo (pictured above left), a Copenhagen-based creative director and curator. “Design is presented not as an event but as a lived, integrated part of daily life.” For proof, one only has to look at the showcase that Høstbo curated with Mycoworks, the company responsible for developing Reishi, a leather-like material created from mycelium (the root structure of fungi). Under Høstbo’s eye, the Californian brand worked with five Danish firms, including OEO Studio and Atelier Axo, to develop products that show Reishi’s practical applications. “We wanted to explore the potential of a new material – Reishi – while drawing inspiration from the historic principles of making functional, durable and beautiful designs,” says Høstbo. “OEO Studio’s glowing floor light, for example, invites us to see our interiors in a new way.”OEO Studio’s Thomas Lykke (see Words With… below) agrees that the success of 3 Days of Design – and the Mycoworks showcase – lies in its ability to contextualise the industry. “Design is not only about aesthetics and chairs,” says Lykke. “It has its own vernacular and is a bridge to other cultures, understanding, sharing and questioning.”So, is this what’s drawing people from across the world to 3 Days of Design? Gabriel Tan certainly thinks so. The Porto-based, Singaporean designer presented wares by his brand, Origin Made, in an apartment curated by Japanese furniture specialists Ariake and Spanish lighting manufacturer Parachilna (pictured above). In addition are rugs by Sera Helsinki and sculptures by Gen Taniguchi, master craftsman of the 300-year-old Nao Washi mill. “What is particularly striking is the open and collaborative spirit that is evident at 3 Days of Design, with brands regularly joining forces for showings because they understand that great interiors require lighting, furniture, textiles and objects working in harmony,” says Tan. “Why compete when you can create something more compelling together?” It’s a question those presenting – and attending – 3 Days of Design seem intent on answering.Monisse is Monocle’s design editor.To enjoy Monocle’s full city guide to Copenhagen, click here.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Bright, bold and bustling, Design Miami 2025 celebrates colour and creativity

2025-12-09 13:37:48

When the first edition of Design Miami took place in 2005, the fair dedicated to collectable design might have been considered, at best, a quirky sideshow to the glitzy Art Basel Miami. A space for the design industry where rare antiques mingle with contemporary pieces that do away with the restrictive adage that design is where form meets function. At worst, the fair could have been a flash-in-the-pan event in a city that has the quality of a pastel-hued tropical fever dream. Two decades later, Design Miami is now a global phenomenon that tours the world to put on showcases of the weird and wonderful in Paris, Seoul, Los Angeles, Basel and, in 2027, Dubai. This week the fair returned to its base in Miami’s Pride Park for a final victory lap of a milestone year that will come to a close on Sunday. And it’s the biggest edition to date: more than 80 exhibitors gathered under the curatorial theme “Make. Believe”, an apt rallying cry in a city with an uninhibited disposition, where anything goes when it comes to aesthetics.Sitting pretty: Superhouse’s American Art Furniture: 1980-1990“Miami is fun, sunny, bright, tropical and energetic – and it all materialises at the fair,” Design Miami CEO Jen Roberts tells The Monocle Minute. “We see design as a tool for betterment and positive change in the world. It has been an extraordinary trajectory. Twenty years ago, there wasn’t a clear path for young designers coming out of school. Now you can be part of incubator shows, get picked up by a gallery, come to Design Miami and be commissioned for industrial projects.”Highlights from this year’s edition include French designer Mathieu Lehanneur’s Palazzo display, where a chartreuse Familyscape sofa comes with a handbag-shaped cushion that can be unzipped to store those pesky remote controls. New York-based gallery Superhouse brought some 1980s radical optimism with its presentation, American Art Furniture: 1980-1990, featuring colourful pieces from designers including Dan Friedman, Michele Oka Doner and Pippa Garner. Italian luxury fashion house Fendi tapped Argentinian designer and artist Conie Vallese to create pieces alongside the brand’s ateliers. The result is an enticing recreation of a salotto (living room), with an artful pairing of brass flowers on chair legs and a folding screen, combined with panels of baby-blue and banana-yellow leather. Some of the design pieces might prompt a smile. Others will make you question how far people will go to explore the limits of bad taste. But what’s sure is that the world is only now waking up to the value of collectable design, with Salone del Mobile set to enter the space at its next edition in spring 2026 and Pad drawing attention in Paris and London. The rise of collectable design has only just begun and, in hindsight, it makes perfect sense that it would take root in Miami. Carefree and self-assured, the city offers a joyful alternative to beige minimalism and the repetitive results borne out of a function-first mentality. So, unbutton your Cuban-collar shirt, grab a cocktail and make peace with the bizarre. Welcome to Miami. Grace Charlton is Monocle’s associate editor of design and fashion. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.Read next:Five collectable design trends for the year ahead, as seen at Design Miami

Designing for disaster: Taiwan leads the way in cute catastrophe kit

2025-12-15 10:21:11

Taiwan’s government has promoted household preparedness for years – a consequence of existing on the Pacific Ring of Fire and across the Taiwan Strait from mainland China. Public awareness and follow-through have varied but a recent combination of increased seismic activity, typhoons and a more belligerent Beijing has created genuine demand – and the private market has been quick to capitalise.SafeTaiwan began selling evacuation kits last year, tapping into growing demand for well-designed, ready-to-go supplies. The start-up’s best-seller remains the standard adult pack: a waterproof backpack stocked with items including thermal blankets, gloves, saline, a whistle and gauze. But there’s a new product on sale: the pet kit. It’s a quirky entry point into the otherwise serious trend of disaster preparedness. Inside are items such as collapsible bowls, a water feeder and a kitty-litter scoop. “About one in three or four households in Taiwan keeps a pet,” says founder Bonny Lu. “For many people, their animals are like their children.”Look what the cat dragged in: The pet kit from SafeTaiwan(Image: Courtesy of SafeTaiwan)Lu, a former pet-food entrepreneur, ventured into the disaster-prep market after failing to find a ready-made kit suitable for earthquakes. Taiwan experiences frequent tremors and last year saw its strongest quake in 25 years. “I couldn’t find a complete emergency kit that met my needs,” she tells Monocle from the company’s Taipei headquarters. “So I tried assembling one myself. I hadn’t expected the process to be so troublesome.” The inconvenience became a business opportunity; one that now supplies kits to households, schools and corporations.Sales rose steadily before surging this summerwhen the American Institute in Taiwan – Washington’s de facto embassy – urged residents to prepare their own “go bags”. SafeTaiwan’s sales jumped eightfold as households prepared themselves, their children and their animals for disaster. “At the beginning, most people imagined emergency scenarios only as earthquakes,” says Lu. “But starting last year, more people became concerned about political conflict and other types of disasters.”The company’s fortunes now rise and fall with the news cycle: a major quake in the Asia Pacific region sends demand for earthquake kits rising; military flare-ups abroad or Chinese navy drills in the waters around Taiwan put war top of mind; and news of a super typhoon brewing in the South China Seas dials up the number of customer enquiries about flood-proof gear.And it’s not just coats, blankets and bags flying off the shelves. Radios, the classic standby of any emergency kit, are also enjoying a renaissance. Taiwan-based Sangean, one of the country’s best-known radio manufacturers, reports strong demand for its crank-powered, solar-ready emergency models – built to withstand blackouts, storms and even electromagnetic interference – which has now become its global bestseller.The trend is a convergence of function and form that has become a hallmark of Taiwan’s small but nimble preparedness sector. Its kits resemble commuter bags rather than bulky military gear and many of the designs look disarmingly cute for such a bleak concept. The entry-level items of thermal blankets, flashlights and water filters are practical but not intimidating. Some are even sweet. “We tell people to focus on having the basics first and then improve from there,” says Lu. “The important thing is simply to start.”By framing preparedness as a sensible precaution rather than wild paranoia, SafeTaiwan makes its kits an easier sell. Far better to have a bag by the door packed with supplies for everyone, including a litter scooper for Kitty and a bowl for Fido, than to be caught short in the next big storm. For an island where uncertainty is a constant, preparedness has quietly become both a mindset and a market.

Pulling up a bistro seat in Paris means you’ll be sitting on a piece of Maison Drucker history

2025-12-24 14:38:14

As the oldest company of Parisian bistro furniture, Maison Drucker produces designs that are not only ubiquitous in the French capital, they are inextricable from its vernacular. Since its foundation in 1885, the company has helped define the city’sterrasselifestyle with its chairs made from curved rattan frames and colourful woven seats. It has even been recognised with a Living Heritage Company label for its contribution to French culture.Founded by Louis Drucker, a businessman of Polish descent, Maison Drucker thrived with the discovery of rattan, a malleable climbing palm that was imported from French and Dutch Asian colonies in the mid-19th century. The proliferation of cafés in Paris created a demand for sturdy outdoor furniture and Maison Drucker’s custom-made designs quickly became part of the identity of many establishments. The Fouquet’s chair, for example, is the oldest design and takes its name from the historic high-end brasserie on the Champs Elysées, while Café de Flore still depends on red-and-green Drucker Chairs to furnish its famous terrace.Despite its deep roots in Paris, the company was failing when Bruno Dubois took over from the Drucker family in 2006. “Parisian cafés weren’t interested in rattan any more and wanted steel,” he says. “It was dying; we had to rebuild everything. But it’s an iconic Parisian object, so I knew that something could be done.” Dubois set up a base in Indonesia, where today 400 artisans work on large orders; custom pieces and the repair service are entrusted to a team of 30 craftspeople in Gilocourt, an hour and a half north of Paris by car. The structure of the chair is made using the age-old technique of heating the rattan and bending it into shape. The pattern on the seat and backrest is woven with strings of Rilsan, a bioplastic made from castor oil.With dozens of models, motifs and colours, the possibilities are almost endless and Drucker has maintained its traditional Parisian identity while innovating with new designs. Over the past 10 years, Dubois has supervised collaborations with designers Mikiya Kobayashi, India Mahdavi and Christian Biecher, who have all brought their vision to the brand. The company’s almost 140-year-old archives are also a rich source of inspiration. “I found some old chairs at a flea market,” says Dubois. “And with that, we recreated an entire collection of 1920s armchairs.The traditional bistro chairs are a mainstay of terraces across France but they have recently seen a surge in popularity abroad too. Today Drucker exports to businesses and interior designers in 52 countries who want a little piece of Paris for themselves. “Rattan came back into fashion about 10 years ago and we contributed to that,” says Dubois. “All trends fade away eventually but we can renew this one constantly and keep it alive for a very long time.”Read next: Amid Paris’s everyday hustle, the city’s iconic Fermob chair is the perfect reminder to slow down – and take a seat

Three collaborations of note from 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen

2025-12-07 19:14:52

Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design has once again transformed the city into a vibrant, walkable showcase of Danish and international creativity. This annual design festival draws industry leaders, buyers, press, and enthusiasts eager to explore new collections and discover emerging talents. It’s a vital platform for both business and inspiration, setting the agenda for contemporary design. Here are three highlights from Day 1.1.The Salon: Other CircleDesign is everywhere: just ask Silas Adler, creative director of new design salon Other Circle. Debuting alongside 3 Days of Design at The Lab, a vast industrial venue in the northwest of Copenhagen, the aim of the showcase is to explore how the realms of design, art, music, food and fashion often overlap. “The boundaries between creative disciplines are dissolving and the way that we engage with culture is shifting,” he says. “There’s a need for spaces that reflect this fluidity. Creatives are questioning the old models and pushing for something more connected, more alive.”The breaking down of industry barriers is already commonplace in Milan, where luxury fashion houses take over the city’s design week. But Copenhagen has maintained a more siloed approach – at least for now. Adler’s background in the fashion industry (he co-founded streetwear brand Soulland in 2002) might explain this desire to do away with the rule book and shake up the Danish design scene.The programme at Other Circle features more than 50 participants, including local food institutions Atelier September and Noma Projects, as well as Berlin-based Lotto Studio and Reidar Mester (pictured above, top), Stockholm-based Joy Objects (above left) and Italy’s Meritalia (above right). It’s an eclectic line-up that’s sure to delight. “That’s what my team and I want to focus on,” says Adler. “Joy and inspiration.” othercircle.comOther Circle runs until 20 June, from 09.00 to 19.00, at The Lab, Vermundsgade 40B, Copenhagen.2.OEO Studio X Time&StyleAt 3 Days of Design, Copenhagen-based OEO Studio, known for its refined interiors and considered product work, joined forces with Japanese furniture maker Time & Style, celebrated for its craftsmanship and fresh perspective on materiality. Their joint showcase brings Japanese and Danish aesthetics into quiet harmony. The Kouryu chair – a tactile piece featuring a sculptural wooden frame and a plush tatami seat – is case in point. Here, OEO Studio co-founder Thomas Lykke and Time & Style co-founder Yasushi Yoshida reflect on their collaboration and a shared pursuit of care in working with wood.Tell us about the role that timber plays in your work.Yasushi Yoshida: Japanese timber is available on the market but at Time & Style we buy directly from the forest. We have a personal relationship with the forestry people, so they contact us if wood is available. We then move the timber to our factory to dry for one or two years.Thomas Lykke: It’s important to remember that the forest is not here for us – it’s the other way around. As a designer, it’s valuable to respect that a piece of wood is not just a piece of wood – it had a living spirit before. You have to respect that when you turn it into furniture.What considerations shape the way that you select and use timber?YY: It’s trendy to use oak from Hokkaido, where our factory is based. We source a lot of our timber from there and are competing with companies from across the globe who come to buy oak because it’s rich in tannins for wine and whisky. Then there’s tall-growing zelkova hardwood, the timber used for big pillars in temples some 1,200 years ago. For that reason, it is seen as conservative to use zelkova in modern Japanese homes. Until two or three years ago, we did not have dry zelkova wood but we sourced it from Honshū. It’s still rare.The Kouryu chair that you co-created is made from Japanese zelkova. How does this honour the material and make people want in their homes?TL: I only learned about zelkova hardwood through Time & Style and its use in sacred temples and shrines. It is seen as a more conservative wood in Japan and is rarely used for furniture. I was fascinated by the fact that I had never encountered it before. I love the grain, the colour and how you can treat it. Time & Style uses natural beeswax, white soap and iron water, which draws out the acidity and makes the zelkova incredibly soft.timeandstyle.com; oeo.dkSee Time & Style and OEO Studio’s work during 3 Days of Design at Pakhus 11, Dampfaergevej 2.3.Café A-N-D BarCanadian lighting studio A-N-D has crossed the Atlantic and set up a temporary café and bar with furniture by French maker Boon Editions. As part of this group showcase, Irish glassware brand J Hill’s Standard is making its Copenhagen debut. “The fair has a reputation for being a smaller show that has long reach,” says Ava Kelly (pictured below right with Lukas Peet, co-founder of A-N-D), who helms J Hill’s Standard alongside her mother, Anike Tyrrell. “It’s also more digestible and community-based than some of the larger festivals, which have become behemoths.”Titled Cafe A-N-D Bar, the hospitality-oriented setting allows for made-in-Ireland glassware to be admired in use, be it a nifty carafe-and-glass set by Amsterdam-based designer Aldo Bakker or tumblers by Irish architect Nigel Peake. “It’s an opportunity to highlight the functionality of our products and the joy of creating considered environments for our daily rituals,” adds Kelly. “Who wouldn’t want to sit on a Boon Editions sofa with our tumbler in hand, sipping a cheeky whisky under the gentle illumination of an A-N-D light?”a-n-d.com; boon-editions.com; jhillsstandard.com‘Cafe A-N-D Bar’ is open to the public until 20 June, from 10.00 to 19.00, at Studiestraede 34, Copenhagen.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe