In studios around the world, they sit with scalpels, glue and balsa wood – creating everything from mini cities to pint-sized planes and shrunken ships in order to secure big budgets to build the real thing. Monocle meets…
“This is one of the first literary cafés in Porto,” boasts Antero Braga, a veteran of the book industry for 38 years and manager of Lello since 1994. Despite being over 100 years old, Lello is still breaking new ground.…
A cot made from sustainable Brazilian wood, a colourful nursery in Finland and a bank that's breaking the mould in Denmark
The redesign for the Flemish Parliament in Brussels, a new collection from furniture designer Gesa Hansen, plus a Japanese architect who relocates neglected rural buildings to a new life in the city.
Unlike the usual identikit winter lodge, this remastered getaway in the French Alps is inventive – but its unique sense of style doesn’t detract from its homely charm.
Based in the Italian Alps, Valgrisa shows an alternative to mass-production by using locally sourced lambswool and centuries-old techniques.
Friday 6 July
This weekend’s highlights include MoMa’s PS1 Warm Up concert series, a new Taiwanese abstract art exhibition in Taipei and the latest by album by Dirty Projectors.
Tasmania is a quiet force on the design scene but government backing, a decent museum and a school saved from closure are helping to put it on the world map and attract clients from abroad. We visit the studios of five…
While the woodworking firms and lumber yards of northern Japan have been in decline, wooden-toy brand Mastro Geppetto is thriving.
The new Museum of Art and Archeology in Portugal's Côa Valley, plus other projects and players to watch.
Wooden games, fine chocolate, olive oil and extra-slim soap bars are on the Monocle shopping list this month
Iris Hantverk makes brushes that are as good-looking as they are hard-working, using methods that date back to the late 1800s.
Nestled in a chilly valley between wooded volcanoes is the guitar-making capital of Mexico. While many in Paracho battle to survive against a flood of cheap Chinese imports, a few are drawing on generations of knowledge to…
The Bosnian wood-working company Rukotvorine has survived many battles – literally. But now it is hoping to sell its Balkan crafts around the world.
For our series investigating the secrets of success, Monocle visits Austrian company Doppler, Europe’s biggest manufacturer of quality umbrellas. Its top product has been handcrafted in the same way since the 1940s.
Carl Malmsten was one of Sweden’s greatest furniture designers and thanks to his grandson, Jerk Malmsten, his legacy continues. Last year at the Carl Malmsten shop, 96 per cent of sales were in Sweden.
The popularity of ‘natural’ cosmetics and remedies has burgeoned, and Austria is one of Europe’s top markets. In Vienna a group of friends with a passion for botany and herbal medicine are championing the use of local…
This month Monocle’s most desired products include a training kit to master wine aromas, an oversized skateboard made from a 19th-century library table and two must-have items for coffee addicts.
The best retail, design and clothing from around the globe.
If you drive an hour and a half north of São Paulo and turn off the coast road at Guarujá, you will find the beachfront retreat designed by SP-based architect Isay Weinfeld for an Arab family, who wanted a modernist haven…
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