Budapest’s charms are twofold: the city famously consists of two distinct halves divided by the Danube river. On one side there is the quieter, more residential Buda, with its hills and soaring baroque castle. On the other there’s the bustling Pest, whose beating heart is the fifth district, which contains many of the shops listed here. Even the bridges connecting the banks – especially the Széchenyi Chain Bridge – are worth visiting. Let’s take a stroll.

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1.
Pauza
Basic brilliance

In 2016 Éva Klément and husband Zóltán Nádasy (pictured) took a backpacking trip through North America and Asia before quitting their corporate jobs to set up Pauza. “That trip taught us to appreciate beautiful, functional everyday things,” says Klément. This sentiment is reflected in both the shop’s motto – “Basic but brilliant” – and its inventory: from coffee cups by Hungarian ceramicist Anett Sáfrá and minimalist enamel kettles from Japanese maker Noda Horo, to woollen blankets by Finnish brand Lapuan Kankurit. Our pick? The colourful backpacks from YKRA, a Budapest brand inspired by 1970s mountaineering gear.
Vitkovics Mihály utca 7
pauza.hu

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2.
Marlou Wine Bar & Store
Fine wining

Owner Jean-Julien Ricard first started coming to Hungary 20 years ago. “I instantly fell in love with Budapest,” he says. In March 2020, Ricard opened Marlou, just behind Budapest’s Opera House. The first coronavirus lockdown began just days later but the business was a success: first as a shop and then as a bar and bistro in its own right. Part of the reason is Marlou’s selection of wines from both Hungary and France. We recommend the Atlas pinot noir from István Bencze, a natural winemaker from the hills around Lake Balaton.
Lázár utca 16
marlouwinebar.com

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3.
Kalóz Records
Spin city

Five years ago, Kristóf Kürti – a sociologist by training but a DJ and record-collector by vocation – was talking to a business-minded cousin who told him that he could turn his passion (and a 30,000-odd record collection) into a business. Kürti started Kalóz (or “Pirate”) Records, which, buoyed by a global interest in vinyl, has managed to captivate both diehard enthusiasts and younger people for whom vinyl is a new format. Business has been so good that in 2021 Kürti opened a second shop in Szeged in southern Hungary.
Bródy Sándor utca 25
recordstore.hu

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4.
Ghraoui Chocolate
Sugar rush

Ghraoui left its home country amid civil war in 2012. Syria’s loss was a win for Hungary. The company relaunched there in 2017; you’ll find its boutique close to the Opera House. One of its bestsellers, Szaloncukor (flavoured chocolates in foil), is a variation on a Hungarian Christmas speciality.
Andrássy út 31
ghraouichocolate.com

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5.
Lúd Labor
Bound for greatness

Named after a nearby Jewish marketplace that sold poultry (“lúd” is Hungarian for goose), this paper shop is run by bookbinder Noémi Mónus and gallerist László Böröcz. “We fused [our two careers] together and opened this space in 2019 because bookbinding is a dying art in Hungary,” Mónus says. Lúd Labor’s speciality is handbound notebooks and planners made on-site by sewing pages directly onto the spine. For the festive season, Mónus also designs wrapping paper and cards.
Klauzál utca 31
ludlabor.com

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6.
Írók Boltja
Food for thought

Literally “The Writers’ Shop”, Írók Boltja started in 1950 as a bookshop and a meeting place for the city’s writers, artists and intellectuals. According to staff, there’s at least one Hungarian writer shopping here on any given day. Hosting regular poetry readings and presentations, the shop specialises in contemporary literature, philosophy, psychology and art, plus translated Hungarian fiction. This season’s bestseller is Breaking Through: My Life in Science by Katalin Karikó, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Andrássy út 45
irokboltja.hu

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7.
Vass shoes
Lace space

Launched 45 years ago as a maker of fine women’s footwear, Vass switched to men’s and now makes ready-to-wear and made-to-measure shoes using calf-leather from France and Italy. Founder László Vass manages the production while his daughter, Éva, can often be seen in the shop. Its upper floor – visible from both outside and inside – contains rows upon rows of red shoe boxes marked with customers’ names. Expect great service from two shop assistants (Judit and Gábor) and leave time for a made-to-measure order; they’re popular at this time of year.
Haris köz 6
vass-shoes.com

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8.
Budapest Poster Gallery
Wall furniture

Ádám Várkonyi has been collecting vintage posters for 20 years, a passion that led him to open this gallery in 2010. “We deal in posters from other countries too but our focus is on 20th-century Hungarian poster art,” says Várkonyi. Visits are by appointment.
Paulay Ede utca 20
budapestposter.com

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9.
Printa Concept Store
Screen scene

Printa is a design shop, art gallery, screen-printing studio and café under one roof. True to its name, it focuses on artistic prints, mostly designed and produced in-house by employees including shop manager Anna Szabó. The space also boasts an array of upcycled clothing, the preserve of founder Majoros Zita, who also makes ceramics and homeware. All products are produced sustainably and visitors with extra time to spare can take part in screen-printing workshops. Printa always leaves an impression.
Rumbach Sebestyén utca 10
printa.hu

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10.
Fabrika
Mid-century marvels

Not to be confused with a similarly named Italian restaurant, Fabrika sells restored mid-century furniture and lamps, including desk and ceiling lamps from Hungarian designer Tamás Borsfay. Highlights include armchairs by Czech designers Jaroslav Smidek and Jindrich Halabala. Owner Mariann Kollár started as a customer and says that the shop is as much about community as it is about retail. “Every few months, I organise exhibitions and get-togethers for like-minded people,” she tells Monocle on a tour. Currently on display? Rugs by Hungarian designers Anna Katalin Lovrity and Eszter Révész.
Szondi utca 94

studiofabrika.com

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11.
Tipton Eyeworks
In the groove

Created by entrepreneurs Zachary “Tipton” Milaskey and Yulia Tishchenko (pictured below), Tipton Eyeworks makes its glasses frames from vinyl records (the first one was reportedly a Creedence Clearwater Revival LP). It has an ongoing collaboration with AC/DC, mostly made from copies of the band’s Back in Black album. Depending on how busy things are at the time, customers can also bring beloved records to be made into a Tipton frame (there are 100 designs to choose from). The shop doubles as a workshop and an optician.
Erkel utca 6
tiptoneyeworks.com

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12.
Tisza Shoes
Retro kicks

In 2002, while on a walk in central Budapest, entrepreneur László Vidák spotted a man wearing a pair of communist-era Hungarian trainers. He liked their retro look and knew the brand: “Tisza”, named after a river that flows through most of Hungary before joining the Danube. The following year he took over the brand, which was then all but dead, and quickly made it into a cultural phenomenon. All shoes are made in a small town on the Tisza in eastern Hungary. We recommend the classic Martfü model named after the brand’s original factory.
Károly körút 1

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13.
Omorovicza Boutique & Spa
Treat yourself

The Omoroviczas were a noble Hungarian family who, in the early 19th century, built a thermal bath on the Buda bank of the Danube. Two centuries on, scion Stephen Omorovicza met young US diplomat Margaret de Heinrich; they married and launched what quickly became one of Hungary’s premier luxury beauty brands. Book a spa appointment well in advance if you want a treat. If there are no slots available, get Omorovisza’s bestseller: Queen of Hungary facial mist.
Andrássy út 45
omorovicza.com

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14.
Medence Concept Store
Waste not

Medence has been making bags, backpacks and baskets using old advertising and construction netting since 2006. “If one of us sees an interesting net at a building site, we’ll ask the workers to give it to us afterwards,” says team member Réka Kozalek. Most of the time, however, advertising and construction companies donate unprompted. The shop, in the Bartók Quarter, also offers workshops where visitors can make their own bags. Among the existing stock, our favourite is the Bob bag – compact yet big enough for a laptop and daily essentials.
Ménesi út 1
medencebag.com

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15.
Artkraft
Treasure trove

Buried deep in an industrial zone next to the disused art deco Kelenföld Power Station (worth a visit for design buffs), Artkraft isn’t easy to find. Be ready to lose yourself in its enormous showroom overhung by vast, salvaged industrial lamps. Here, design magazines and used books are scattered around mid-century desks, tables, chair sets and wardrobes. There’s little in the way of organisation or categorisation but it’s worth the journey and the rummage – a little effort will unearth some gems.
Budafoki út 70
loftdesign.hu

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16.
Palmetta Design & Textile Art Gallery
Design classics

Run by Itsván and Anna Regos, whose textiles, pillowcases and bags form a core part of the selection, Palmetta is the sole Hungarian distributor of German homeware brand Remember, plus a wide range of Alessi kitchenware.
Bartók Béla út 30
palmettadesign.hu

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17.
Plante
Green space

Located on the glass-fronted first floor of an impressive 1940s building – part of the listed Madách Imre Square housing project – Plante is full of lively flora. Not to mention that everything that goes into raising and maintaining it, from soil to watering cans and books. Co-founder Katalin Tóth (pictured) has a background in economics and design, not botany. Plante’s biggest sellers are pots by ceramicist Viktor Erdei, made for the shop near the southern city of Pécs.
Madách Imre utca 8
plantebudapest.com

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18.
Prezent
Touching treats

Dea Bilau (pictured) has co-run Prezent since 2018 and her brand Touch Me Not Clothing is a top seller. Every piece comes with a card that names all of those who were involved in its production. Prezent’s other speciality is its own backpack brand, Blind Chic. The bags are made on the first floor by seamstress Sára Orbán, who goes by “Saci” and is always happy to receive visitors and explain her process and work. Ask the staff first, though, and don’t be spooked by the sewing-machine noise upstairs.
Döbrentei utca 16
prezentbudapest.hu

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19.
Ajka Crystal
Glass menagerie

A glassware manufacturer whose history dates back to 1878, Ajka Crystal is well-known for its wine and champagne glass sets decorated with intricate motifs. Ajka also makes vases, decanters and Christmas-tree decorations, displayed in a shop whose vast interior stretches into the dazzling distance.
Kossuth Lajos utca 10
ajka-crystal.com

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20.
Massolit Bookstore & Café
Turning the page

One of Budapest’s first dedicated English-language bookshops, Massolit (an acronym for a literary organisation featured in the novel The Master and Margarita by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov) stocks some 4,000 titles – new and used – with a focus on translations of Hungarian authors. Make it your first stop if you’re in the market for a Budapest guidebook. Visitors can hand in their own books in exchange for credit or coffee (both good options here).
Nagy Diófa utca 30
massolitbudapest.com

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21.
Bomo Art
Elegant stationery

This cheerful stationery shop on the Pest side of the Danube (with a further outlet on the Buda bank) is beloved for its leatherbound notebooks and journals, whose cover designs are made by in-house illustrator Éva Hollósi. Boom Art also collaborates with contemporary artists and designers such as Zsófi Barabás, who created limited-edition notebooks for the brand’s 20th anniversary a few years ago. Children might like Bomo Art’s kaleidoscopes or praxinoscopes (versions of early animation devices invented in the 1870s).
Régi posta utca 14
bomoart.com

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22.
Nanushka
Indie Threads

Now one of the best-established independent fashion labels in Hungary, Nanushka (a childhood nickname of founder Sandra Sándor) started in 2006. It quickly became a household name in Budapest and then, increasingly, in other cities across Europe and beyond. Its flagship shop is a few steps away from fellow fashion store Aeron (see entry six); both belong to the same group, Vanguards, that also owns Milan-based brand Sunnei. The shop features both men’s and women’s collections, all of which lean towards big silhouettes and long forms.
Bécsi utca 3
nanushka.com

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23.
Daken Studio
Restored Wonders

In the decades after the collapse of communism in 1989, many Hungarians threw out their Soviet-era armchairs and sideboards as symbols of the system. Mid-century furniture and homeware has since flooded the market and Daken Studio’s sister-brother founders, Zsófia and Dániel Koma, took advantage. Their love of 20th-century Czechoslovak, Polish and Hungarian design stems from their grandparents, who were celebrated artists during the communist period. Whatever comes their way is lovingly restored and displayed in their shop near the city’s Jewish quarter.
Horánszky utca 5
daken.hu

24.
Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé
Sweet deal

Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, this chocolate shop is worth a visit for its interiors alone. Part of the magnificent 19th-century arcade at the Párisi Udvar Hotel, Rózsavölgyi turns cocoa beans from Africa and the Americas into delicious bars adorned with traditional Hungarian patterns. During the colder months, try the hot chocolate, which comes in delightfully designed paper cones.
Petőfi Sándor utca 2-4
rozsavolgyi.com

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25.
Zsolnay
Fired up

Porcelain has long been a prized craft in Hungary and Zsolnay has been one of the country’s most treasured brands for more than 160 years. Founded by the Zsolnay family in the southern city of Pécs, where the label’s historic factory is now a cultural quarter, it is known for its eosin glaze, which gives its art nouveau pieces an iridescent, metallic finish. The precise recipe remains a closely guarded secret.

Durable pyrogranite tiles – another Zsolnay innovation – adorn many of Budapest’s public façades. The maker has three shops in the capital; we recommend the flagship on the city’s grand boulevard, Andrássy út.
Andrássy út 8
zsolnay.hu

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26.
Ruszkai Jewellery
Second nature

Founder Orsolya Ruszkai grew up in rural Hungary, where she developed an appreciation of central European artistry and the natural world in all its organic forms. Her jewellery brand offers both ready-to-wear and bespoke pieces. “I am drawn to unexpected combinations, the meeting of clean and organic forms, and the subtle tension created by carefully chosen contrasts,” says Ruszkai. Her approach has won her admirers all over the world, each of whom Ruszkai welcomes personally to her appointment-only studio.
Kék Golyó utca 2b
+36 70 300 8005

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27.
Tomcsanyi
True colours

The first thing that strikes you about Tomcsanyi pieces are their bold colours and playful motifs. Graduate of (and long-time lecturer at) the country’s renowned Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Dora Tomcsanyi draws inspiration from the world around her in Budapest, be it lingering traces of Eastern bloc socialism or the national heritage of csikósok, the horse herders of the Great Hungarian Plain. Other prints depict crowds on the metro or pay tribute to women’s domestic labour. All pieces are handcrafted in Budapest.
Király utca 110
tomcsanyi.eu

Looking for a present that will be read and treasured long after the wrapping paper is gone? Beautiful print always makes for one of the most thoughtful, tactile gifts under a tree. From chef-led cookbooks for the keen host to handsome design titles, gripping fiction and independent magazines worth subscribing to, here is Monocle’s guide to the best books and magazines to give this Christmas.

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Culture and fiction

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Magazines

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Konfekt: A Guide to Generous Hosting

For the better part of a decade, cookie-cutter, identikit design and Chinese copycats have made the automotive market particularly bland. But in the past couple of weeks, off the back of major industry fairs such as the Mondial de l’Auto – or Paris Motor Show – has brought forth a glut of inspiring new designs. Are we entering a brave new era for automotive eye candy? The evidence suggests so.

Tesla grabbed headlines with its new Roadster that can (almost) fly – capable of performing short hops, leaps and mid-air manoeuvres. Whatever you think about the electric-carmaker’s enfant terrible in chief, Elon Musk, he’s rather good at a few things: namely putting on a show and turning out remarkable, narrative-shifting motors. The long-mooted Roadster’s space-age, wedge-like form variously brings to mind 1970s icons such as the Lamborghini Miura by Italian coachbuilder Bertone and the submersible Lotus Esprit piloted by James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me. Almost 20 years on from its original pocket-rocket Roadster, it appears that Tesla has set another benchmark.

On the opposite shores of the Atlantic, the French have been hard at work bringing the nation’s trademark brand of idiosyncratic design back to life by drawing inspiration from decades past. Admittedly, two of the best examples, under the Renault umbrella, are in concept-car form. The new Alpine 310 Vision reanimates the original 310, an American muscle car-adjacent thing of brutalist beauty from 1971 and the last model conceived by the brand’s founder, Jean Rédélé. The result is a blueprint for how an electric car should look in Q2 of the 21st century. The Renault 8 Gordini Concept, meanwhile, is an electric two-seater that builds upon the 1964 model of the same name and continues a rich seam of aesthetically rear-gazing, technologically future-facing work.

Perhaps the most promising, however, is Citroën’s 2CV reboot, which drags the Gallic classic from 1948 into the modern day with an electric version. Yes, it looks like a Tonka toy model of what is arguably France’s greatest ever motoring export but the starting price is mooted to be similarly junior. At €15,000, it could be about to break the mould for electric-car pricing and usher in a new era of mass consumption for all – à la sea change created by its forebear.

Not to be outdone by its neighbour, the Italians also have some sleek new additions to the global garage. Alfa Romeo’s sumptuous Cuorerosso (for once, the English translation – Red Heart – doesn’t entirely ruin the mystique; we’re looking at you, Maserati Four-Door…sorry, Quattroporte). The sleek four-seater coupé is, again, only at concept stage for now but in terms of embodying Alfa Romeo’s design philosophy of bellezza necessaria (necessary beauty), it fulfils the brief and then some.

An honourable mention also goes to the Porsche Mission S, which injects charisma into the Stuttgart maker’s overarching visual language. And Jaguar’s mad, mega-bonneted Type 01 has been in the public domain for a while but it was only properly launched this month, warranting a hat tip. Nobody would argue that it looks like anything else, meaning that it’s a design that we’ll likely still be talking about in 50 years.

It has been almost a running joke that people who care little about automotive design can only differentiate cars by colour. But until now, the idea that tones had become the only identifying factors in a scene dominated by dull designs wasn’t that far off the mark. Thank goodness, then, that you will be needing more than a Pantone swatch to get to grips with the latest generation of automotive innovations as the industry forges ahead into 2027.

In Serbia’s recent elections, the odds were stacked in the incumbent’s favour. During his 14 years in power as prime minister and then as president, Aleksandar Vučić seized power over the media and state institutions. Now he has conceded defeat to a coalition of academics and political novices. On the same day in Brazil, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fought back after his first-round loss to Flávio Bolsonaro and won an unprecedented fourth term. Along with former Hungary prime minister Viktor Orbán’s defeat in April, these wins are being framed as evidence of a global resurgence against the populist right but the reality is more complex. They are less about political ideologies than the residual strength of electoral processes, which have been under attack, though they’re not proof that autocrats elsewhere can be defeated at the ballot box.

Take Turkey, where president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also followed the populist playbook, eradicating critical media while filling government institutions and security forces with his loyalists. With 23 years in power under his belt, he has had far longer to do so than either Orbán or Vučić. Hungary’s opposition movement was still able to get some media coverage but Turkey’s cannot get any. And while Serbia’s opposition could coalesce around a protest movement, any demonstrations in Turkey are now simply shut down – often violently – by the police. Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who posed the biggest electoral threat to Erdoğan, is currently in prison on spurious corruption charges. If Orbán and Vučić had each had another decade in power, they might have grown as illiberal as Erdoğan.

Autocrats often play on ambiguity: when election results are razor-thin, it doesn’t take much tinkering to swing them the way that they want while retaining a veneer of genuine democracy. In recent elections, Erdoğan has declared victory before votes were fully counted, sometimes stifling live results broadcasts or claiming irregularities in the election process to force a rerun. In Brazil, Lula’s margin was wide enough that Bolsonaro’s party was eventually forced to concede defeat. In Hungary and Serbia, the oppositions won by landslides, leaving little room for the incumbents to contest.

The most entrenched autocrats, such as Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev, have crushed their opponents entirely and are able to fix election results as they please. Like Erdoğan, they lean heavily on jingoism, a potent electoral force. All three have launched attacks on neighbouring countries at moments when their support appeared to be waning. With independent media and opposition voices silenced, it is easy for these leaders to frame themselves as the bulwark against external threats and dissenters as enemies of the people.

Pro-democracy movements can take a few lessons from these recent election upsets. First, opposition movements must be united: fractured coalitions are easy for populists to pull apart. Second, mobilisation is important, particularly when margins are predicted to be slim. Third, opposition movements should take aim at populists’ weak spots. In Hungary and Serbia, for example, these groups did not oppose Orbán’s anti-migrant stance or Vučić’s revisionist nationalism. Instead they focused on corruption and domestic scandals.

Donald Trump’s opponents should take heart. While the president has made moves to capture institutions in the US – and though his supporters tried to upend his defeat in 2020 – the country’s democratic checks and balances are still intact enough to counter his slide into autocracy. And thanks to an independent media that is able to criticise his policies, Trump’s war on Iran has lost him support. Polls suggest that Republicans are set to suffer heavy losses in tomorrow’s midterms as a result. Elsewhere, however, the outlook is bleaker. Democracy is having a good year – but only in the places where it was never fully dismantled.

Good morning and welcome aboard this Faster Lane around-the-world journey that will take you by rail from Zürich to Milan, by air over to Paris, back on the rails to London and then by air to Austin, Hong Kong, Manila, back to Hong and up to Fukuoka. From there it’s the shinkansen to Kobe, Osaka and Tokyo and then we go from the glittering lights of Ginza STP (straight to plane) to Bangkok. After that it’s back up to Hong Kong, across to Paris and then Zürich. All in – this is a 24-day trip and we’re travelling carry-on only, so please pack light (we have no time for baggage carousels or lost luggage) and note that four nights will be spent in flight, so stuff your most appropriate jammies in your tote and off we go!

Milan part one
On Monday evening I pulled into Milano Centrale from Zürich after a swift, efficient SBB journey through the mountains, across valleys and along the lakes of Ticino. For three decades, my arrival has always been the same. Whether I’m travelling by rail or air, Mario has always been on hand to greet me and zip me around Milan, across Lombardy, down to Forte dei Marmi or up to St Moritz. By train, the drill is to hang a right after the platforms, descend the stairs, do a left, cross the street and look out for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. On Monday, it was all exactly as I’ve done it for 30 years until I pulled open the back door and was greeted by Enzo rather than Mario. “Signor Tyler,” he started. “I’m so sorry that it’s me driving you today but Mario has retired. I’m going to be driving you from now on.” Enzo put my case in the boot and, as we pulled out into the traffic and made our way to the Four Seasons, I was jolted back to the summer of 1996. How many times had I done this journey? How many times had Mario asked about Mama and Nonna? And how many times had we pulled up in front of Armani, Prada, Gucci, Moncler et al for a show, party or meeting? But most importantly, how much will I miss you, Signor Mario? Grazie for getting me to all those early Malpensa flights, for breaking every possible law of the Codice della Strada and for always delivering me, my family and colleagues safely, in comfort and on time.

Milan part two
“In three to four years we will no longer be in the e-commerce business. Our focus will be fully on physical retail and hospitality.” This from the CEO of a major Italian luxury group.

Milan part three
Indochine (of New York fame) has thrown open its doors in Armani’s building on Via Manzoni and what a welcome addition to the city’s restaurant scene. We love our Milan institutions but after four nights of risotto, pasta and assorted classics, a plate of Vietnamese spring rolls is a very good thing.

Milan part four
The images of protests across Europe two weeks ago told only part of the picture. With much international coverage focused on Paris, I was shocked by the mindless destruction in Milan. Across various corners of the city, shops and banks were boarded up, crews were installing new steel shutters, walls of glass were being fitted into place and elderly shopkeepers could be seen scrubbing away graffiti. Everywhere there are signs that something has gone seriously wrong, not only in Italy but across Europe in general.

Milan part five
I turned on the TV and caught an investigative report on a rolling news channel about rioters and looters being injured by tear-gas canisters, water cannons and rubber bullets. The tone was that modern riot control is too heavy-handed. Really? I think that independent business owners and citizens who prefer law and order might think otherwise and feel zero sympathy for a looter who has lost a few fingers while emptying a trainer shop.

Paris
Do you remember the journey into Paris from CDG 10 years ago? While the logistics warehouses and outer suburbs have never been much to look at, the view is now an endless corridor of defaced surfaces. Since the riots, that corridor now snakes into much of the city. I landed in Paris on Wednesday and could only feel anger at the damage caused and was left wondering how long it’s going to take for Paris to right itself from shattered streetscapes, derelict shop spaces, scorched cavities and broken infrastructure. For sure, much of the city looks completely normal and remains unscathed but what about all those small businesses that will never re-open across the 1st, 2nd and 3rd arrondissements? One solution might be to ask France’s biggest corporations and families to pitch in and assist with the clean-up but you’d be quickly and rightly reminded that they already pay enough in taxes to the state and it’s down to the lawmakers to get a tighter grip on things.

London
How utterly calm compared to the Continent. A busy Midori House with the December/January issue soon heading to press, a city getting gussied up for Christmas, yummy bites and Basque bubbles at Maset and a super-comfortable stay at the St Clement. See you at our Christmas market weekend from 12 December.

Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.

If someone asked me to list the reasons that my relationship has endured several decades and all the twists and turns that we have encountered en route, I would say love, a shared sense of humour, ice cream and margaritas. But he and I both know that what really binds us is that, without him, I would struggle to turn on the toaster. I am endlessly thwarted by technology. Left alone in the house for a week, I revert to living like an Elizabethan, dining on leftovers (the food-ordering apps are on his phone). I find myself wishing that we had a harpsichord to play a few tunes on when the TV media muddle defies my requests. My partner, however, loves technology. They have a thing going on. At dinner parties, I soon realise that we have been invited not because of my glittering wit but because our hosts need him to rewire their Sonos.

This week he had the temerity to travel to Los Angeles just as I was setting up my lovely new iPhone, a manoeuvre that most weaning babies would be able to complete unaided. Now I am a little haphazard in writing down the passwords for anything, including the app on my phone where I store the few that I have logged. He, on the other hand, has each one, including mine, and is usually very happy to remind me of the magic code in question. But this week I discovered that there is a limit to how many times you can phone your partner during important briefings. “What is it now, darling?” he said I thought a little testily during one such interruption. “Is it urgent or can I call you back?” I assured him that it was indeed urgent. I might have rashly used the word “critical”. He stepped out of the meeting. “What’s up?”

“I cannot find the password for Duolingo,” I explained, “and I am worried about losing my 2,800-day streak.”

Now some of these things, including how cosy I felt going to bed, were clearly down to him to sort, despite the time difference. He has insisted on us trying this hi-tech mattress cover that can heat or cool each side of the bed to different temperatures. Because even here we diverge: he likes it hot; I am a chillier kind of person. Yes, he has put the app that controls the device on my phone but, even if he tells you differently, he never gave me the password. So when I got under the duvet and it was warm enough to smoke a kipper, I had to call him yet again. By now he was looking through the phone book for an LA divorce lawyer.

There are other things that I have rolled with. I seem to have done something to my notifications and this week, while in London every day, I have been sent special offers galore by UAE delivery and taxi company Careem (I happen to know that there’s a flash sale on bananas and Nada Greek yoghurt today). Perhaps intuiting the sparseness of my provisions, even my UK train app asked whether I needed a burger delivered.

Last night, determined to take back control, I thought that I might cull some of the long-neglected apps that have transferred to my shiny new phone. But even if they were unused, I felt oddly sad about erasing their little tiles. There was the cute Gojek app that had once helped me navigate Jakarta’s traffic-knotted streets on motorcycle taxis. It would be sad to obliterate that. And the SPTH app that we had needed to enter Spain during the coronavirus pandemic. That’s a piece of history. They all stayed.

Then there were the credit-card apps. One wanted me to verify my account again and, as proof of identity, asked me to upload one of three things: a deed poll, a marriage certificate or a divorce certificate. They might as well have asked for the Dead Sea Scrolls and the original Magna Carta. I phoned the number on the card and explained that I might be able to get the divorce certificate but it wouldn’t be available until my other half got home from LA. Meanwhile, my photos – all 78,580 of them – transferred with ease. Perhaps that would be a good place to do some tidying up. I could delete duplicates and duffs. I managed to get the number down to 78,572 in less than an hour.

At this point I am feeling pretty smug. There are still a few things for him to sort when he finally gets home. But I can finally stop searching for “harpsichord” on Ebay and look forward to rejoining the 21st century this weekend. Hurrah.

As British politicians and BBC bosses consider new ways to fund the UK public service broadcaster, Thailand’s model could provide one alternative to the anachronistic license fee levied on all TV-owning households. The Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) is funded by a “sin tax” on alcohol and tobacco. This 1.5 per cent levy is designed to protect the TV station’s editorial and financial independence from commercial pressures and the country’s politics, which lurches between democracy and military rule.

Capped at two billion baht (€53m) annually, the tax is deposited directly into Thai PBS’s bank account. The money never goes into the central government coffers or gets delayed by the annual budget and there’s no need for the board to come to parliament every time there’s a funding review. Thailand takes the same approach to public health. An additional 2 per cent of alcohol and cigarette revenue is earmarked for the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (Thai Health) to spend on disease-prevention campaigns – an internationally lauded model.

But Thai PBS and Thai Health are not immune from political inference. The funding model has recently come under the spotlight because prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s government wants to absorb these sin taxes into the national budget, subjecting the organisations to the same annual horse trading as every other tax-funded public body.

Government ministers are dressing up the proposed legislation as both a legal necessity and a much-needed political intervention. The argument for greater accountability was conveniently followed by the release of a State Audit Office (SAO) investigation into the costs of certain Thai PBS news programmes and onscreen talent. According to senior Thai PBS staff, some star hosts are paid handsomely and there is internal disquiet about management style and decision making, as well as a desire to deliver better programming. However, these problems likely stem more from putting journalists in charge of managing people and a large budget than institutional, endemic corruption.

The investigation could be about political control – and, perhaps, revenge. After last year’s earthquake, Thai PBS reported extensively on the deadly collapse of the SAO’s new headquarters. This deeply embarrassing incident for the national watchdog raised serious questions about its own procurement and underlined the need for an editorially independent media able to ask such questions.

Here in Bangkok, the proposed reforms to Thailand’s sin taxes have been headline news for weeks and voters are not buying the official spin. In a large poll, almost three quarters of respondents opposed the Thai PBS bill, which is not surprising given the country’s history of military control over its media. Founded in 2008, Thai PBS rose from the ashes of ITV, a free-to-air station that was originally set up after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1992. For all of the BBC’s challenges, it has not had to suffer tanks rolling into Broadcasting House every time there is a coup d’état, nor soldiers with M16 rifles watching over anchors delivering the nightly news. Though direct censorship of this kind is likely a thing of the past, Thai and foreign journalists have to be adept at self-censorship.

And there’s no telling what’s around the corner. Even democratic elections are no guarantee of transparency and accountability. In the US, PBS has managed to survive Donald Trump’s swinging cuts because it raises money from a variety of sources, including donations. The lesson from Trump’s second term for both the BBC and Thai PBS is the need for diversified funding. Between politicians doing what they can to control the purse strings and corporations buying coverage – and entire media companies – every public service broadcaster might have to align themselves more closely with the people who they serve.

James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Further reading:
– Inside Sweden’s fight to protect public-service broadcasting

– What other countries can learn from Finland’s world-beating media literacy

– The way that we consume the news has changed but we still need feel-good stories

1.
‘Magazine C’, South Korea 

From the team behind Magazine B – the South Korean brand-documentary publication – Magazine C is a quarterly publication for furniture obsessives. Each edition is dedicated to a single chair, exploring the people, craft and stories behind a chosen design, starting with Jean Prouvé’s Standard chair, Thonet’s No. 14 and the Louis Ghost chair by Philippe Starck. Compact and sleek, the magazines have a considered aesthetic. A limited use of bright colours and crisp photography give the design a premium feel. Meanwhile, the familiar, neutral serif typeface of FK Roman Standard adds personality.

“Typography in general plays a central role in a magazine’s visual identity and editorial expression,” says editor in chief Minjung Kim. “It allows imagery of chairs and their surrounding contexts to be presented within a unified and coherent graphic framework.” A valuable contribution to design education, the magazine’s uniquely niche perspective offers a surprisingly diverse mix of content. From personal stories to lifestyle and architectural history, it successfully shows that there’s more to chairs than simply somewhere to sit – they can also be a lens on contemporary life.
reading-b.com

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2.
‘The New Sustainable House’, Australia

The New Sustainable House by Sydney-based writer and curator Penny Craswell is a rallying call to action. Architects, designers, builders and their clients have more information, technology and innovative materials at their fingertips than ever before; and yet the building industry is one of the world’s greatest polluters. The notion of designing with the environment in mind has been around for some time – but meaningful change has been slow.

To get the industry thinking even harder about its impact – and what is possible to achieve – Craswell profiled 25 architect-designed homes from around the world that stand out for their innovative solutions. Highlights include a single-storey mud-brick box built in the Texas desert and an all-timber Swedish cabin that is completely petrochemical-free. What unites this diverse lineup is the shared ambition of architects and clients to do as little harm to the environment as possible, without losing out on comfort or aesthetics. “There is no one quick fix to sustainable architecture,” says Craswell. But this book is as good a place to start as any.
thamesandhudsonusa.com

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3.
‘A Passion for Jean Prouvé’, France

A Passion for Jean Prouvé: From Furniture to Architecture showcases works by the 20th-century French engineer, architect and metal artisan from the collection of gallerists Laurence and Patrick Seguin. Generously illustrated with photographs and previously unpublished drawings, the bilingual publication demonstrates how Prouvé was a strong advocate for mass production and industrial techniques. 

The Seguins’ private collection features little-known pieces, such as the 1939 Saint-Brévin table, as well as more iconic works, including the Métropole chair and the 1930 Cité armchair. The collection is split between their Paris apartment and gallery and their estate in the south of France, where Prouvé’s demountable houses are installed en plein air. The Seguins’ passion for Prouvé’s work attests to his creations’ enduring charm. “His modernity prefigured many contemporary approaches,” say the collectors. “There is a real dialogue – a synergy – between his furniture and contemporary art.”
patrickseguin.com

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4.
‘Casa Mexicana’, Mexico

The rich architectural tradition of Mexico, defined by sun-soaked concrete walls and wooden ceilings, is the subject of Casa Mexicana – a new publication from British publishing house Thames & Hudson. With photography by Edmund Sumner and text by London-based architecture journalist Jonathan Bell, this colourful monograph takes its readers to 26 homes across the country. From tucked-away houses on the streets of Mexico City to beachside retreats in Puerto Escondido, the book is an exploration of contemporary brutalism and natural textures such as concrete, stone and wood, which seamlessly blend into dense greenery and dramatic landscapes.

Sumner’s photographs capture sweeping vistas and intimate details, while floor plans and drawings offer technical insight. Architects such as Ludwig Godefroy and Mauricio Rocha appear throughout, showcasing the range and ethos of Mexican design today. Whether you’re dreaming of a remote getaway or want to explore the structural nuances of a dynamic architectural movement, Casa Mexicana is a visual journey into the heart of the nation’s built environment.
thamesandhudson.com

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5.
‘Dakar, Métamorphoses d’une Capitale’, Senegal

All cities must change if they want to avoid becoming static mausoleums – but what’s at risk when that transformation happens too quickly or almost indiscriminately? Authors Carole Diop and Xavier Ricou are worried that part of their hometown, Dakar, is losing its architectural soul in the process of relentless modernisation. So they have put together a book called Dakar, Métamorphoses d’une Capitale. It’s half a portrait of the city, half a manifesto for sensitive preservation and wholly a case study for urban planning across Africa.

From its beginnings as a series of fishing villages inhabited by the Lebu people through to its official founding as a city in 1857, the colonial era and post-independence expansion, each of the Senegalese capital’s historical chapters is explored with illuminating photography and cartographic evidence that unearths traces of the past in the present. Published by Éditions de l’Aube, it’s an ambitious, impassioned and necessary work. It’s also a rare opportunity to admire pictures of Dakar’s modernist, neo-Sudanese and art deco treasures, as well as the masterpieces of asymmetrical parallelism that shaped its visual identity. All 450 buildings are neatly laid out in the book’s closing inventory, an impressive catalogue of a heritage under threat.
editionsdelaube.fr

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6.
No Ads Please: Advertising Stories from the Founder of the World’s Most Creative Agency

French creative director Rémi Babinet’s new book, No Ads Please: Advertising Stories from the Founder of the World’s Most Creative Agency, is packed with photos, campaign stories and reflections as it charts 30 years of his career running BETC, a firm with clients including Michelin and Evian. According to Babinet, No Ads Please is a manifesto for why advertising matters beyond the marketing bubble.

“My goal is to reach everyone working in the creative industries,” he says. Babinet believes in the value of simplicity. “When people are overwhelmed with content and messages, it’s how you become memorable,” he says. “At first, I liked it for aesthetic reasons but [clarity] has a strategic advantage.” He adds that openness is key to creativity. “Listening is central. People think that our job is to talk but first it’s to listen – to consumers, social trends, culture and daily life.”

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7.
The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas

The sofa is perhaps the most defining piece of furniture that you can own. Over years of use, it accumulates memories and milestones from quiet evenings and lively gatherings. But for designers and architects, there is an added layer of meaning attributed to the selection: their professional lives mean that the choice of perch can reflect their core design philosophies.

In this beautiful Monocle’s book, 50 designers and architects have let us into their homes to get cosy on their couches and learn more about their sofa choices – why they designed it, why they chose it, how they use it. Inside, you’ll find thoughtful essays, original photography and an illustrated guide to 100 of the most iconic examples, representing the best from 125 years of settee design. Sit back and enjoy.

‘The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas’ is available to order here.

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8.
Bars Vol 01

Where you raise your glass matters for thirsty travellers with an eye for well-designed watering holes. Bars Vol 01, the latest offering from Sydney-based publisher Softer Volumes, brings together more than 50 bars from across the globe that treat their interiors and ambience with as much careful consideration as the tipples on offer.

Monocle’s standouts include: Sydney’s Bar Besuto, an intimately lit Japanese whisky bar with a collection of more than 150 rare bottles; Berlin’s Anima, a pared-back riverside space designed for unhurried evenings; and Lisbon’s The Kissaten, a listening bar where Japanese cues meet smart Portuguese hospitality. We’ll toast to that.
softervolumes.com

Unfortunately, it transpires that “The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894” is an urban myth. The story was that someone had written to The Times of London that year predicting that every street in the capital would be buried under nine feet of manure within 50 years if something wasn’t done about the pooping horses that transported goods and people around the city. But what is true is that there were, according to the London Transport Museum, some 300,000 such animals in London in the late 1890s. And yes, they left a lot of manure in their wakes. Oh and regularly dropped dead on the streets.

It’s a useful image to mentally hold when people harumph about the number of share bikes on our streets. London has about 55,000 and they cause daily debate as riders discard them willy-nilly on pavements. As someone who uses every form of urban transport, I understand the disdain in which e-bikers are held (especially when I’m doing my best to sympathise with an irked taxi driver). But I also know how they unlock the city in miraculous ways. A 40-minute Tube journey swapped for 20 minutes of pedal pushing on a pleasant day? Bliss.

So, while there are splutters and missteps, for every tale of e-bike armageddon or how in the 1950s flying on a plane was a moment of unbridled glamour, actually great democratic steps are being taken around the world when it comes to mobility – and, thank goodness, none of them involve shovelling dung.

To capture some of the changes at play, each year we compile a survey of best-in-class operators and innovators, plus some of the challenges on the road ahead. This time we get you on board the Shinkansen’s new supreme class in Japan, nip through Nairobi’s traffic on an electric motorbike and hear what the rise of Chinese automakers means for the once-untouchable soft-power influence of Germany’s car marques.

This issue is also our autumn Design Special, with a couple of star commissions from our newly elevated Nic Monisse – he has gone from design editor to executive editor (design), gaining some nicely crafted brackets and a dollop of extra gravitas. Fancy job titles aside, Monisse has commissioned a fine essay from our design correspondent, Stella Roos, about a 1947 competition by Moma in New York to find the standard for inexpensive furniture and kick-start the postwar American design scene. It’s fascinating how many now-classic designs were generated by the competition but Roos also asks whether today, when you can buy a new sofa for a couple of hundred pounds, we have too much affordable design.

Monisse has also been busy cajoling 10 designers and architects to take us to a building that has shaped their practice and outlook. Theaster Gates takes us to an electrical substation in Chicago, while we join Joana Abreu at her father’s office in Abu Dhabi. I wonder what shaped me? Perhaps growing up in a 1960s home has left me always feeling at ease around modernism and as a fan of a straight, clean line and plentiful light.

Finally, there’s our Expo. This is Monocle issue 198 and I’m delighted that, as we approach our 20th “birthday”, our founding promise to always innovate in print still burns bright. This month, we have doubled the length of the Expo section for the first time to allow Thomas Prior’s photographic profile of the Tokyo Fire Department to blast across the pages like a gallery exhibition. This is why magazines continue to remain such powerful cultural plays. It’s also why we love making Monocle.

If you would like to send me ideas, thoughts or style tips, I can always be found at at [email protected]

With next week’s midterm elections approaching in the US, Republican senator for Maine Susan Collins and Donald Trump are locked in an intriguing dance. Collins openly criticises the president’s decisions and he responds with policies to help her get re-elected. For a president who famously demands absolute loyalty and punishes dissent, he is surprisingly tolerant of criticism from the 73-year-old, five-term senator.

Fiercely independent Maine is a special case. It is solidly blue: the last Republican president it voted for was George H W Bush in 1988 and its two representatives are Democrats. Maine has two senators: one is an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats and the other is Republican Collins, who has held her seat since 1997. During almost three decades in Congress, she has gained great influence in the corridors of power and sits on the powerful Senate appropriations committee that oversees federal spending. As the Democratic Party tries to flip at least four Senate seats to regain control of the upper house, the state will be home to one of the most closely watched races this election.

According to conventional wisdom, Trump’s abysmal approval ratings – which are plummeting to historic lows as his unpopular war with Iran hikes up the cost of living – mean that his party will be punished with a rout in the midterms. But in Jackman, along the Canadian border, Mainers offer a word of caution. Predominantly a logging town, Jackman has fallen on hard times as the industry has suffered setbacks over the years, now compounded by tariffs and the soaring cost of diesel. “We don’t really fall for smoke and mirrors up here,” says chef Jason Shaw, who works at one of a handful of restaurants still in business. “We’re probably in the hardest economic area that there is, so we read the bottom line. We don’t really get caught up in the big political mess.”

In theory, people such as Shaw should be holding the Republicans responsible for their woes and flocking to Collins’s Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson. A fifth-generation logger from Allagash – a similar rural community close to the Maine-Quebec border – Jackson portrays himself as a quintessential working-class Mainer. He campaigns in worn-out denim and faded baseball caps, and speaks in his thick north Maine accent about his hardscrabble childhood.

It would be easy to assume that Jackson has it in the bag, especially since Trump’s trade war with Canada disproportionately affects US states along its border. Mainers who work in key industries such as logging and fishing are struggling to stay afloat with the cost of diesel, which has risen by about 75 per cent since the war in Iran began. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) operations in Maine are also deeply unpopular: a Colombian man was killed by an Ice officer in July.

But Collins has a track record of winning. From the logging forests to the fishing piers dotted along the coast, there are few industries in Maine that have not directly benefitted from her interventions. “They can point fingers all they want but she’s got a 30-year record and the most votes ever in a row by a senator – just go with that alone,” says lobster boat captain Rick Moody.

Troy Jackson’s campaign is struggling to undercut the perception of Collins as a centrist, bipartisan politician who is standing up for Mainers’ best interests in Washington. But one number kept coming up among Jackson’s supporters: 96 per cent, which they say is the rate at which Collins votes in line with Trump.

Collins keeps hitting back and, in recent debates, has criticised everything from Trump’s war with Iran to the Ice operations in the state. Trump, who knows how important the Maine race is, has responded not with his usual huffy hurt feelings but by announcing plans to lift tariffs on some Canadian goods. Republicans are doing all they can to push Collins over the line and keep the seat out of Democratic hands.

With just a week to go, polls show that the candidates are neck and neck. Some polls give Jackson a slim lead but, in 2020, Collins was also polling behind. While Joe Biden won Maine by nine percentage points that year, Collins beat her Democratic opponent by the same margin. Mainers might still have a few more surprises up their sleeves – and Democrats taking a win there for granted do so at their own peril.