The most exciting cultural releases of June include a dance floor-ready album, the first short-story collection from a beloved American author and a film from the master of the summer blockbuster. 

Music 

Nova Bossa: Aquele Abraço aos Ratos Vivos
Pedro Mizutani 
A Monocle Radio mainstay, Brazilian musician Pedro Mizutani pays tribute to the pioneers of bossa nova on this new album. The sunny collection of songs, reflective of his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, not only pays tribute to the history of the genre but also plays with bossa nova trademarks to reimagine them for a younger generation. We like the suave tones of the breezy “Dia Azul” and the melancholic “Colchão”. This spring, Mizutani enjoyed a successful tour of Europe – let’s hope that he makes it back for summer.
‘Nova Bossa: Aquele Abraço aos Ratos Vivos’ is out now

If This Is It
DJ Seinfeld
Right in time for summer, Malmö’s DJ Seinfeld is back with a euphoric collection of tracks made for the dance floor. The velvety “U Can’t Come Here”, featuring TS Graye, is a highlight, while on “The Right”, Seinfeld partners with the Australian electro-pop band Confidence Man. The emotional, trance-like “Of Joy” promises to sound particularly good live at one of Seinfeld’s many performances across the world in the next few months.
‘If This Is It’ is released on 5 June

So Help Me God
Kelsey Lu
Seven years since critically acclaimed debut album Blood, singer and classically trained cellist Kelsey Lu returns with this delightful new record. The cinematic, synth-ballad “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and the dark electronica and distorted guitars of “Running to Pain” are particular standouts. The 10-track album was produced by Lu alongside Jack Antonoff and Yves Rothman, with contributions from Kamasi Washington and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. It’s a haunting album that deserves to be listened to again and again.
‘So Help Me God’ is released on 12 June

Books 

The Typing Lady and Other Fictions
Ruth Ozeki 
American author Ruth Ozeki returns with her first collection of short stories. The tales in The Typing Lady and Other Fictions follow her intricately written characters as they move through ever-changing worlds. From a Yale student’s quietly unravelling relationship with a friend to a struggling writer caring for an elderly couple, Ozeki’s deft storytelling offers intriguing perspectives on morality, relationships and what it means to be human.
‘The Typing Lady and Other Fictions’ is published on 28 May

Twenty Minutes of Silence
Hélène Bessette
The latest edition to Fitzcarraldo’s Classics series ditches the prosaic in pursuit of the abstract. A synopsis initially suggests a typical crime fiction: a slowly splintering family hears a gunshot inside their villa that overlooks the English Channel. Who was the murderer? Who was the victim? The titular length of time follows. Bessette’s story, more akin to a fragmentary poem than a novel, rivetingly dissects the whodunnit form in a constellation of language.
‘Twenty Minutes of Silence’ is published on 18 June

Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art
Daisy Dixon 
We are afraid of finding out that our favourite artists are horrible people – but why are their works so alluring? And, crucially, what does this say about us? Art philosopher Daisy Dixon explores theories behind why the volatility of status and controversy attracts us to certain artists and simultaneously proposes a new history surrounding these “cancelled” works.
‘Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art’ is published on 18 June

Art 

Ettore Sottsass: Design Begins Where Magic Begins
Artizon Museum, Tokyo
It’s fitting that the late Italian designer Ettore Sottsass’s playful homeware and objets d’art found a spiritual home in the land of postmodern Bubble Era design. The Ishibashi Foundation has amassed more than 100 pieces, from his red typewriter for Olivetti to later collaborations with the Memphis Group. This first Japanese retrospective based on that collection is sure to raise a wry smile.
‘Ettore Sottsass: Design Begins Where Magic Begins’ runs from 23 June to 4 October

Willem de Kooning Drawing
Art Institute of Chicago
As a New Jersey decorator and academy-trained draughtsman in Europe, Willem de Kooning created abstract art that often resembled an attempt to reconcile those two poles. This collection of “drawing” showcases traditional sketches alongside paintings, prints and even sculptures, highlighting his desire to rework and refine every line, whatever the media. The exhibition also travels to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum in October.
‘Willem de Kooning Drawing’ runs from 14 June to 20 September

Abdulhamid Kircher: Rotting from Within
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
Berlin-born Abdulhamid Kircher moved to the US at the age of eight while his father served time for selling drugs and attempted murder. After a teenage reconciliation, Kircher’s camera became a powerful tool for exploring family trauma. First published by Loose Joints, Rotting from Within is a harrowing portfolio rendered with cinematic intimacy and an unflinching gaze. Echoes of Wolfgang Tillmans and Nan Goldin are evident, yet Kircher provides a captivating new voice in photography.
‘Rotting from Within’ runs from 5 June to 1 November

Film

Enzo  
Robin Campillo
There is a certain kind of Cannes-adored European coming-of-age drama that’s almost aggressively tasteful – but Enzo has enough grit to sustain itself. Following a teenager drifting through one long, overheated summer, the film is less interested in neat revelations than in the awkwardness of becoming yourself. Its strength lies in its atmosphere: sun-bleached streets, stolen glances and the quiet devastation of realising that the life you imagined might not be the one that is waiting for you.
‘Enzo’ is released on 5 June

Disclosure Day
Steven Spielberg 
Steven Spielberg returns to territory that he has always made uniquely his: the moment when wonder tips into terror. Disclosure Day imagines a world on the brink of learning that alien life exists and has already made contact – unleashing panic, conspiracy and some spectacularly Spielbergian set pieces. Josh O’Connor plays a young man determined to reveal the truth, while Emily Blunt’s weather reporter begins speaking in an eerie extraterrestrial language and Colin Firth stalks the edges of the film with delicious menace. With David Koepp, Janusz Kamiński and John Williams aboard, this looks like the summer’s essential blockbuster.
‘Disclosure Day’ is released on 12 June

Blue Heron 
Sophy Romvari
Blue Heron is the sort of film that restores one’s faith in the possibilities of understated drama. Set in a weather-beaten fishing town on the coast, it follows a woman returning home after her father’s death to confront the family that she abandoned years ago. Director Sophy Romvari handles the material with remarkable assurance, allowing every silence and sidelong glance to land. By the time that the titular bird appears in the film’s final act, Blue Heron has achieved something rare: genuine emotional grace.
‘Blue Heron’ is released on 26 June

TV 

Cape Fear
Apple TV 
A primal terror bleeds from the pages of John D MacDonald’s 1957 novel The Executioners – a sense that our private little castles aren’t as fortified against the world’s evil as we might think. Filmmakers keep circling back to it: first, in 1962’s Gregory Peck-led Cape Fear, then Martin Scorsese’s remake in 1991 and now a new 10-episode riff starring Amy Adams, Patrick Wilson and Javier Bardem that promises to blend both adaptations into a paranoia-laced portrait of true-crime obsession.
‘Cape Fear’ is released on 5 June

Sugar
Apple TV 
When Sugar premiered in 2024, it was an easy sell: Colin Farrell as a slick-haired private investigator, snooping around modern-day Tinseltown with old-world elegance. Then came the twist – one of the wildest in recent televisual history. Season two, then, offers a fascinating proposition: how will Farrell’s John Sugar balance daily detective work with the wider questions of his strange existence?
‘Sugar’ is released on 19 June

Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness
HBO Max 
This year’s most unexpected collaboration partners comedian Larry David with Barack and Michelle Obama and the couple’s production company Higher Ground for a seven-episode sketch series commemorating the US’s 250th anniversary. David, returning to television for the first time since Curb Your Enthusiasm, will crop up at key moments in the country’s history and inevitably commit a heinous faux pas – or five.
‘Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness’ is released on 26 June

For Iranian Sajjad Javanmardi, learning how to live amid war was a slow and difficult process. In the early days of the US-Israel conflict with Iran, he wanted to find ways to make himself useful to his community. He tried photography to “document history.” He joined relief efforts, clearing rubble after airstrikes and distributing meals. He visited graveyards to mourn with those who lost loved ones. He learned the names of shopkeepers on his street in Tehran and bought food from them instead of ordering from delivery apps.

Javanmardi’s struggle to adjust to wartime life is not a unique one. And while physical destruction tends to represent the most immediate consequence of international conflict, its secondary effects also take a serious toll on society. In Iran’s case, foreign intervention is but one of several factors causing instability – the regime’s response to the war has drastically changed life for the nation’s people. 

When the war began on 28 February, Iranian authorities imposed a near-total nationwide internet blackout, cutting off access to messaging apps, social media and other major global platforms. While some top officials, businesses and journalists regained limited access through a pay-to-access two-tiered system or black-market VPNs, these services are prohibitively expensive for most citizens.

Though a state-controlled version of the internet is available, the shutdown has had dire effects on the country, both on its economy as well as its ability to communicate with the rest of the world. For Iran’s online businesses, the impact of the blackout has been detrimental: small e-commerce companies and start-ups have been crippled, while freelancers working with international clients have lost their income. Some experts estimate that it has cost the Iranian economy upwards of $1bn (€858.7m). 

Internet connection was partially restored on 26 May after 88 days of outage. To understand what life has been like since the conflict began – and without online connectivity – Monocle spoke with four Iranians about how they have adjusted in the wake of war. 

Sajjad Javanmardi 
A few weeks into the war, Javanmardi was sitting at his favourite café in a leafy neighbourhood in central Tehran when he realised that his experience running start-ups could be a boon, even without reliable internet. The 27-year-old entrepreneur established Place-less, an offline initiative designed to support struggling online artists and businesses. “I’ve helped to set up so many start-ups but I realised that it was time to help sustain them,” he says.

Place-less organises in-person events in Tehran and other areas, bringing artists, designers, poets, jewellers and other independent creators together for pop-up marketplaces. With limited access to the internet, the events are marketed by word of mouth. “When airstrikes were still hitting Tehran, many people were trying to figure out how to get back to their routines and recover lost income,” says Javanmardi. “At our last event, we had about 20 businesses and 17 artists, selling everything from artwork and photography to jewellery. Place-less has turned into a support network for many.”

Darya Nazeri
As negotiations between the US and Iran have stalled, with only a fragile ceasefire remaining in place, coming together in physical spaces has helped people to cope with and navigate everyday realities. While social meet-ups – such as run clubs, park picnics and mountain hikes – were common before the war, they have since taken on a deeper meaning for many Iranians. From the early days of the conflict, people began attending community gatherings, which then transformed into informal support networks.

The war altered Darya Nazeri’s routine completely. A biomedical-engineer-turned-artist and street photographer, she sells her work through an online shop. When the war began, she started spending more time painting and taking photos with friends. The 33-year-old artist lives with her husband, Milad, in central Tehran. When an airstrike hit her neighbourhood, shattering their flat’s windows, the couple decided to leave the city temporarily. They traversed the country by train and bus, selling their art and inviting people to draw with them in cities as far away as Mashad, near the Afghan border. “In a way, we transformed my online art shop into something physical,” she says. “The direct connection with people across the country had a very positive impact on me. It reminded me that we are all in this together and it has somehow made me feel proud to be Iranian.”

Marjan Rabiee
When an airstrike destroyed her printing house, Marjan Rabiee lost her entire source of income. At a loss of what to do, the 40-year-old turned a long-term passion into a new career. An avid motorbike rider, she won a national championship several years ago. In the wake of losing her business, she began teaching “women how to ride motorbikes and scooters,” she says, “even though women can’t officially hold a motorbike licence in Iran.”

While street riding is prohibited, racing is different – Rabiee explains that women are allowed to participate in official competitions. “Here motorbike racing [is] still a sport that is mostly practised by men,” she says. “While I race other women, it’s a very limited space. Racing is mostly funded by brand sponsorships and there’s little financial support from companies for women, as few of us [practice it].” By teaching them how to ride, Rabiee hopes that it will open the door for more women to try the sport.

With constrained access to the global internet, Iranians looked for ways to get outside. “Since the ceasefire, my client base has been increasing,” she adds. Rabiee believes that the sport provides a good reason to get out of the city – she often takes her 19-year-old son on rides to the mountains “to breathe”.

Reza Talebzade
Reza Talebzade left Tehran in the early days of the war. His cousin was killed in a US-Israeli strike in Iran last June, devastating his family. When the airstrikes began again in February, he didn’t want to take any risks. 

Since returning to Tehran, the 25-year-old tattoo artist has thrown himself back into his work, operating out of a small basement studio. Business was hard even before the war, as sanctions made it difficult to source equipment, causing long delays and rising costs. Since the conflict began and internet access was restricted, Talebzade’s appointment list has shrunk. “A lot of my clients look for tattoo designs online,” he says. “Without that access, many cancelled their appointments.” But the lack of internet connection hasn’t stopped people from getting memorial tattoos, with requests coming in for names and pictures of loved ones who were killed. “I’ve had a growing number of clients asking for tattoos related to the war,” he says. “People who have lost loved ones want a permanent reminder and a way to cope with the loss.”

At this time of year, Ibiza likes to talk big. Party promoters, concierge planners and the island’s PR machine all dance with a shared, joyous sense of optimism for the imminent summer windfalls. Believe their hype and it’s already another record-breaking season. Popular holiday hotspots elsewhere in Spain might be putting the brakes on the mass-tourism model but Ibiza’s decades-old brand – built around disconnect and escapism – disrupts an industry rule of thumb. Because here, any whiff of global crisis usually means soaring profits and record numbers. The Balearic island is doubling down on its bigger-equals-better strategy but questions are starting to swirl about how long it can last – and who it wants to invite to the party.

Some are already labelling the season as “Dubai summer”. Conflict and uncertainty still cloud parts of the Middle East. Many spooked travellers are switching first-choice leisure playgrounds in the UAE, Qatar and even Turkey for Spain’s reliable bastion of hedonism on the Med. As geopolitical negotiators drag their feet, cowed holidaymakers are making other plans and opting for calmer waters. 

The island is well placed to pick up the footfall. Recent years have seen high-end hotel consortiums snap up rickety resorts and reopen more well-heeled enclaves. Mondrian Ibiza converted a block of seaside apartments into a 154-room hotel in 2023. This followed Six Senses’ 137-key complex draped across a northern cliffside in 2021. And in July, Nômade, a luxury hotel chain from Mexico, is promising to transform the quiet northern seaside town of Portinatx with more than 150 new rooms, three restaurants and facilities including an in-house recording studio.

As more high-end hotels land on the island, the longstanding tourist demographic of wide-eyed youngsters and family holidaymakers is slowly being sidelined. Industry data shows that visitors are spending more (2025 expenditure topping €4.25bn – about 85 per cent of the island’s GDP) but their stays are shorter. Nevertheless, nearly 3.4 million travellers touched down on the island last year, up from 3.27 million in 2024 and 70 per cent higher than in 2001. 

Predictably, a lack of affordable housing has become a flashpoint. Local NGO IbizaPreservation estimates that in 2023 the tourist-to-resident ratio was 21 to 1. As seasonal workers scurry for rooms and hospitality businesses struggle to find staff, tent encampments – or shanty towns – have begun springing up in the periphery of major population centres. Last year, a Dutch entrepreneur proposed bringing in decommissioned cruise ships to house workers. It was not a popular idea. 

One of the island’s more infamous stretches of beach and budget stays, Platja d’en Bossa, is also pivoting with a large new development called The Site. Set to open in June in the former Hard Rock Hotel, it’s pitched as a “luxury lifestyle” complex, featuring a five-star hotel, premium retail and a row of beach clubs. This rather ambitious reimagining from the Palladium Group, which owns and operates most of the island’s blockbuster nightclubs and much of its hotel bed stock, is poised to lure legions of the “Dubai summer” footfall. Part of the glow-up includes Ibiza Gallery, which opened last year and includes a Dubai-inspired open-air shopping mall, with island flagships from Jil Sander and The Attico.  

Ibiza is still a nexus for nightlife too. UNVRS, one of the world’s biggest nightclubs, opened last year on the site of the legendary 1980s-era club KU. The “hyperclub” (one notch bigger than a superclub, if you’re wondering) is spread across 6,500 sq m, with a capacity of 10,000 people and supercharged for spectacle – think LED screens, dazzling lighting rigs and a DJ booth designed like an ascendant altar. Despite the epic scale, the dancefloor is rather a non-starter; the majority stand motionless as they capture the high-tech wizardry via a forest of phones. 

The colossus has sparked conversation about the industrialisation of the island’s clubbing scene. A gradual move towards the Las Vegas model – stratified VIP sections, bottle-service pageantry and an oversized yet dance-deficient dancefloor – might turn a tidy profit but it dampens the party spirit. Nocturna, a new nightclub opening this summer, is touting a much smaller experience; 380-person capacity, a hi-fi bar-style sound system and a strict no-phone policy. Perhaps there is still some hope amid all the hype.

But the island should be no less defined by its discotecas than London by its football stadiums. There is plenty of other vibrant life swimming around the edges of the megaplexes. Wellness tourism is on the rise. Soho Farmhouse, which transformed one of the island’s first agroturismos (traditional rural hotels) last July, has only 14 rooms and two residences, and also offers members an expansive semi-outdoor spa spread between pine trees. Meanwhile, retail outposts such as Parada offer a more considered take on the souvenir shop, with upscale keepsakes, books, and homeware, and is open all year.

As June approaches, most industry insiders seem unbothered by geopolitical clouds, even though jet-fuel shortages, airfare inflation and timorous tourists could yet rain on everyone’s projected profit parade. Many seem more focused on another celestial spectacle: a total solar eclipse that will dazzle the Balearic Islands on 12 August.

Soaking up the salty air while watching the sunset at iconic chiringuito-styled eatery Fish Shack, you are reminded of the island’s unvarnished pulling power. A clutch of rustic tables, people tucking into grilled fish and salad, a first-in, first-served approach that is the antithesis of a VIP guest list. In its quest to lure in legions of cashed-up travellers, Ibiza best not forget the simple staples that made this glitzy island such a beacon in the first place.

Income from Chinese tourism is significant enough to make or break neighbouring economies. But today, with Beijing encouraging consumption at home, domestic travel is increasingly coming into focus. Independent brands are building some of the best examples of this new kind of luxury, rooted in local traditions, geography, cuisine and design. Songtsam, a peerless hotel group from Yunnan province, is a case in point. Join us on a tour of its latest property, designed by Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Wang Shu.

The world can be divided into just two types of people: coffee devotees and tea drinkers. I am a proud member of the coffee tribe and, frankly, harbour a distrust of anyone who outs themselves as a lover of the teapot and all the stewed, tannin-laced evil that can spurt from its spout.

Coffee is about speed, energy, focus. It’s about having a stand-up espresso in a Milanese café, surrounded by people in good suits, or sitting outside a Sydney café enjoying another flat white with ready-for-fun friends. Coffee is also about well-designed cafés, clean aesthetics. And tea? Well, tea is all about becoming a permanent resident of Sleepy Town. It’s a world of slipper-wearers who say things like, “What I need is a nice cup of tea and to put my feet up.” Yes, bubble-tea bars and matcha cafés have proliferated but these are drinks that obscure their tea element using fruity flavours or Day-Glo green colouring. Really, if you need to get anything done, make sure that you find a coffee drinker.

And it seems that much of the world agrees with me. Certainly, the money people do. The coffee shop has become one the hottest investment sectors for venture capitalists, alcohol businesses trying to diversify and community-building fashion brands (you may have also noticed a media company close to my heart that likes to take care of its coffee-drinking readers).

And you can see why. A good coffee shop has universal appeal and has cut through in wealthy markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where socialising often takes place over a coffee, not with booze. The audience is young, design-aware and ambitious. So if you can create a cool brand, it’s possible to grow a healthy business. And it’s this latest iteration of the coffee trade that we pore over in this issue. We’ll meet the biggest players (China’s Luckin Coffee now has 30,000 outlets) and guide you to 25 of our favourite cafés around the globe.

This magazine also contains two further surveys. The first is our annual examination of the world of art and collecting, in which we meet seven players with deep insights into very varied sectors of the market, from rare posters and antiquities to contemporary art. Collectors are motivated by many things: obsession, passion, money. Perhaps the most fascinating part of our report is the unpacking of the cravings that drive people to fill their homes with objects and art.

US gallerist Easy Otabor, for example, tells Monocle that he has always collected. First it was training shoes. Now, with the art that he buys, he asks himself, “Are these [works] by good people? Would I enjoy having dinner or working with them?” Meanwhile, Pertti Männistö has gathered one of the world’s largest Alvar Aalto furniture collections. Over the past 30 years he has put together an array of pieces so large and of such significance that only a tiny portion of them will fit in his house, with the rest now in storage. Yet he continues searching for rare prototypes.

Then there’s the Class of 2026 Expo, masterminded by our editor, Josh Fehnert. He’s worked with Monocle’s writers and correspondents to spotlight 16 rising talents in everything from photography to architecture and cartography. Why? At a time when many media organisations focus on the negatives – what divides us – we wanted to put the spotlight on people forging ahead, tackling issues and delivering change, with hope and ambition. It’s a very uplifting conclusion to this issue. And I imagine that there’s a lot of coffee drinkers among them.

If you would like to drop me a note, please feel free to send thoughts and ideas to at@monocle.com.

There’s a challenge for owners of coffee-shop brands who dream of taking their companies to the next level: how do you hold on to your independent, neighbourhood vibe and have 10, 20 or 100 outlets? It’s tricky to pull off – yet not impossible.

But before we tackle the intricacies of global marketing, a brief coffee break. Because how did we get here? How did we get to dinky coffee-shop companies being valued at more than $1bn (€850m) and becoming the investment darlings of venture capitalists and global food brands?

When Monocle launched some 20 years ago, the coffee story already seemed piping hot. It was a moment when the Aussies and Kiwis were perfecting their soon-to-go-global flat whites and defining a new coffee-shop aesthetic. It was a time when being a barista was suddenly one of the higher callings in the world of F&B. When “latte art” was taking hold – and finding many of its finest practitioners in Japan. And, in the US, it was when a new generation of coffee pioneers was out to break the Starbucks model.

A so-called third wave of coffee culture, with lighter roasts and intense bean knowledge, was coming to the fore. There were several components to this then-DIY world that were set to catch the attention of ambitious entrepreneurs and investors. Drinks brands wanted entry to a trade that served young people who were imbibing less booze. Fashion companies saw a way of making a community by using their brand’s halo effect in the world of coffee. And others spotted that coffee, served in an impeccable setting, could prove lucrative in markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where people gather and spend their social time not in bars but cool iterations of the café (though this is not a one-way street because Emirati and Saudi brands are now going global too).

This all means that there is a lot of money to be made if you can crack the coffee-shop conundrum of growing big while looking small. Luckily there are models beyond coffee that show how it can be done. Take Aesop, which was founded by Dennis Paphitis in 1987. Today the body-care brand is owned by L’Oréal (which paid over €2bn for the pleasure), yet Aesop retains much of its initial indie DNA by keeping its branding almost unchanged, investing heavily in good shop architecture and appearing at design events such as Salone del Mobile. UK coffee shop company WatchHouse is aiming for the big time but through good design (and coffee). And it still feels cool despite having raised money from Mark Bezos’s private-equity firm. There are lots more following the same playbook.

It’s stories such as these that made us intrigued and, below, we will take you round the world to visit coffee-shop brands both big and small with interesting and surprising stories to tell. After that, we take you to 25 nice cafés – just places that we like. We hope that you find it refreshing.

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More stories about the world of coffee:
Editor’s letter: Andrew Tuck on the booming business of coffee
Breaking new ground: 25 exceptional brands that are leading the coffee industry
Not your average joe: 25 of the world’s best coffee shops, run by next-generation owners

For our June issue, we’re exploring coffee on a global scale. Read about the project and join us as we visit coffee-shop brands both big and small with interesting and surprising stories to tell. We hope that you find it refreshing.

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1.
Fuglen
Norway

The cross-continental champion
Founded in Oslo in 1963, Norwegian coffee brand Fuglen has focused on Asia instead of the big European or North American cities. This is thanks to the strategy of the current owner, Einar Kleppe Holthe, who bought the business in 2008. Fuglen’s first overseas outpost opened in Tokyo in 2012, followed by shops across Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. Last year there were openings in Kyoto and a second location in Seoul; new shops in Fukuoka and Bali opened this year. “We’re showing that you can build a very good business, based on values, that doesn’t only think about profits,” says Holthe.
fuglen.no

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2.
Harlan Coffee
Philippines

The urban oasis
Catering to on-the-go professionals, Filipino entrepreneur Emmanuel T Pineda’s Harlan Coffee seeks to serve up re-energising experiences that fit into the rhythms of our working lives. Its priorities can be gleaned from its choice of locations: the first were near stock exchanges. It has 10 shops in its home city of Manila and 10 in Jakarta. The long-term strategy is international expansion, with ambitions to open a flagship in every Southeast Asian capital. Harlan Coffee is also being rebranded by Winkreative, Monocle’s sister company.
harlanholden.ph

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3.
Sip
Lebanon

The creative choice
When Omar Jheir opened Sip in Beirut’s Gemmayze district in 2017, it was the city’s introduction to artisanal coffee. Now there are about 20 cafés on the same street. “In the past couple of years, there has been a coffee movement in Beirut,” says Jheir, who was inspired by the bean scene of Australia, where he grew up.

Sip’s original café is in a former upholstery workshop, with its industrial aesthetic preserved. A second Beirut branch is imminent at Ramlet al-Baydeh beach and there’s an outpost in Cairo.
Sip, Gemmayze Building 341, Beirut, Lebanon 1100

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4.
Nuances
France

The aesthetic innovators
Founded by brothers Charles and Raphaël Corrot, Nuances has been turning heads in Paris with its retrofuturistic interiors. It has recently opened a fourth shop in the city: a cube-shaped outlet with dramatic lighting in Le Marais. Its Rue Danielle Casanova site is another visual highlight: a listed former creamery from the 1930s, its façade, floor and ceiling are historic treasures. “The contrast with the futuristic bar is striking,” says Charles. The appeal isn’t all aesthetic: house recipes such as the rose latte (eau de rose brewed with matcha and milk) and collaborations with a pâtissier give the brand extra, well, nuances.
cafenuances.com

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5.
Alchemist
Singapore

The entry point
Singapore-based brand Alchemist, which recently marked its 10th anniversary, remains committed to its founding mission of making coffee approachable. “We have always offered a wide selection from around the world that’s high quality but not too expensive,” says Ang Wei Kiat, Alchemist’s director of coffee. Across 15 sites in Singapore, plus cafés in Taipei and Tokyo, the roasts on the menu accentuate sweetness and clarity. “No education or experience is needed to enjoy those things,” says the company’s founder, Will Leow.
alchemist.global

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6.
Deluxe Coffeeworks
South Africa

The daily grind
When Carl Wessel and Judd Nicolay are choosing café locations for their South African brand Deluxe Coffeeworks, they look for spaces where people will want to return daily. “This allows us to become part of people’s everyday routines,” says Wessel. The business began as a coffee roastery in Cape Town 17 years ago but today the city hosts four of its cafés. There is also an outpost in Stellenbosch, as well as a roastery in Namibia. In Cape Town, you’ll often spot residents on the go sipping Deluxe flat whites. The roastery business has since expanded to supply 450 wholesale customers and coffee shops.
deluxecoffeeworks.co.za

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7.
Abuelo
UK

The gathering place
Combining speciality Latin American coffee with a strong visual identity, Abuelo has two outposts in London: its first opened in Covent Garden in 2018 and a Marylebone café followed in 2024. Its distinctive look draws on the architecture and design roots of the company’s mother-and-daughter founders, Lynette and Cloe de la Vega. “Many architects who design for hospitality can get it right for the photo but so wrong for how it feels to be in the space,” says Cloe. “We start with the practical elements before moving on to the workflow, how customers engage with the space and what we’re trying to communicate.” Featuring sharing tables, vintage furniture and wood-panelled interiors, Abuelo offers well-designed places that invite you to linger.
abuelocafe.co.uk

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8.
Subko
India

India’s best brew
Entrepreneur Rahul Reddy’s light-bulb moment for Indian coffee brand Subko came when he realised that most speciality shops in the country relied on African and Latin American producers. “I asked myself, what about Asian coffee?” he says. Reddy opened the first Subko in Mumbai in 2020. Six years later, there are outposts in four cities across India, plus one in Dubai. He has expanded its repertoire to include South Asian inspired bakes and bean-to-bar chocolate too.
subko.coffee

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9.
Koffee Mameya
Japan

The must-book bean house
Founded by Eiichi Kunitomo, Koffee Mameya has carved out a niche in Japan’s coffee scene. First came a backstreet bean shop in Tokyo’s Jingumae in 2017. Four years later, Koffee Mameya Kakeru opened in a renovated warehouse in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa. This reservation-only shop embodies Kunitomo’s mission to elevate coffee through an experience akin to fine dining. These two locations, plus a third in Hong Kong, show the potential for businesses built on craft over convenience.
koffee-mameya.com

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10.
Die Cafetière
Austria

The mid-century treasure
Die Cafetiére is a fine example of the espresso bars that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s as counterpoints to Vienna’s traditional coffee hubs. Originally an outpost of family-owned roaster Naber, Die Cafetiére was reopened in 2023 under the ownership of Peggy Strobel, who retained its original details – such as a brass-edged bar and the Naber logo on the façade – but updated the menu to put flat whites alongside the Wiener melange. “Though we have tourists visiting, we’re essentially a neighbourhood café,” says Strobel. In keeping with its design-forward charm, the back of the café also doubles as a furniture showroom.
diecafetiere.wien

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11.
Hagen
UK

The Danish ambassador
Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Schroeder founded Hagen in 2017, hoping to bring a bit of his native Copenhagen to London. “Our coffee culture is about a love for quality and individuality,” he says. With more than 20 locations spread across London’s smarter areas, Hagen now sits at the high end of the market. “Our brand is analogue – that’s a premium in a digital world,” says Schroeder. “Because we are located in affluent areas, we can ask for people’s time, which in turn creates brand loyalty.” In 2025, Hagen expanded to Amsterdam, a city that Schroeder says is close to Danish hearts. “We’re as obsessed with site selection as we are with the cities we want to share our coffee passion with.”
thehagenproject.com

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12.
Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi
Turkey

The heritage house
In the bustling backstreets next to Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, the rich scent of coffee pulls customers to the Mehmet Efendi HQ. The brand has been roasting coffee here since it was founded in 1871. “It isn’t just part of our family business’s history; it’s also a cherished part of our customers’ personal histories,” says Mehmet Kurukahveci, grandson of Efendi, who now runs the business along with his brother Hulusi. Today it operates a café in its original headquarters, plus two further shops in the city. Its coffee is also available in all of Turkey’s major supermarkets, so you can take that iconic logo home.
mehmetefendi.com

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13.
Samba Coffee Roasters
Greece

The ice-cold roasters
Though exporting beans remains key to Samba, a fixture in Athens since 1979, completing a flagship café in the Kolonaki district in 2020 gave its owner, Kostas Kalafatas, a deeper insight into Greek coffee preferences. The frappé – a frothy iced coffee created using instant granules that defined Greek café culture for decades – is now being replaced by the freddo espresso, made with two shots of freshly brewed espresso shaken with ice cubes. “It’s the main coffee now,” says Kalafatas. “Greeks drink it cold year-round, no matter the temperature.”
sambacafe.gr

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14.
Sede Café
Mexico

The to-go go-to
Opening 59 branches in 27 months is no small feat. Founded in 2024 by former banker and one-time Blank Street intern Javier Arrigunaga, Sede Café has become a staple in the Mexican capital. It’s an almost entirely takeaway business: few tables, no lingering, just good coffee at the fast pace that the city demands. Sede has expanded beyond its roots in Mexico City’s Roma and Condesa districts. You’ll now see its blue branding in malls and neighbourhoods such as Vallejo. “Accessibility means two things: fair prices and proximity,” says Arrigunaga. You shouldn’t have to cross the city or spend too much to enjoy a good coffee.

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15.
Koncrete
UAE

The cultural hub
Just off Jumeirah’s beachfront strip in Dubai, Koncrete is part-café, part-cultural anchor. Founded by Emirati entrepreneur Himyan Al Qubaisi, it reflects her long-standing interest in art, architecture and pared-back design. “Concrete is the foundation, the base layer,” she says. “Koncrete is a starting point for new ideas and connections.”

Polished concrete floors and exposed columns are offset by moss-green seating and sheer drapery, creating a space that feels both industrial and inviting. The menu, meanwhile, is focused and unfussy. Coffee is sourced with care, alongside a small selection of sandwiches, matcha, beans and branded goods.

Koncrete hosts low-key events with local and international brands. In doing so, it has carved out a loyal, design-literate following and a place in Dubai’s growing creative landscape.
koncretespace.com

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16.
Doutor
Japan

The pup-friendly park spot
With 1,072 branches and revenues of ¥76.8bn (about €417m) in the last fiscal year, Japanese chain Doutor Coffee Shop runs a wide range of operations. Founded in 1962 as a roastery, it opened its first shop in 1980. But for one of its most recent projects, Doutor focused on something smaller – a café in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park. Based on the site of the Dutch team’s lodgings for the 1964 Tokyo Games (when the park served as the Olympic Village), it features stone walls made from Japanese Aji granite and a large wooden table consisting of a slab of Zelkova wood. The menu offers Doutor staples, as well as park exclusives such as a fresh strawberry matcha latte and a Yoyogi Dog with Hokkaido four-cheese sauce. Real dogs lounge on the terrace, while an outdoor hatch serves their owners. “We wanted to provide a relaxing moment for everyone who comes to Yoyogi Park,” says Doutor’s PR officer, Yuko Maekawa.
doutor.co.jp

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17.
Single O
Australia

The batch-brew trailblazer
Australia’s coffee cachet is built on espresso-machine mastery. But Sydney café and roastery Single O, founded by Emma and Dion Cohen in 2003, has a different calling card. The self-serve batch-brew bar, known as Freepour Batch, was co-created in 2018 with Sydney-based manufacturer Six Simple Machines. The system, inspired by craft-brewery taps, allows for the quick batch-brewing and dispensation of hot and cold speciality drinks, from rare Geisha single-origins to the bestselling iced-oat lattes. It accounts for almost half of all café sales at Single O. The brand’s expansion to Japan began in 2014; it now has five locations and 55 staff in Tokyo. “We’re giving more variety to the customer, as well as more innovative beverages and faster service,” says Michael Brabant, Single O’s CEO. “It’s not just lattes and flat whites.”
singleo.com.au

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18.
Lap
Germany

The low-cost disruptor
“Germans drink more coffee than beer,” says Ralph Hage, who was born in Lebanon. “But unlike in London or New York, you couldn’t find good affordable coffee for the commute here.” So, alongside former start-up executive Tonalli Arreola, the ex-banker sought to remedy this. Since opening in Berlin in 2023, LAP has grown to have more than 30 outposts, with a further 20 poised to open this year. “Banks wouldn’t lend to me as a foreigner so I rang my investor friends,” says Hage. Critics accuse the venture capital-backed chain of undercutting independents but its cash-conscious customers are fans.
lap.coffee

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19.
Pingado LX
Portugal

The mobile ‘bica’
Working in the tradition of the ice-cream carts that were once a common sight in the parks of the Portuguese capital, entrepreneurs José Galamba and José Paiva dos Santos founded Pingado LX. The brand serves bica espressos prepared on their bicycle cart. “With the rise of Nordic-style cafés, we felt that the Portuguese custom of picking up a bica on the street was slipping away,” says Galamba. “Someone told us that the smell of our coffee brought back memories of being at their grandmother’s house.”
pingadolx.com

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20.
The Miners
Czech Republic

The franchise with ambition
You might not have heard of it yet but this Czech chain has its sights set on conquering Europe. Launched in 2019 by Egor Kolpakov and Oldrich Valta, The Miners has opened 34 coffee shops in seven European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, and is set to enter several more markets by the end of 2026. While most of the cafés are franchised, all are supplied with beans from The Miners’ Prague roastery. The cost of opening a new branch is high (an investor typically must commit between €200,000 and €400,000) but the rapid take-up shows that its high-quality beans and stylish design are worth banking on.
theminers.eu

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21.
Canyon Coffee
USA

The neighbourhood hangout
When Casey Wojtalewicz and Ally Walsh co-founded Canyon Coffee in 2016 as a wholesale business (with the occasional pop-up), they had $5,000 (€4,250) in savings and a $10,000 credit line. Four years and multiple pop-up events later, the business had revenues of $1m (€850,000), giving Wojtalewicz and Walsh the boost to start thinking about launching a physical outpost. Their first café opened in Los Angeles’ Echo Park in 2022. A roasting facility in the city’s downtown followed, along with a café in New York’s Brooklyn neighbourhood. Another café in LA’s Eastside is on the cards for later this year. “There’s intention behind everything that we do at Canyon Coffee without it ever being ‘in your face’,” says Wojtalewicz. “People feel and appreciate that when they come to us and that’s the goal – to create spaces that are beautiful and easy to return to every day.”
canyoncoffee.co

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22.
Allpress
New Zealand

The global giant
Part of Japanese drinks giant Asahi’s non-alcoholic beverage portfolio, Allpress operates 18 cafés in four countries, including the UK, Japan and New Zealand, where the brand was founded. The company also serves more than 2,000 independent cafés globally, including Monocle’s in London. “We don’t just sell bags of coffee,” says Agnes Potter, Allpress’s managing director for the UK and Asia. “If someone wants an extra-large latte with two sugars, we want to make the best one that they have ever had.” Allpress’s latest opening was in London’s Farringdon area in April.
allpressespresso.com

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23.
Morettino
Italy

The belle-époque beanery
Caffè Palermo is just one of Sicily-based roaster Morettino’s three outposts but it serves a crucial purpose. Opened in 2024 after five years of restoration and based inside the 16th-century Palazzo Guggino Chiaramonte Bordonaro on Palermo’s Quattro Canti square, the café has allowed Morettino to enhance its offering in an area dominated by tourist spots. A Liberty-era outdoor kiosk will also open later this year. “It’s about creating a rapport,” says one of the owners, Andrea Morettino.
morettino.com

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24.
Market Lane Coffee
Australia

The modern masterpiece
Melbourne is a city that helped to elevate the barista’s profession so entrepreneurs opening a coffee shop here can feel a little daunted. It was this challenge that Fleur Studd and Jason Scheltus decided to take on. Since opening Market Lane Coffee in the Prahran food market in 2009, the pair have expanded to nine shops in Melbourne. Its latest, in Mitchell House, is its most design-forward yet. It features curved, steel-framed windows and a standing bar facing the street.
marketlane.com.au

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25.
Lalere
Switzerland

The one-off wonder
Founded by Fabian Gass and Eric and Luca Blum, Lalere offers an appealing mix of striking design and good hospitality. Gass, a certified coffee taster and Zürich-based brand Vicafe’s former roastery head, provides deep coffee expertise; his brothers-in-law Eric and Luca have brought their studio OnkaiArts’ design nous. The trio built Lalere’s wood-lined interior mostly by hand; almost every element of the space was made specifically for it, from its plaster finishes to its timber details. “The aim was to create something that would last and not distract,” says Eric. According to Gass, another goal was to build a social hub for the surrounding community. The curved counter, for example, encourages conversation. “We were trying to create the kind of place where we would want to go ourselves,” he says.
lalere.ch

ARTICLE CREDITS

Writers: Adrian Kai Fraile Itagaki, Alexandra Aldea, Alexei Korolyo, Ben Davis, Callum McDermott, Carlota Rebelo, Colin Nagy, Désirée Bandli, Fiona Wilson, Florian Siebeck, Guy De Launey, Hannah Lucinda Smith, Helena Kardová, Inzamam Rashid, James Chambers, Joseph Koh, Julia Jenne, Liam Aldous, Mary Holland, Natalie Stoclet, Rory Jones, Tara Loader Wilkinson, Tomos Lewis

For our June issue, we’re exploring coffee on a global scale. Read about the project and join us on a tour of 25 nice cafés – just places that we like. We hope that you find it refreshing.

15.
Top of the coffee roasteries

1.
Italy remains a key player. Trieste-based Illy had an annual turnover of €700m in 2025, while Turin’s Lavazza celebrated its 130th year in business with revenues of €3.9bn. Viva l’Italia.

2.
Luckin Coffee has taken the industry by the horns and in April 2026 opened a vast, €375m state-of-the-art roasting centre in Qingdao, China, which the company claims is the largest in the world. It has the annual capacity to roast more than 55,000 tonnes of the black stuff.

3.
Beyond the mass market, specialist roasteries have been able to position a cup of joe as a daily luxury and price their beans accordingly. London-based Monmouth Coffee Company – which was founded in 1978 and boasts three shops – has mastered the art of branding. In a market dominated by gimmicks, its simple, sandy-hued sachets adorned with a sans-serif font hint at the company’s values of quality, transparency and consistency.

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ARTICLE CREDITS

WRITERS:

• Rory Jones
• Julia Jenne
• Carlota Rebelo
• Liam Aldous
• Désirée Bandli
• Guy De Launey
• Natalie Stoclet
• Mary Holland
• Adrian Kai Fraile Itagaki
• James Chambers
• Fiona Wilson
• Alexandra Aldea
• Tara Loader Wilkinson
• Colin Nagy
• Tomos Lewis

Stretching from the town of Blanes, about 70km from Barcelona, all the way to the French border, the serrated coastline and plains of Spain’s l’Empordà region are etched into the Catalan identity. The Costa Brava is a place of confounding dualities: a hedonistic playground for the wealthy and a provincial outpost that clings conservatively to the past. It’s a region known for its fishing towns and farmland – but also for having been home to Catalonia’s most cosmopolitan souls, from writer Josep Pla to surrealist Salvador Dalí.

The Hostal de La Gavina in S’Agaró first put this part of Catalonia on the map – literally. The family that opened the hotel in 1932 also built the town. Though it has been updated over the years, there’s something unchanging here that offers comfort in a world in flux. From a long wall of arched windows, you can see slivers of the Med between fresh-trimmed foliage; grand bouquets perfume the air and a side table holds a jug of iced tea. Now run by the founder’s grandchildren, it’s a favourite among those who know this stretch of the Costa Brava.

While the region pioneered Spain’s modern tourism industry in the 1930s, it has surprisingly few international hotel chains. The villas among the coastal pines point to a different, more restrained approach to development – just the way the locals like it.

“More than a resort, we like to call it a mansion,” says Christian Kirschner, La Gavina’s sales and marketing manager, as he leads us into its network of dining salons, drawing rooms and terraces. “This is a good moment for La Gavina because the trend of design hotels seems to have run its course. People are looking to go back to their roots.”

La Gavina was envisaged as a “garden village” – a bold urban-planning project initiated in 1924 that eventually encompassed 160 additional villas in the surrounding hills. It reflected the idealism of businessman Josep Ensesa and architect Rafael Masó, and was an example of noucentisme – a more austere counterpart of Catalan modernism. The project was aimed at bourgeois barcelonins seeking solace outside the city. Almost a third of the 150,000 sq m space is dedicated to gardens, public squares and recreation grounds.

To help nurture the country’s nascent tourism industry, Ensesa commissioned artist Enric Moneny to create a series of expressive posters. Moneny’s whimsical campaigns perfectly capture Ensesa’s fantasy of an exclusive space, free of conflict, where summer feels eternal and high society comes to play. Civil war, however, sapped the hotel’s momentum and forced the family into exile. But by the 1940s, La Gavina had resumed its mission, hosting international tourism conferences as well as illustrious guests. Passing a wall of framed faces, Kirschner tells Monocle about the hotel’s Hollywood era. (We spot photos of Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Orson Welles.)

We run into the hotel’s general manager, Joan Carles Casanovas, whose steady hand keeps it all running smoothly. “Hotels are never-ending stories and the backdrop to grand dramas,” he says. “Our job is to make things consistent.” He points to a desk designed by the hotel’s architect that was recently acquired at auction. Most of the furniture here is antique. The word “hostal” in the name has stubbornly been retained, even though its meaning has changed over the decades, leading to occasional confusion among new guests. “We have found ways to improve,” he says. “But we always protect the essence.”

Further up the coast, a little after midday, the sun glints over the terrace tables of Tragamar restaurant. Calella de Palafrugell is a cove of soft-hued boat sheds. Over exquisitely presented tapas, restaurateur Tomás Taruella and his daughter, Gina, offer their take on a recent wave of successions. Tomás tells Monocle that he took over this seafront spot in 2024 from his sister, who had been serving the summer crowds since 1992. More recently, his company, Grupo Tragaluz, took over seafood restaurant Sa Marinada in the town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols following the retirement of its owner. “She saw us as a safe pair of hands because we saw value in preserving the existing ecosystem.” The same father-and-son duo who have long supplied its kitchen still catches fresh fish for it every morning.

Having managed restaurants across Spain for 35 years, Taruella recently set his sights on a guesthouse. He discovered the 12-key Hotel Madremanya after meeting its owner, who wanted to retire. With only 280 residents, the surrounding village is one of many modest medieval clusters of stone, steeples and sentry towers, which dot the Gironese landscape. “I strive to respect each location and what came before,” says Taruella. “It’s more important for us to feel proud of what we do than just to do business for business’s sake.” Guests are encouraged to explore nature paths on foot or by bike; meanwhile, the hotel has a growing collection of crockery from neighbouring pottery workshop Ceràmiques Pantaleu. “The Costa Brava and l’Empordá have always attracted artists and intellectuals who aren’t here to consume but to contribute.”

Not all of the area’s historic mansions are for lodging. The town of Púbol, a 10-minute drive from Madremanya, is where Gala, Dalí’s muse, found refuge from the artist’s eccentricities. The castle-like residence is open to the public as the Castell Gala Dalí museum. Dalí’s acerbic nature wasn’t anomalous in the region. The unsparing Tramuntana winds, which sweep down from the mountains in the off-season, are said to be responsible for a brusque regional character prone to bouts of eccentricity. Laura Ballesteros, the manager of the Palau de Casavells, a contemporary-art gallery set inside a 16th-century estate home, says that this local disposition is also defined by curiosity and a love of dialogue. And, rather than musing about the future, many of the people here are fixated on connections with what came before.

The main building of Mas de Torrent, a hotel and spa, is surrounded by terracotta-tiled villas in the local vernacular. Showing us around its art collection, Susana Basols, the hotel’s director, recalls the time when a local business painted a prominent wall along the highway in a shade of yellow. Graffiti soon appeared, admonishing the owners to “respect l’Empordà’s landscape”. The wall was repainted in a more respectful green. “There’s a collective desire to preserve things,” says Basols.

The following morning, we’re in the lobby of Hostal Empúries, which opened in 1907 as a beachfront villa to host archaeologists arriving to comb through the neighbouring ancient ruins. It now offers 54 guest rooms. Joggers, cyclists and dog-walkers stream up and down the esplanade trail with jagged rock formations on each side of the narrow cove.

Costa Brava means “Wild Coastline”. The name was coined in 1908 by journalist Ferran Agulló i Vidal but was only officially adopted in the 1960s to attract new visitors to the untamed region. Dalí went a step further, talking about the coastline’s “geological delirium” and how the spectacle of its drama had the power to calm the spectator. Pla’s musings about this stretch of coastline – endlessly paraphrased – talked of the sea’s “innumerable smile” and “air of floating fantasy”. Today much has changed but more has stayed the same. This Catalan outcrop is at once conservative, outward-looking and avant garde, and all the better for it. 

To reach the entrance of Xinú perfumes, a fragrance shop in Mexico City’s Juárez neighbourhood, you have to weave between other shoppers down a busy path flanked by plants. Inside the wood-and-glass building, crowds of customers spray their wrists, sample tester strips and marvel at the magnificent space, which was designed by Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. A short walk away, a queue is beginning to form outside Lengua, one of the city’s new jewellery shops, opened in 2025 to spotlight the work of Latin American designers. Outside, two clients sit on a bench and patiently wait. And why not? It’s a beautiful Saturday morning, with the sun streaming through the trees.

Hugo Rosellón, the shop’s owner and jewellery designer, also has another outpost nearby. He tells Monocle how the city’s transformation has increased consumer appetite for Latin American brands. He leads us past Lengua’s glass boxes, which are filled with silver earrings and gold chains by designers such as Puerto Rican Hernán Herdez. He says that customers who would previously have spent $300 (€260) on jewellery are now buying pieces priced at $5,000 (€4,300) or more. “That’s why we decided to open this new place,” he adds.

Over the past decade, a wave of homegrown brands has emerged as Mexico City’s popularity as a destination has risen. “So many people are travelling here,” says Montserrat Messeguer, who launched her namesake brand in 2017, specialising in Western wear and high-end artisanal cowboy boots crafted in El Bajío, where they have historically been produced. “It has been a great opportunity to open shops adjacent to businesses serving food,” she adds, noting that most people who come to the city have traditionally been drawn here by its culinary and architectural appeal. Now, they’re coming for retail too. One of Messeguer’s three locations is just around the corner from popular seafood restaurant Contramar.

Visitors from the US and Europe venture to the residential neighbourhood of San Miguel Chapultepec, where Chava Studio’s flagship shop is located. Founded by US-born Olivia Villanti, Chava quickly built a global reputation for fitted shirts in neutral palettes, with extra-large cuffs and crispy cottons.

Villanti moved to Mexico City – her husband’s hometown – in 2020 and started out making shirts for herself using fabrics from Gilly e Hijos, a company run by her in-laws, and importing textiles from Europe’s best mills. When people began asking where she got her button-downs, she decided to expand her production. What began with seven made-to-order designs has since grown into a company with fully fledged tailoring collections for men and women, as well as a selection of shirts sold off the rack – a hit among her international clientele.

“People want to go home with something,” says Villanti. She worked with Sebastián Mancera of architectural practice Taller 3000 to renovate her new boutique, a calm oasis clad in wood panels. The boutique’s unfussy location also captures Chava and Villanti’s independent spirit, and has opened up opportunities for visitors to see the city in a new light. The quaint neighbourhood is dotted with contemporary galleries, plus the Casa Luis Barragán museum, as well as a series of new favourites such as Saint bakery and Comal Oculto, an antojería that’s ideal for post-shopping bites.

The new wave of creativity across the city is changing the way that residents shop too. “We used to overlook things that were made in Mexico,” says designer Patricio Campillo, who was a semi-finalist in the 2024 LVMH Prize, an annual award run by the luxury group to support emerging designers. Campillo has a shop in Juárez; he tells Monocle that foreign appreciation has inspired locals to embrace homegrown brands. This has allowed him to be more experimental with his designs, price his pieces more competitively and collaborate with artisans on more intricate techniques.

Meanwhile, the city’s creative revival is spurring story tellers of all kinds to spread the word about local designers and artisans. Jessica Ramírez, the director and co-founder of advisory firm The Consumer Collective, points to the power of podcasts. “A lot of Mexican ones have very strong followings,” she says, adding that much of South America looks to Mexico as an entry point to the rest of the world.

This is partly why global luxury houses are now following suit. WGSN’s Mexico City-based trend forecaster, Catalina Marin, says that, unlike more established places such as the US or China, Mexico City’s overall luxury market is still expected to grow by 5 per cent in the next five years. “We are seeing growth of the upper-middle class and new luxury consumers: younger shoppers entering the market earlier,” says Marin, pointing to the recent arrivals of labels such as Tiffany & Co and Carolina Herrera, both of which have leaned into localised marketing experiences. The latter created a special collection for the Mexican market at El Palacio de Hierro, one of the city’s best-known department stores.

“Hermès is creating visual merchandising with Mexican architects and designers,” adds Marin. “The approach is more localised.” In 2023, Cartier launched a major exhibition, Cartier Design: A Living Legacy, curated by Ana Elena Mallet and designed by architect Frida Escobedo, both from Mexico, at the Jumex Museum. Ramírez adds that the city has become a stop on film press tours too. “Netflix has been betting on Mexico City,” she says. “These things go hand in hand.”

On Avenida Presidente Masaryk, a street in Polanco lined with brands such as Max Mara and Hermès, there’s no shortage of people carrying designer bags. Local shops such as Lago and Ikal, which showcase Mexican designers alongside international names, have become go-to destinations too. One person helping to drive this integration is Karla Martínez de Salas, the editor in chief of Vogue México y Latinoamérica. “She has done a fantastic job with Mexico, highlighting the culture and putting it alongside international high-end brands,” adds Ramírez.

Marin notes that Latin American labels such as Carla Fernández are also becoming increasingly attractive because consumers want items that are unique. “Women from Central or South America are not necessarily going to New York any more – they want something that tells a story,” she says. Eduardo Dubost, Ikal’s owner, adds that he has been seeing a lot of brands from places such as Colombia and Argentina using Mexico as a gateway to the global luxury market. “The country has turned into a platform,” he adds.

Back in Juárez, the queues start to disperse, revealing a neat line-up of beautifully designed shopfronts. “We have realised that we have to elevate the retail experience if we want to optimise our sales,” says Campillo, who shares a space with local design brand Varon. At Lengua down the road, the design of the shop – a boxy space clad in red Talavera tiles – has become a reason to visit in itself. “It took eight months to finish,” says Rosellón, proud of the space that he designed. “This is an ode to sculpture and Mexican luxury,” he says, adding that it isn’t just a shop for big-spending travellers. “We want to sell Mexico to Mexicans.”

Read Monocle’s complete travel guide to Mexico City, here.