1.
We start this weekend with a health and security warning for all of our UK readers venturing out for a last blast of summer sunshine, for our Canadian and US audience gearing up for Labo(u)r Day weekend, for children of all shapes and sizes and adults hovering around five feet in height. For the past three years I’ve been monitoring the arrival of robot floor cleaners at airports, rail stations, office concourses and shopping malls around the world. I’ve been paying particularly close attention to their recent arrival at Zürich Airport and how they manage to interact with the waves of arrivals and departures. While I’ve yet to spot any head-on collisions, there are certainly plenty of near misses and much dodging and weaving as these robots have a tendency to make abrupt stops and spins. But this is not the problem. Far from it. The real danger is considerably more menacing than a simple scrape with an automated vacuum cleaner – pint-sized families could soon be consumed by rapidly mutating clusters of MDBs (monster dust bunnies).
The MDB, closely related to the more harmless domestic variety, can grow out of nowhere, multiply at speed and becomes a threat one to two weeks after a facility manager at a global transport hub lays off 25 cleaning staff and replaces them with a few robots. If David Attenborough isn’t on the case with his film crews just yet, he should be. Robot cleaners might make perfect sense from a cost perspective and can do an OK job cleaning surfaces but they’re simply not made to get into corners or tackle what’s under the rows and rows of seating between gates 63 and 65. The harmless little dust bunny that used to scurry away when you sped past with your Rimowa wheelie has now been gorging on other bunnies, bits of food and the strands and scraps of exotic fluff that collects in hard-to-reach spaces.
The other day I spotted a pair of MDBs so large that I thought they were going to devour a pair of toddlers who’d been let out of their tandem pram. Pooooofffff!!! They could have vanished in a flash but the MDBs decided the pair weren’t so appetising and tumbled behind a check-in desk instead, waiting for the right moment to strike. Next time you think that you’ve misplaced your phone or coffee at a boarding gate, you didn’t. A matted, greasy and stinky MDB got to it first. Airports might think that they’re being clever by replacing staff with automated cleaning devices but just look around and you’ll see that robots are leaving thousands of square metres uncared for and it’s only a matter of time before a MDB gets sucked into the engine of an A350 or invades a cockpit. You read it here first.
2.
On the topic of keeping surfaces spic and span, I landed from Chicago earlier this morning and I was impressed. Granted, I was mostly in and around Lincoln Park and the nicer stretches of North Lakeshore Drive but European (Lisbon, Athens, Paris pay attention) and many North American cities (you too Toronto) could take a few cues on keeping streets and vertical surfaces spotless from the good people of Chicago.
I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of graffiti, the well-planted avenues, the attention paid to the urban canopy and the absence of so much as a candy wrapper in the gutter. While this was only a 24-hour trip and my first visit in about a decade, I’m keen to go back and spend more time walking around other neighbourhoods and getting a better measure of the place.
3.
Finally, get your agenda prepped and at the ready for this time next week. We have an autumn packed with events spanning from intimate evening gatherings in our shops to bigger formats in Abu Dhabi, Zürich and London. And if you can’t wait for those, we can still find you a seat in Barcelona at our Quality of Life Conference – 4 to 6 September.
Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.
Venice in high summer can feel crowded and airless. Fortunately, Veneto offers an array of easy day trips that swap the city’s crush for cool hills, shaded cafés and quiet canals.
1.
Trieste
(Just over two hours by train)
The Austro-Hungarian outpost dubbed “Vienna by the sea” joined Italy a century ago but its roots still show. Visit Libreria San Marco and the century-old Caffè Torinese for a flavour. Pastry shops such as La Bomboniera and Pasticceria Pirona serve sachertorte and Viennese sweets while the Portopiccolo spa, built into an old stone quarry on the sea, has steam pools facing the bay.
2.
Bassano del Grappa
(An hour and 15 minutes by train)
A charming cluster of red, medieval roofs overlooking the covered wooden bridge of the Ponte degli Alpini, this town on the river Brenta gives its name to the famous spirit best enjoyed at Tipic bar or the 1779 Grapperia Nardini distillery. Stock up at the delicatessen of El Bocon del Prete or the Bottega del Baccalà for the local dried-cod delicacy of the same name.
3.
Chioggia
(50-minute drive)
Crisscrossed by canals, Chioggia earned the mantle “Little Venice” without suffering the crowded consequences and featured in Luca Guadagnino’s 2020 film We Are Who We Are. Try a boat trip from Piazzetta Vigo to peruse the island’s lace shops and bustling fish market, where restaurants such as Al Bersagliere serve the catch of the day.
4.
Bonotto Foundation
(An hour and 10 minutes by car)
The largest collection of fluxus art (a movement from the 1960s and 1970s) in Italy can be found at the factory of the Bonotto textile company. Owner Luigi Bonotto befriended the late German artist Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono and a slew of creatives who came to do informal residencies next to his Vicenza factory-turned-museum.
5.
Bagni Alberoni
(Less than an hour by boat and bus)
In Italy, beach clubs define seaside summers and few are as iconic as Bagni Alberoni (the backdrop to Thomas Mann’s seminal 1912 novella, Death in Venice). Located on the southernmost beach of the Lido, its stretch of sand is lined with cabins, umbrellas and striped deckchairs. Alberoni’s restaurant serves Venetian fare, including homemade spaghetti with mussels and clams.
6.
Tomba Brion and Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova
(The former is a 70-minute drive)
Just a stone’s throw from each other in towns beyond Treviso are masterpieces by two vastly different luminaries of Italian art. Carlo Scarpa designed the Tomba Brion cemetery in 1968 – his last, and some say best, work. Nearby, Canova’s gallery of plaster casts displays the romantically inspired figures by the neoclassical sculptor.
7.
Villa Feltrinelli and Lefay Garda Resort & Spa
(A two-hour and 30-minute drive)
D H Lawrence called Garda “one of the most beautiful places on Earth” and the 19th-century Villa Feltrinelli is perhaps Italy’s most tranquil and charming location. Close by, Lefay Garda is a great spa in which to unwind.
8.
Vigne di San Pietro
(One hour 20 minutes away by car)
Veneto is wine country. A greater share of Italy’s grapes are grown here than in any other region. Pencil in a few niche vineyards to explore what’s most distinctive about the producers here and start with Venissa, on the Mazzorbo island of Venice, where the Michelin-starred restaurant serves fish and vegetables surrounded by its vineyards. Further afield, the Vigne di San Pietro grows some of Veneto’s best natural wine near Lake Garda.
Do you have a Rolser parked in your apartment, wedged in your vestibule or perhaps sat idling by the coatstand in your office? If you do, then you might just be the coolest kid in town. Let’s bring the uninitiated up to speed.
Rolser is the Spanish manufacturer of personal shopping trollies – aka trolley bags, aka trolley shoppers. In the 1960s and 1970s these contraptions, from numerous makers, were a common sight in most European nations, where they were seen as a handy accessory for the housewife who had to struggle home from the supermarket with food for all the family – industrial quantities of Angel Delight included. And also old folk heading to the shops who were not so steady on their pins (the trolley could nicely double as a Zimmer frame).
With these kind associations, no wonder later generations rebelled against owning a set of “granny wheels”. And men, real men? They would rather have their hands sliced like ham from the hauling home of dumbbell-heavy plastic bags of groceries than take a shopper out for a spin (even when the in-store shopping cart was debuted by Sylvan Goldman, owner of the Humpty Dumpty supermarket chain, in Oklahoma in 1937, it was met with resistance from the fellas who deemed the invention effeminate).
In Spain, however, trolley shoppers endured across the decades and even thrived thanks to Rolser (the company is the subject of the Expo, skilfully reported by Liam Aldous, in the new September issue of Monocle). Today, 63 per cent of Spanish households own one of its trusty aids. And now this Iberian mobility star is planning something of a global assault – it’s exporting to 60 countries.
But here’s the interesting bit – the new customers include a lot of cool young women and men, from fashion designers to architects, painters to strategists. So what’s happening? Well, if you were to ask the host of the Monocle Radio show, The Urbanist, the answer is that the Rolser is a perfect fit for modern-city living.
Urban planners and civic leaders are increasingly tasked – especially in Europe – with the removal of cars from city streets and the creation of walkable, cyclable neighbourhoods. And as restrictions on driving in our cities multiply, many people no longer want to own a car – and even if they could afford one, where would they park it? Add into this people staying single longer and suddenly the pastime of “doing a weekly shop” just doesn’t feature on many young folk’s schedules. Instead, they head out on foot to stock up on wine, scurry around a farmers’ market for their vegetables or go to a local supermarket to buy food for the next day. And how do they get their weighty purchases home – enter, stage left, a Rolser.
The walkable city comes with many of these interesting consequences. It encourages, for example, the ubiquity of comfy arch-supporting footwear (good news for Birkenstock) over high heels. It entices us to find joy in all this pacing about – hence the feverish fixation with counting daily steps. It’s made the owners of cargo bikes look almost like normal people. Perhaps it even accounts for the demise of the “horizon sock”, that sliver of hosiery that so easily de-anchors from one’s heel and slithers down your foot like a serpent sloughing its old skin. Real socks, the kind that know their place as you walk for miles, that grip your leg as tightly as a joey koala clings to its mother, are back. It’s even helped make “urban hiking gear” a recognised fashion category.
It’s funny that when we think about urban mobility, the talk quickly drifts to big-ticket solutions such as buses and subways but people are quietly finding their own fixes for navigating around their hometowns with greater ease. And for many city dwellers, friction-free living is now aided by ownership of a revamped version of those old granny wheels.
Read more about Rolser’s global rollout in our September issue. And click here to explore the full collection of Andrew’s past columns.
Hong Kong is a city built on fast change, so a restaurant designed to last feels like a quiet statement of intent. Always Joy, the latest venture from Lindsay Jang and Matt Abergel, is exactly that. Located next to Yardbird – the duo’s acclaimed izakaya and a fixture on every Hong Kong dining shortlist – the Japanese diner offers a distinct yet complementary experience.
“What I love most about this place is that it feels permanent,” says Abergel. “The chairs and tables are fixed to the ground, and the kitchen is a solid block of stainless steel. There’s comfort in that.”
The space on Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan, which was once a candy shop, feels more like a continuation than a departure. “We always wanted something next door,” says Jang. “It adds energy. Yardbird is so busy and we’re always turning people away. Now, we can walk them over here for a nightcap or dessert. It’s circular.”
That circularity isn’t just spatial. The project, Jang and Abergel say, is an evolution of their journey and one grounded in loyalty. The Canadian pair have kept the team behind their 14-seater sister bar and restaurant Ronin in Soho, which closed at the end of 2024 after over a decade. “We wouldn’t have opened this if the team wasn’t going to come with us,” says Abergel.
Hong Kong’s restaurant and bar industry is in a particularly turbulent state of flux. Rising rents and decreasing footfall have forced many long-standing favourites to shutter their doors at a faster pace than usual. Each closure throws up fresh headlines about changing tastes and irreversible decline (along with queues of diners eager to eat at said establishment one last time), but the city has plenty of new chefs and concepts opening in their place. Recent notable openings include the Japanese-Korean inspired dishes at Yorucho in Causeway Bay, and Voon by Edward Voon in Kennedy Town, a more casual, neighbourhood bistro venture from the established fine-dining chef. Bar Leone’s lauded founder Lorenzo Antinori has just opened a second bar called Montana, this time inspired by Cuba and in collaboration with Simone Caporale of Sips in Barcelona.
Always Joy is contributing to this fresh momentum, and the duo behind it have not done anything by halves. For the interior design, Abergel and Jang went to their fellow countryman, Willo Perron, founder and creative director of the LA-based studio Perron Roettinger, who is best known for retail interiors. Perron’s first restaurant design draws on the classic American diner but with moody elegance. Chrome finishes extend from the open kitchen to the bar, set against burgundy pumice-textured walls and mustard-yellow upholstery. There are quiet nods to the pair’s past: Ronin’s vintage Bruno Rey chairs, tiled walls, a refurbished Yardbird grill, and Hasami plateware collected over the years.
“When I first saw the space, it reminded me of those diner photos,” says Abergel. “That was the starting point that translates very well into our neighbourhood restaurant – casual and comfortable with very few limitations.”
The menu shares that spirit of ease. It will shift with what’s fresh at the local wet markets and dried seafood shops. Dishes lean into seafood and vegetables, simply prepared to highlight flavour, such as the tomatoes tossed with passion fruit and shio kombu for a punch of umami. “Uncomplicate and simplify,” says Abergel. Cocktails won’t be shaken. Beer and wine join a short list of seasonal sake and fresh juices sourced from a nearby fruit vendor.
“I think it’s nice to grab a bunch of stuff and experiment,” he adds. “I don’t want it to be perfect. I want it to evolve. We’ve been here [in Hong Kong] since 2009, so we have the freedom to do something without needing to define a cuisine or a concept. This is just a continuation of the story we’re already telling.”
Read next: The Monocle guide to Hong Kong
The dream of flying taxis zipping silently above traffic-clogged streets has long captured imaginations, yet the reality has remained frustratingly elusive. But recent developments suggest we may finally be approaching liftoff. Archer Aviation, a Silicon Valley startup developing electric vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft, just achieved a significant milestone with its Midnight aircraft completing its longest piloted flight to date, covering approximately 55 miles (88.5km) in 31 minutes at speeds exceeding 126mph (203km/h) at its test facility in Salinas, California.
This breakthrough comes as Archer prepares for commercial operations in the UAE before the year’s end, backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and partnered with Etihad Airways. The ambitious plan would connect Dubai to Abu Dhabi in just 20 minutes, transforming what can be a two-hour drive into a brief aerial commute.
While futuristic renderings have always been easier than navigating regulatory hurdles or operating in extreme desert conditions, Archer Aviation founder and CEO Adam Goldstein believes the convergence of technology, regulation and investment has finally created the perfect conditions for urban air mobility to take flight.
What has made air taxis viable now when they weren’t before?
Three things have enabled the launch of air taxis. First, battery technology has advanced to the point where we can now build vehicles that can carry sufficient loads over long distances fast enough to make it economically viable. Thanks to the EV business – specifically Tesla – for rapidly advancing this technology, which enabled us to make an aircraft that is viable and safe, meaning people are excited to pay for it, and you can travel far enough to make it interesting.
A second thing that happened is we now have a very supportive regulatory environment establishing rules. The FAA established the first set of rules, which the rest of the world is starting to adopt, that allows us to now actually build and certify these aircraft.
And then, finally, the capital investments that were required to help launch the industry have been provided from OEM providers, such as Archer, to the players who have built the core infrastructure to enable all of this. We are working through the certification process to get the project to go live by the end of this year.
Why do we need air taxis when we have ground transportation?
We live and work in three dimensions, but the transportation grid has been stuck in two dimensions. You can always develop more ground transport but that eventually maxes out, which is why you see traffic in many cities. Flying over the traffic is a good answer to the problem. Of course, it’s not the only solution – tunnels and roads will continue to expand. But to be able to see the cities from the air is probably the most beautiful version of all those.
How will you scale this technology for mass adoption?
In the beginning supply will be limited, which brings us to the question of how many of these aircraft can we build and distribute? A lot of community engagement will need to be done, such as meeting with different municipalities to make sure they feel comfortable and that everybody understands the safety aspects of this aircraft. Our goal is to be a long-term player, so we’ll start conservatively and grow it over time.
The idea is for this to be a mass-market product. The things that limited helicopters from scaling – predominantly cost, safety and noise – have been largely alleviated. Our aircraft has the ability to scale in ways that helicopters couldn’t.
Why did you choose the UAE for your first commercial operations?
The UAE really leaned in to the industry from the very beginning, in terms of advancing technology and regulatory frameworks, in attempt to establish itself as a global leader in new transportation solutions. We partnered with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office early in the process to help build the core infrastructure and frameworks for how we would launch.
There has also been overall interest from the government to partner with companies that produce cutting-edge technology to ensure the UAE can lead in all new things. The benefit they’re going to get is early access to the results – but I don’t think that’s just an Archer thing. There’s a possibility for the UAE to become a hub for new transportation solutions for many other companies. Archer will be one of the early ones, but lots will come once they see that the UAE is a great place to launch projects.
What’s your long-term vision for urban air mobility?
I think a lot of entrepreneurs, especially in the hardware space, have dreamed about taking sci-fi gadgets and turning them into real products. I’ve always had a vision of bringing flying cars into the mainstream. I think it will start slowly, and then all of a sudden, it will be everywhere.
I can envision that one day there will be multi-lane highways in the skies, and that people will be taking these aircraft to work or to vacation. In 20 years, the world will look quite different because of this product.
What will air taxi rides cost?
The target price is at the high end of rideshare to start, with the ultimate goal being to substantially drive the cost down to somewhere near car ownership. The way we get there is by scaling. It will take several years to build enough aircraft, get the product out there and create different routes that make sense.
How will you build public trust in this new form of transportation?
We’ll have to gain the trust over time and maintain a very high safety record, but I believe that because the product is so exciting, there will be a lot of early adopters. There will probably be more people who want to fly with it than we can supply for quite some time.
Listen to the full interview with Goldstein on The Entrepreneurs, below:
Read next: What zero-emission flying really needs: smarter planes and radically different airports
Read next: Flying taxis in the UAE will soon become a reality
There’s a stereotype that people in the countryside are resistant to change. This could not be further from the truth. In Referinghausen, a village where I grew up in the Sauerland region of southwestern Germany, the land isn’t very fertile, meaning only one child in a family would inherit the farm. Their siblings would have to do something else. In the country, self-sufficiency is in our DNA and there’s a need to do something in order to innovate and survive.
Today my work as an architect is informed by the German idea of Selbstwirksamkeit (self-efficacy). People want to be part of something – to be able to shape and take responsibility for their environment. In the modern world, however, we’re all too often treated as passive consumers. That kind of outlook is especially difficult for those of us with a rural background to accept because we’re used to helping each other. In small communities, we’re dependent on each other: people work together and become co-authors of projects. That fosters a sense of shared identity and belonging, as well as pride.
People around here don’t tend to ask for permission as much as in cities. With Open Mind Places, an initiative run by my architecture firm that seeks to engage rural communities by creating open-air pavilions made from found materials, we didn’t go to the building authorities. Our attitude is to test and do. Many young people who have a connection to the area choose to come back after studying or working in big cities because they want the freedom to be creative, to have a workshop or a farm and to make art. Things are also more affordable, faster and less complicated. They can experiment here.
I have lived with the cycles of nature, sowing seeds in spring and harvesting in autumn, while helping to ensure that the system was stable. It’s a lifestyle that is reflected in the region’s traditional architecture, which consists mainly of Fachwerk houses. These have a solid base and a half-timber structure filled with straw, earth, clay or stone. You see a lot of locally sourced materials and brick too – there’s no deliberations over what material to source in from abroad or traverse cross-country. Admittedly, it’s a kind of architecture in which things aren’t quite finished – it leaves space for the future. We all need to rebel against the belief that architecture is a machine that has to produce polished or perfect results. We prefer to focus on using what we have or what we can make: a way of working, whether in cities or in the countryside, that feels a part of our lives and is more open to real people.
As told to Stella Roos, Monocle’s design correspondent. Christoph Hesse is the founder of an eponymous architecture practice based between Korbach and Berlin, and is one of the exhibitors at the German Pavilion at this year’s 19th Venice Biennale. This essay appears in ‘The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas on Architecture, Design and Building Better’, which is out now.
This essay was published in ‘The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas on Architecture, Design and Building Better’, which is out now. The fifth title in our Companion series of paperbacks, it’s packed with fresh ideas on design, creativity and the built environment, with a focus on the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs until 23 November.
Bad news I’m afraid, hard work is no longer its own reward. According to weirdo workaholics such as Elon Musk, success is instead a numbers game and you’re probably not applying yourself assiduously enough by his standards. “Nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week,” he once notably said in a post on X, musing instead that 80 to 100 hours is more conducive to earthly improvement.
Now you might question Musk’s wisdom – and his seemingly limitless time to post half-formed thoughts online – but he’s right in one respect. Doing anything meaningful usually takes both time and effort. But how much of each is open for debate.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average working week in Germany was fewer than 30 hours in 2024 but more productive than a 40-plus hour slog in Mexico. There’s also growing evidence that working more than 50 hours a week leads in many cases to a fateful collapse in productivity and is disastrous for our health. Cue the slightly silly debates about limiting the working week. It’s fine for a foot-dragger in the local council but less so for entrepreneurs, those serving customers, working across time zones or adapting to time-sensitive information.
There’s more to consider too. Take the long-braced-for but yet-to-materialise upheaval of the labour market by AI, blockchain or superintelligence (or NFTs or the Metaverse before them), and a credible working hypothesis for how we work best still seems as far away as a ski holiday in sultry summer. But perhaps we’re being a little simplistic about our idea of success?
Microsoft is at least beginning to acknowledge the negative effects of long hours, endless emails, meetings and the online overload. Its Work Trend Index identifies workers as carrying a “digital debt” and registers an intensification of work that’s fast outpacing the human capacity to process the information with which we’re bombarded.
“It’s all a bit absurd,” says Markus Albers, author of the new book The Optimisation Lie (published in German). “One of the very companies whose products distract us, keep us in meeting loops and encourage a permanent state of collaboration seems to have suddenly realised that it’s not such a good idea.” In his essay for us in the out-today issue of Monocle, Albers unpacks the ennui and exhaustion to find a better balance (longer hours, alas Elon, aren’t the key).
We need to reframe the idea of work, not as toil but as a good thing, says academic Hans-Joachim Voth, scientific director of UBS Center for Economics in Society. In his study of 1,500 workers in the US, he found “the most important source of fulfilment was work”, not the relentless pursuit of leisure you might expect from an idle scroll through social media. “Doing something meaningful, mastering tasks and receiving appreciation. Taking pride in one’s achievements, contributing to a greater whole and camaraderie were key,” he said recently in an interview with the NZZ newspaper.
So, perhaps it’s best to resist tallying your time by the hour or pinning your productivity to meaningless emails or endless meetings – maybe that might change the world in its way. Success, whether you’re a carpenter or a CEO, is about how work makes you feel. Counting the hours might be the first sign that you’ve got the balance badly wrong.
Josh Fehnert is Monocle’s editor. The essay by Markus Albers and interview with Hans-Joachim Voth are both published in Monocle’s out-today September issue of the magazine.
If you had to name Spain’s most successful mobility player, you might choose its high-speed rail operator Renfe or perhaps one of its car marques such as Seat. But there’s another brand that’s arguably the nation’s nippiest player on four wheels: Rolser, the maker of personal shopping trollies. In Spain, you see, a product once considered in much of the world to be an accessory sported only by grannies has become a fixture of most households – a whacking 63 per cent of Spaniards now have one parked in their homes.
Founded in 1966, the family company makes more than half a million trolleys a year at its production facility between Valencia and Alicante. Its customers include seniors but also artists, designers, young parents and cool kids. And sales are on a roll across Europe, the US and Asia. You can see the appeal – in a world where young people eschew car ownership, working couples forgo a weekly hypermarket visit in favour of shopping locally and stores discourage the taking of plastic carrier bags, having your own set of retail shopping wheels simply makes sense.
Mobility models move in interesting ways. That’s why this issue, which focuses on how we get from A to B, features not only an Expo dedicated to the Rolser (so handy for delivering magazines!) but also sturdy footwear, a remade East German train with velour allure, Finnish lifts (as in elevators, not a gym manoeuvre) and perhaps one of the dinkiest cars that you’ll ever see, thanks to a nimble-minded Japanese designer. But those aren’t the only ways that Monocle magazine is on the move.
Our September issue, you will soon discover, has a new look. While the livery on the front cover might be unchanged, inside we have gone for a new configuration and added some extra treats to the trolley. At the front of the magazine, for example, we have introduced a new Dispatch section in which we offer a mix of comment, columns and news on everything from travelators (and why they’re about to start moving faster) to how to complete the daily commute in style. As we continue to develop our digital offering and newsletters, we want to ensure that we use print for what it does best: showcase great photography and expansive, fresh reporting.
Our report on Bofill Taller de Arquitectura in Barcelona is a perfect example. This tale of legacy and renewal explores the ways Pablo Bofill has taken the company that his father, Ricardo, started in the 1960s to new heights. Part of his success has come from doubling down on the principles that guided the firm in its earliest days – chiefly that the studio should be a place where artists, engineers and philosophers come together.The studio is housed in a former cement factory so vast that even 60 years later the Taller space is still a work in progress. The images alone will make you yearn to see it.
And here’s some good news for those who have signed up to this year’s Monocle Quality of Life Conference, which takes place this month in Barcelona. We are organising a very special visit to the Taller so that you can see this extraordinary space in person. Need any more encouragement? Visit monocle.com to discover the full programme, including all the inspirational speakers. It’s a highlight of the monocle calendar and it would be tremendous to meet you there.
If you want to share an idea or send me your mobility insights before then, you can find me on at@monocle.com. Unless I’m down the shops with my Rolser.
Well-crafted everyday objects often hide their greatness in plain sight. Consider the shopping trolley. Spanish manufacturer Rolser has spent almost 60 years developing sleek, durable designs that make life easier. These fabric-covered, two-wheeled trolleys might be associated with older people doing their weekly shop but you’ll find a Rolser trolley in the homes of 63 per cent of Spaniards, according to the family-run company. Meanwhile, on the streets of Barcelona or Madrid, you’re as likely to spot artists ferrying paint and brushes in their Rolser as you are to see families out for a day at the beach using one to stow umbrellas, chairs and snacks.
Rolser was founded in 1966 as a maker of palm and wicker baskets. That it is now a fixture of life in Spain attests to its durability as a brand and the reliable quality of its products. Some 80 per cent of the company’s manufacturing takes place at its headquarters in Pedreguer, a town roughly halfway between Valencia and Alicante.
Surrounded by lemon orchards and a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean, Pedreguer is the ancestral home town of the Server family. Cousins Mireia and Vicent Server are the co-CEOs of Rolser and the third generation of the family to lead the business. When Monocle visits, the pair guide us through its 21,000 sq m facility, where we see workers busily feeding aluminium tubing into a purpose-built machine, which cuts and folds the metal into the frames that give the trolleys their distinctive shape. More than 100 employees work in the factory, where some 2,500 units roll off the production line every day. Producing an average of half a million trolleys per year, the company pulled in nearly €20m of revenue in 2024.
Rolser has long been the top choice of discerning Spanish matriarchs, who have a nose for high-calibre goods. But the brand now also ships to more than 60 countries and has a second factory in Vietnam, founded in 2018; there it produces textiles, such as William Morris prints, to serve equally selective consumers in Australia, China, Singapore and Japan.
The heart of the business, however, remains in Pedreguer. “We have very special ties to this land,” says Vicent, over the din of workers snapping wheels onto chassis on a nearby assembly line. “By creating work for the community, we threw our support behind the people of this area and tried to foster an industry that wasn’t tourism. In itself, tourism is good – but over the years local manufacturing has largely been snuffed out.”
On the factory floor, Olivia Fornés Agulles is rhythmically working on the final assembly and packing of Rolser’s signature trolley, the Plegamatic, which folds up like a handbag and can be draped over the shoulder when empty. This year will mark 40 years since Fornés Agulles joined the company, for which her sister, brother-in-law, nephew and ex-husband also work. “At this point, it’s simply love that keeps me here,” she says with a smile. “I love this company. It has given me so much.”
Mireia tells Monocle that Rolser has a deep culture of co-operation, which starts with the family. “In the end, everyone here has the same aim,” she says. “What people want most is to work in service of a shared dream and to make it a success.” To that end, key departments, such as design and sales, are headed by members of the Server clan and the company’s previous generation of leaders is helping to ensure Rolser’s longevity by advising the new guard and passing down time-tested values (Mireia’s father, Joan, is the company’s president). This approach has kept her wheels on and ensured a stable transition in leadership.
Rolser was the first company in Spain to mass-produce a shopping trolley, and its strong visual branding, coupled with a refusal to manufacture items that didn’t carry the Rolser logo, has made it a household name. Supermarket chains such as Carrefour and popular department store El Corte Inglés faithfully stock Rolser merchandise.
While there are imitators, Vicent says that the company is maintaining its edge by making sure to invest in research and development. “Competition is great because it pushes you,” he says. “We always have two or three major projects under way that normally take about two years to fully develop.”
Such innovations have included treble wheels, which make it easier to take your trolley up flights of stairs, and a version made entirely from recycled materials. Rolser also manufactures ladders and ironing boards; a recent model that’s reminiscent of a surfboard incorporated recycled clothes hangers. (About 55 per cent of the plastic materials used in Rolser products are recycled.)
Mireia is determined to show the world the value of choosing a Rolser trolley over bulky carrier bags. “When I joined the company in 2000, we didn’t have a department that was dedicated to exports,” she says. “We were just selling passively to countries such as France, the Netherlands and the UK.” By 2005, the business had launched an exports division and she began attending trade fairs, such as Frankfurt’s Ambiente, where she could demonstrate the benefits of owning a high-quality shopping trolley to those outside Spain. Rolser’s regular presence at such events has spurred its team to innovate. “Every year we must present something fresh and new,” says Mireia. In 2023 the brand made headway into the US market with a chic yet sustainable model sold at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Rolser recognises that an object that makes your life easier should also be pleasing to the eye. But to its design and marketing teams, true beauty lies in customers’ appreciation for their efforts and the ways in which they use the company’s thoughtfully developed wares – whether it’s for a commonplace trip to the mercado or a dash to the beach on a sweltering day.
According to one faithful Rolser user, there is no cargo too precious for these trolleys. One story goes that a jeweller in Valencia was looking to transfer his precious goods to a new shop; rather than attract unwanted attention by hiring an armoured car and guards, he enlisted the help of a group of Rolser-toting grannies. Their shopping trolleys were loaded up with boxes of jewellery, with bunches of leeks placed on top – their green ends innocently poking out from the carts’ uppermost fabric flap. Jewellery in tow, the women walked through Valencia just as they would on any other day, safely delivering their cargo to its new home, with passersby unaware of the treasures held within their Rolsers. It’s a fitting anecdote: there is always more than meets the eye when it comes to an unassuming sets of wheels.
Nacho Martín
Design director, Accenture Song
Barrio de Las Letras
What’s in your Rolser?
Normally food but today I’m moving some heavy design tomes with ease.
Describe you Rolser in a word:
Ferrari.
Heather and Oliver Evans
Specialist guide (toddler still unemployed)
Quinta de Los Molinos Park
What’s in your Rolser?
Groceries, dinosaurs, cars, water bottles, peace of mind – and today, my son.
How long have you had it?
More than three years. I’ve had other carritos but once I had a child, I needed an upgrade.
Javier Pérez-Viu
Creative strategist and coach
Outside Alma Nomad bakery, Chamberí
What’s in your Rolser?
Normally it’s sparkling water, tech cables and survival snacks. Today it’s running shoes, electrolytes and a back-up hard drive.
Describe your Rolser in a word:
Faithful.
Daniel Chalmeta
Strategic partner manager, Meta
Outside Mercado Los Mostenses
What’s in your Rolser?
Some eucalyptus for my flat, groceries and some new summer clothes I just bought for my birthday trip to the Baleares.
How long have you had it?
It came with the flat when I rented it and I use it more than I expected.
Eva Yatsutko
Painter
Walking through Malasaña
How long have you had your Rolser?
I’m a newbie. Until a year ago I was using only backpacks.
What’s in your Rolser?
Food. Today I’m carting vegan empanadas, four types of cheese, kiwi juice and kefir.
Marisa Santamaría
Researcher, design curator and teacher
Plaza de Olavide, Chamberí
Where are you going?
To fully restock my fridge because I’ve been in Milan for two weeks.
How long have you had your Rolser?
There’s been a Rolser in my house since I can remember. They simplify the heavy slog of daily life.
Jenni Dawes
Future visualisation teacher
Walking through Lavapiés
Where are you coming from?
I’m on my way back with all the materials from a workshop I run called How to Remember the Future.
How do you “roll”?
Mindfully.
Yoeri Zavrel
Eyewear designer
Walking through Conde Duque
What’s in your Rolser?
Usually market-fresh groceries but today I’m carrying boxes of eyewear deliveries from my brand (Sample Eyewear, if you’re asking).
How do you “roll”?
Like greased lightning.
Mikolaj Bielski
Artistic director, Réplika Teatro
Barrio de Argüelles
What’s in your Rolser?
Imagination, surprises and uncertainty – props basically.
How do you “roll”?
Slightly overflowing, keeping it together, holding space for small producers.
Fabián Sobrino
Real-estate agent
Leaving Lidl in Malasaña
How long have you had your Rolser?
A few years but I wish I’d had it longer – it’s the best.
What’s in your Rolser?
The heaviest things, whatever fits. It’s a good alternative to plastic bags.
Violeta Dai
Art and project director
Outside Mercado Barceló
What’s in your Rolser?
Today there are plants, a vase of flowers, a bunch of rocks, a bag of earth and tree bark – for a photoshoot, I promise.
Describe your Rolser in a word:
Señora.
In 2024 global military expenditure hit a record $2.72trn (€2.37trn). While much of this was directed towards the development of 21st century weaponry, militaries are still in dire need of that most basic but increasingly difficult to procure resource: manpower. In Europe, where this personnel shortage is particularly acute, vanishingly small numbers seem to be interested in military service: a Gallup poll last year revealed that only 32 per cent of EU citizens would be willing to fight for their country in the event of a war. It’s a fact that is vastly complicated by the presence of war on the continent. To combat this apathy, governments are spending big on recruitment campaigns. The messaging and imagery tells us a lot about how a country sees itself, as well as the specific challenges that it faces.
Almost all of these ads are aimed at young people for whom patriotism might not be as powerful a pull as it once was. So, gone are the jingoistic slogans of yesteryear – “Your country needs you” and “Follow the flag” – and in their place are ones that appeal to feelings themselves, such as a desire for adventure or self-improvement: “Anything but regular” or “Be all you can be”.
Of course, though pressing, recruitment gaps in Europe and the US are not yet existential. This is not the case for countries at war. In Ukraine, where all men aged between 25-60 are required to register for conscription, there is a huge manpower shortage as the war of attrition with Russia moves towards its fourth year and many seek exemptions from the call-up. While conscription squads roam the streets looking for draft dodgers, the military is also getting creative with its advertising, trying to sell service as something cool and fun, rather than a death sentence.
In Russia, which has also seen forms of mobilisation mixed with a wider recruiting drive, most messaging focuses on the themes of masculinity and material gain. “Monthly payments starting at 204,000 rubles [€2,210],” are the last words to appear on screen in the campaign discussed here, which was released at a time when Russian battlefield losses in Ukraine were estimated to be as much as 700 a day.
In such circumstances, recruiters cannot, perhaps, afford to be anything other than blunt. But how can countries that are not yet at war persuade a cohort of people for whom military service has never seemed like a viable career path to join the army?
Here, we assess seven recent military recruitment campaigns from around the world, identifying how their ambition translates to overall messaging, as well as whether they have been successful with their creative choices. There is generally a widespread understanding in defence ministries across the globe that a military career must be rebranded to appeal to a new generation. But how best to achieve this? Let’s find out.
1.
France
Campaign: Can you do it?
Year: 2024
Agency: Dentsu Creative France, an advertising and public-relations firm based in Paris, which has produced work for Adobe and Ikea.
Messaging: This campaign for the French land army is about emphasising the variety and adventure of military life in the 21st century. The online component stresses that the army offers recruits 117 specialities in which to train, as well as detailed daily life in the force and invited potential recruits to try their hand at fitness events and team-based activities hosted in five French cities, including Paris and Marseille.
Ambition: Launched in September 2024, the campaign’s objective was to recruit 16,000 new soldiers and 5,000 reservists in the following year.
Does it work? At the time of writing, the French army has yet to release the recruitment figures for the year following the campaign. It certainly succeeds in making army life sound a little more fun than you might suspect.While many young people in Western countries are struggling with unemployment, a social life dominated by technology and a lack of purpose, an adventure and some structure might just seem appealing.
2.
Sweden
Campaign: You have what it takes.
Year: 2024
Agency: Nord DDB
Message: This is the first time that a Swedish military recruitment ad hasn’t featured a single soldier, weapon or battlefield. A woman gives a friend a piggyback across a bridge. Up flash the words, “Marching with a heavy bag…You have what it takes.” Next, we’re in a classroom where another woman is nodding off. Her friend throws a paper ball at her. “Assist your combat partner…You have what it takes,” insists the text. At a time when Sweden is rapidly rearming, this campaign is aimed squarely at young women, who make up less than 20 per cent of new recruits.
Ambition: The goal of the Swedish Armed Forces is for 30 per cent of its new recruits to be women by 2030. “You have what it takes” was conceived with this plan in mind.
Does it work? In 2024, women made up 19 per cent of the armed forces (the army, air force and navy combined), down from 24 per cent in 2023, but the numbers are heading in the right direction.
3.
Russia
Campaign: You’re a man. Act like it.
Year: 2023
Agency: In-house at Russia’s ministry of defence
Messaging: In this televised campaign, supermarket security guards, taxi drivers and fitness trainers are shown shape-shifting. “Did you really want to choose this path?” a super asks with menace. One flicker of the light and they’re transformed into soldiers, clad in military gear. Questioning the virility and value of everyday jobs, such as those of shopkeepers or chauffeurs, the campaign attempts to shame men across Russia into action, while depicting the military as an antidote to the humdrum existence of modern life.
Ambition: To drastically increase recruitment of professional soldiers. Though all Russian men aged 18 are required to complete 12 months of national service, these conscripts cannot be deployed to fight outside of Russia and were exempt from a first round of mobilisation in 2022. When this campaign launched, Russian losses in Ukraine were averaging almost 700 personnel a day. The defence ministry was forced into even more desperate attempts at recruitment, including commuting prisoners’ sentences in return for signing up and offering huge financial incentives.
Does it work? Sort of. The Kremlin avoided a potentially mutinous second round of mobilisation, with Vladimir Putin claiming that 490,000 soldiers were recruited in the 12 months up to December 2023, though he later revised that figure to “more than 300,000”. But as Russia expert Lucy Birge explains, “For most men, the money that they’re offered is the prime motivator for signing up.” This campaign advertises monthly pay of more than €2,000, nearly three times the national average, while the families of men killed at the front receive a payout of €45,000.
4.
Singapore
Campaign: Anything but regular.
Year: 2023
Agency: Tribal Worldwide Singapore
Messaging: With films showing military vehicles racing through vast plains, the Singapore army’s campaign dispels notions of military uniformity or a life of administrative boredom.
Ambition: Under the Enlistment Act, male Singaporean citizens and permanent residents are required to complete two years of national service when they hit 18 but too few of these conscripts are choosing to remain in the armed forces. This campaign targets Gen Z Singaporeans, breaking down preconceptions of an army career.
Does it work? The army claims there was a 47 per cent increase in voluntary sign-ups following the campaign.
5.
UK
Campaign: Your army needs you.
Year: 2019 – 2023
Agency: Karmarama
Message: Not the most current of the British Army’s recruitment campaigns but a clever departure from predictable messaging. This campaign riffs on the British First World War-era “Lord Kitchener Wants You” posters to subvert stereotypes of millennials as narcissistic, phone-addicted layabouts. It suggests that these traits are well suited to the army: being self-centred signals confidence, while “snow flakes” and “phone zombies” have compassion focus and technical nous.
Ambition: “Your army needs you” formed part of a larger series aimed at British youngsters who might have considered their sexuality or religion to be a barrier to an army career.
Does it work? The campaign led to the army’s busiest three-month recruitment period in seven years. It was replaced in 2023 with the more traditional “You belong here” campaign.
6.
Ukraine
Campaigns: Fight in the Third Assault Brigade.
Year: 2025
Agency: An in-house media team of 12 full-time staff.
Message: “We’ll prepare you for any scenario,” reads a slogan emblazoned in orange. In the foreground, a Ukrainian soldier wearing sunglasses lies next to a slain alien; in the background, UFOs contend with anti-aircraft fire. This campaign uses both humour and cinematic imagery to portray military service as fun and adventurous. The message here is that those who enlist need not fear, including, even, an alien invasion. The implicit one is that as a soldier in the Ukraine’s army, they will be heroes fighting for justice and look good doing it.
Ambition: Though a new law introduced last year requires every Ukrainian man aged between 25 and 60 to sign up for some form of military service, recruitment shortages continue to undermine the country’s heroic resistance. This poster could be for an action film, with messaging that plays well with the younger audience that it seeks to recruit. It also evokes a kind of humorous stoicism that many have deployed since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Does it work? In a sense, yes. The Third Assault Brigade averages about 500 new recruits per month, above the army average. But Ukraine still faces a challenge that frivolity might be incapable of solving, hence a reversion to coercion via conscription squads.
7.
USA
Campaign: Be all you can be.
Year: 2023
Agency: Army Enterprise Marketing Office/DDB Chicago
Message: The US Army is an exciting and stable career choice. You can defend your nation, solve problems, tend to the wounded and plan complex logistics. Serving in the army is a job for the ambitious, curious, adventurous and empowered. The campaign insists that steady wages and benefits including healthcare, tuition, job training and veteran support mean that the US Army is a path to a secure future.
Ambition: This was a return to tried-and-tested messaging after a controversial campaign that experimented with animated portraits of individual soldiers’ emotional lives. By rebooting an instantly identifiable slogan and jingle, the US Army sought to reassure the public that the institution had not strayed too far from tradition and to inspire a Gen Z audience to enlist by appealing to their desire for purpose, identity and impact.
Does it work? Yes. In the two years since the campaign’s launch, brand awareness increased from 50 to 75 per cent, according to the Army Enterprise Marketing Office. In June the US Army hit this year’s recruiting goal four months early, with 61,000 future soldiers under contract.That target was 10 per cent higher than last year’s.
