Sophie Grove
Stepping forward
Santoni’s shoemaking apprentices can take six years to learn the precise, careful trade. Master shoemaker Silvano Sollini reveals his pride in passing on the craft to a younger generation in Italy.
Runaway success
Buoyed by 100 years of heritage, Alenia Aermacchi has engineered a venerable position at the forefront ofcivilian and military aeronautics. Monocle tours the company’s Turin facility for a pre-flight check.
Task masters
Decisive, outspoken, innovative, inspiring, bold; Monocle speaks to the steel magnate, hotelier, vintner, electricity group head and fashion distributor setting their own agenda.
The fixers
Plagued by scandal and financial woes, Italy has long been making headlines for the wrong reasons. We meet five people striving for change in the country.
Way ahead
Starting a new business is about ideas, inspiration and location. We visit a Lisbon neighbourhood pushing small enterprise, the corner of Istanbul that’s ripe for retail and a Mexican tech hub.
On a roll
Despite having 13,000km of rail track, most of Turkey’s exports are transported by road or sea. Now, a freight-train pioneer wants to make the country king of the rails.
The soft parade
Which nations are the world's new superpowers of subtle influence? Monocle's fourth annual soft power survey takes the pulse of countries that look beyond military might to exert a more nuanced global authority.
x10 essay
As we leave one year behind and head into the next, 10 writers and academics ponder the issues that have pre-occupied us in 2013 and the ones that will crop up in 2014.
The hot spots
It’s been a great year for some and a tougher year for others. Here’s a tour of our top 25 cities and why we love them.
To lathe ’n’ dye in LA
A quiet revolution is taking place in Los Angeles as manufacturing workshops flourish once more. Monocle visits the LA makers who are reviving the city’s artisan spirit and championing quality over surface sheen.
