Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

David Lynch is an auteur film-maker, conceived a nightclub in Paris and has the best hair in the business. A man with such a rich and varied array of talents is the perfect candidate to run a festival. This weekend Lynch’s two-day Festival of Disruption comes to the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles to celebrate music, art and creativity. Highlights include a debut of Twin Peaks VR, a virtual-reality experience where viewers must escape the surrealist nightmare of the red room, and Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA’s reworking of kung-fu classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, where the hip-hop artist replaces the classic soundtrack. Proceeds from the festival will go to Lynch’s eponymous foundation that was set up to help victims of abuse and trauma through transcendental meditation – a technique personally lauded by the director.

Five years after closing down for the first big renovation in its history, Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum reopens to the public today. Originally completed in 1866, the building has been given a raft of new features – among them a huge new gallery, a sculpture courtyard and a restaurant – but one of the most luminary decisions was to let more natural light in by removing blinds that had covered 300 windows on the building since the 1930s. After financing the SEK1.2bn (€116m) works, the Swedish government has also decided to make entrance free for all visitors: yet another bright idea for this light-flooded museum.

Allbirds is one of the few fashion brands to have conquered Silicon Valley. Since launching in 2016, the San Francisco start-up’s unfussy merino-wool trainers have been sported by every tech guy in town. Its rapid rise (the brand recently sold its one-millionth pair) has seen it valued at $1.4bn. Now it’s looking further afield: this week it is opening its first European shop, in London’s Covent Garden. London presents a very different prospect from Silicon Valley but Allbirds possesses qualities that will appeal to shoppers here: it is focused on sustainable materials, practicality and is affordably priced. Moreover its location, in tourist-friendly Covent Garden rather than, say, fashion-forward Shoreditch, seems sensible. For more on the company listen to our interview with co-founder Tim Brown on The Entrepreneurs.

From the gleaming front of the Willis Tower to the sheer scale of the Merchandise Mart, Chicago is a city with many design treasures. Today and tomorrow its architectural gems will be available for public exploration as Open House Chicago enables visitors to descend upon more than 250 sites throughout the city. There is a lot to get through for energetic design aficionados. As well as the accepted classics in the Downtown Loop, the scheme has opened up buildings in three new boroughs: Austin, Beverly and Morgan Park. But there’s more to Open House than tramping through famous buildings. The weekend also features a live painting restoration at Corpus Christi Church as well as wine and beer-making classes.

With a shared sense of style and a desire to turn their passion for design into something tangible, Oscar Phillips and Sheriff-Deen Showobi set out to craft the ideal sunglasses. Inspired by vintage frames, they created Oscar Deen. The east London natives built their brand over three years and launched it earlier this year. Phillips works full-time at a recruitment agency, while Showobi works for an advertising agency, meaning Oscar Deen represents the ultimate side hustle.

We’re celebrating all things French in our March issue. We’ve got reports on the things you’d expect – chic fashion, baguette rebels and Macron – and perhaps some things you don’t – from why the French navy is riding high to popstars setting the global agenda. Buy your copy now.