The Monocle Minute
On Design

“It’s about having objects that have meaning,” says architect Catherine Gay Menzel, showing Monocle around the apartment that she shares with her husband, Götz Menzel, and their two children in Saint-Maurice. In this town of about 4,500 people in the Swiss canton of Valais, the duo established their architecture firm, GayMenzel, in 2013 after working in New York, Basel and Hamburg. On an upper floor of a grand, 18th-century building with a view of the mountains, their home has a warm, lived-in feel, with art, books and plants set against the backdrop of the structure’s historical features.

“This is old architecture with many ledges and protrusions – it’s not sleek or minimalist,” says Menzel, explaining that such details make it easy to personalise the space. Here, every object, from the art on the walls to a picture of a pair of chairs drawn by Gay Menzel when they lived in New York, tells the story of its inhabitants. This interest in objets trouvés (found objects) from various life stages and eras permeates the couple’s work, including their 2021 renovation of the Grand Hôtel du Cervin, a nearby 19th-century hotel. “A care for quality, liveability and domesticity – an idea of comfort in qualitative and aesthetic terms, in terms of the space, light and scale – makes one feel good,” says Gay Menzel, describing her practice’s work, which ranges from public spaces to chalets. “That’s what is most interesting in architecture: making a place pleasant to live in.”

For more on GayMenzel and its work, pick up a copy of Monocle’s December/January issue today.

What makes for good design? Versatility, practicality, high-end manufacturing and striking looks are all essential ingredients, which is something that Monocle and leading French furniture brand Tiptoe agree on. That’s why we have collaborated on a new iteration of Tiptoe’s Lou stool. Launched in Paris earlier this month (over a cocktail, of course), it’s an easy-to-assemble perch that can serve as a seat, bedside table or side table.

Made in Europe from sustainably sourced oak, the stool is finished in an exclusive olive colourway and has powder-coated steel legs. It’s also stackable, making it a useful addition to any home that is anticipating surprise holiday guests. Those who want to buy one (or six) would do well to visit Tiptoe’s flagship shop on Rue du Temple in Paris. Here, until 22 January, a Monocle shop-in-a-shop will be selling the special-edition Lou, as well as a range of books, stationery, accessories, luggage and homewares, making it an essential stop for anyone looking for some last-minute gifts.
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Katie Stout, a designer based in New York’s Hudson Valley, creates lamps, vases and light pieces that are unabashed, flamboyant and, yes, a bit garish. That’s partly the point, she tells Monocle. Stout draws on the whimsy of Victorian domestic design to create a cast of cavorting frogs, dogs and women hanging off flower-studded pieces that wouldn’t look out of place in a 19th-century garden. The work treads a fine line between functional object and outlandish sculpture. This has made Stout a rising star, with shows at design galleries such as New York’s R & Company. Her latest exhibition, Olympia, opened during Miami Art Week at the city’s Nina Johnson Gallery.

The surface of your ceramics looks like impasto paint. How do you create these pieces?
They are made using a coil-built process. The dimples on the exterior are just thumbprints from me pinching the ceramic as I build them. I use a mix of commercial glazes and ones that we make in the studio, and apply them very loosely, like watercolours. As a result, there are parts that are more translucent and others that are more opaque. I like to create layers of depth and colour by applying and reapplying glaze.

How did your show ‘Olympia’ develop?
I was pregnant when I was making the pieces in this show. I didn’t realise it at the time but all of the works are kinds of vessels. The jugs and vases obviously are but now I even refer to the lamps as vessels because they’re holding the light. I was looking at a lot of Victorian furniture for inspiration. I also make wicker furniture that draws on the era. Victorian design is so ripe with ideas. I love how they approached ornamentation. There’s a fascinating clunkiness to it but such an exuberance when it comes to material.

You moved your studio from Brooklyn to Upstate New York over the past two years. How has that shaped your work?
My husband and I bought an old church in the Hudson Valley and turned it into my studio. We live in the parsonage beside it. I feel far more settled and it’s good not to be getting in trouble any more for doing stuff in the studio that I’m not supposed to [because of restrictions in the city]. The church has been inspiring, especially for this body of work, which is so much about monumentality.

For more on Miami’s design scene, listen to this week’s episode of ‘Monocle on Design’. Stout’s ‘Olympia’ exhibition runs at Miami’s Nina Johnson Gallery until 6 January.

In search of a gift for a lighting collector? A vintage Stilnovo is a safe bet. Founded in 1946 by Bruno Gatta and headquartered in Treviso, the company spent more than four decades at the cutting edge of Italian design, manufacturing pieces by the likes of Ettore Sottsass, Gae Aulenti, Joe Colombo and the Castiglioni brothers. To truly impress a connoisseur, seek out a piece from the company’s early years, when many of its products were not yet credited to a specific designer. This tripod lamp, manufactured in the 1950s, is one such example.

Perched on thin metal legs, with a lantern-like handle for moving it around, this lamp was manufactured with minimal fuss using industrial methods. This simplicity is part of what made Stilnovo such a success: launched a year after the end of the Second World War, the company took a bet on the need for functional, mass-produced lighting in modern homes. Connoisseurs will know all this, of course. But a well-sourced vintage find never fails to impress.

The product line of the late Terence Conran’s celebrated shop recently released a range of orange-hued glasses and jugs. This stacking tumbler set was expertly mouth-blown in Thailand and can brighten up any festive table setting. After all, they’re the perfect serving size for eggnog or mulled wine.
conranshop.co.uk

For a design-minded gift guide featuring a selection of furniture and homeware that will bring warmth and joy this season, pick up a copy of our winter newspaper, ‘Alpino’, today.

Flick to any page of French designer Ronan Bouroullec’s new book, Day After Day, and you’ll be treated to a smorgasbord of textures, colours, styles and compositions. Blue brushstrokes hover near a photograph of a pond, while inked drawings offset snaps of a metal chair. The images offer a colourful yet meditative insight into the mind of one of the design world’s most influential creatives.

The book is a visual diary spanning the years 2014 to 2022, presenting more than 2,750 images with captions in French and English. Included are collaborations with brands such as Kvadrat and Magis, along with personal drawings and snaps from his travels. Bouroullec’s art and installations also make an appearance, including “Les Fontaines des Champs-Élysées”: fountains designed for a roundabout on the Parisian avenue that were erected in 2019. There’s plenty in Day After Day for both Bouroullec’s admirers and newcomers to learn from.

‘Ronan Bouroullec: Day After Day’ is published by Phaidon.