Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

We’re spending the weekend out and about, both near and far. From a welcome addition to London’s hire-vehicle scene and window shopping with Gucci to Sotheby’s first auction in Saudi Arabia, a literary jaunt through joyous Kolkata and The Monocle Concierge’s meander through Melbourne, we’re certainly racking up the miles. Setting us off is our editor in chief, Andrew Tuck.

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The February issue of Monocle will arrive on newsstands – and subscribers’ doormats – this week. But if you are a potential kiosk client, I just thought I’d tempt you to pick up a copy.

While Monocle has section editors with their own patches (Nic Monisse gets to rule over the fertile design landscape; Christopher Lord, well, lords it over business; and so on), the magazine delights in exploring the links between disciplines and the interconnectedness of all that surrounds us. That includes how global affairs affect business (hello, tariffs), how design affects educational outcomes and how good architecture can improve your health.

One of my favourite stories in the issue picks up on this theme. The University Children’s Hospital Zürich was designed by Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron and, wherever possible, it used timber in its construction. The facility, affectionately known as Kispi, also features courtyards filled with native plants where the young patients can go to warm their faces in the sun. Every bedroom is made to feel like a cosy cabin. It’s a perfect example of the interplay between seemingly disparate spheres: how architecture can ease the anxiety of patients and parents, and how aesthetics and science share a common goal.

The issue is packed with 25 such stories offering a hopeful and inspiring look at the year ahead, and the people, products and places we should embrace (with their permission, of course).

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Somehow, someone I met in my twenties – when I was a whippersnapper writer and he was a promoter (among many things) of Absolut Vodka – has ended up as a constant in my life, despite the fact that he moved to the countryside with his partner and children. Even the children, now adults, have featured in my life. On Tuesday I saw the whole posse at the British Film Institute because Tate, the daughter, has produced a short film called Out of the Peat (directed by Tabitha Carless-Frost and Theo Rollason) about the discovery of a body in a bog. It was all part of the London Short Film Festival and a competition section themed around panoramics. Perhaps the best part was the Q&A with the all the young directors – every one as eloquent with words as they are with images. It was a line-up of talent at the start of something – and some of them were no doubt making connections that will persist across decades.

The other good bit was walking home. As its name suggests, the BFI Southbank is on the southern shore of the Thames so I headed up onto Waterloo Bridge to cross the river’s dark waters. The night was cold and the sky black, and the city in every direction looked like a place of promise. From St Paul’s Cathedral to Westminster, London was at its finest. I would have lingered but that body in the bog made me think that it would be wiser to get home and bolt the door.

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On Monday I had another fine view of London when some of the Monocle crew had dinner at the rooftop restaurant of The Ned. It was a self-bestowed reward after a panel session on what’s next for travel (and also to promote our travel annual, The Escapist. You can click here to read my colleague Josh’s dispatch on another key focus of the evening, hospitality). I hadn’t been to The Ned, a members’ club and hotel, for a long time but the place was humming. Here in the heart of the city’s financial district it seemed like Mondays were, well, the Mondays of old.

Last week I wrote a bit about the competing patterns of work and why we believe in the office. The topic came up at lunch on Wednesday when a friend told me that an email had just landed at his company telling everyone that their three days a week in the office would now become four (apparently people were seen running down corridors brandishing the message on their screens. A scream was heard from one desk). Their mood was not helped by the fact that the company moved to dinkier offices post-pandemic. So when everyone finally pitches up, some will have to spend the day on the lobby sofas. If only the managers had thought about the interconnectedness of office design, business outcomes and wellbeing. I’ll send them a copy of our February issue for their reception.

It is reasonable to surmise that high-end auction houses are among the entities keenest on Saudi Arabia’s liberalisation: after all, the kingdom is not short of people with money to spend. Sotheby’s will celebrate the opening of its new office in Riyadh’s Norman Foster-designed Al Faisaliah Tower with its first auction (titled “Origins”) in the country on 8 February.

Sotheby’s is heading to the desert for the sale: it will be held at picturesque Diriyah, which is home to the At-Turaif District Unesco World Heritage Site. Among more than 100 lots are works by Arab artists, notably Palestinian-American painter Samia Halaby, Syrian modernist Louay Kayyali and Saudi Arabia’s own Mohammed al-Saleem. But the headline pieces are those that would be pricey anywhere: works by René Magritte and Banksy, estimated to fetch more than $1m (€845,000).

Given Saudi Arabia’s mania for sports, one of the non-art lots could raise the most hands. A signed Chicago Bulls jersey worn by Michael Jordan is expected to sell for $1.2m (€1m). By way of providing some perspective on the relative value of superstars still playing, you could sport the shirt worn by Cristiano Ronaldo when Portugal lost the Euro 2024 quarter-final for an estimated $70,000 (€59,000).
sothebys.com

As fashion brands focused their investments on social-media campaigns and online shopfronts, the art of window dressing was, for a time, somewhat neglected (writes Natalie Theodosi). But brands are now realising that there’s far more value in physical shopping and intimate environments.

The experience of buying clothes starts with the windows and Gucci is setting a good precedent. The Milan-based house has kick-started a trend reversal by unveiling a new window concept, “Endless Narratives”, in which the spring designs of its creative director, Sabato de Sarno – elegant suede jackets, silk blouses and accessories in its signature Ancora red – are showcased alongside mirrored bookcases, design objects and artworks by Italian painter Luca Pignatelli.

The items are linked to either Gucci’s history or De Sarno’s modern-day inspirations and will change across the year to reflect the label’s seasonal collections. It’s a smart move. Window dressing has always been an effective way to pique customers’ curiosity and encourage them to look more closely at quality. And, of course, it’s also a gateway to sales.

Pedestrians wearied by taking evasive action to avoid hire scooters and bikes ridden by antisocial yahoos, let alone the footwork required to circumvent the scrapyards of abandoned velocipedes on footpaths, might not rejoice at an even bigger addition to these fleets (writes Andrew Mueller). But cautious optimism should attend the unleashing of Yo-Go’s bright-yellow four-wheeled electric buggies on London. An introductory contingent of 10 is operating in Fulham and will get you around at a top speed of 32 km/h for £0.20 (€0.24) per minute.

Even if these buggies end up sharing a core user base of belligerent hooligans with hire cycles and e-scooters, as seems likely, they might prove less pestilential to pedestrians. After all, they will find it harder to mount footpaths (though some will doubtless try) and their relative heft might make users less likely to barrel through red lights.

Nevertheless, the key question hanging over all such urban-mobility schemes remains unanswered: who will police them? If London is any guide, it won’t be the police. No serious effort is made to enforce laws against riding privately owned e-scooters in public, nor to address the atrocious behaviour of hire-cycle and food-delivery riders.

The hire (and delivery) companies could and should take responsibility. All of their vehicles – scooters, bikes, buggies – should have a clearly visible individual number or symbol. A dedicated online portal should allow the reporting of dangerous riding. And they should send their own people to monitor any trouble spots. They’re profiting from our streets so it’s the least that they can do.

For authors, a book tour is a chance to travel and converse after countless hours of writing (writes Georgina Godwin). For me, it’s slightly different: I go on tours to interview people for Meet the Writers on Monocle Radio. I’m currently on the road to attend The Coal India Kolkata Literary Meet, which takes place in the city’s Horticultural Garden, a lush 205-year-old oasis with tropical birds and plants, water features and the odd stray dog.

Upon arriving in Kolkata, nicknamed the “City of Joy” after the novel by Dominique Lapierre, I was whisked straight to a party and didn’t even have time to check in to the elegantly appointed Taj Bengal. The soirée was given by the publisher Penguin on the rooftop of the Glenburn Penthouse, a nine-key boutique hotel owned by Husna-Tara Prakash that overlooks the Victoria Memorial.

My tip for this week is Wild Fictions, a collection of essays by Kolkata-born author Amitav Ghosh, who discussed the book at an event at the Taj Bengal earlier this week. It’s what I’ll be reading by the pool before dressing for dinner at the Tollygunge Club.

The Monocle Concierge is our purveyor of top tips and delectable recommendations for your next trip. If you’re planning to go somewhere nice and would like some advice, clickhere. We will publish one answer each week.

Dear Concierge,

Hi there. I’m in need of accommodation and restaurant recommendations for Melbourne. Can you help?

Thanks,
David
London

Dear David,

If your style of travel leans towards finding the rhythms of local life and culture rather than chasing landmarks and photo opportunities, Melbourne’s charms are sure to seduce you. This is also an excellent time of year to visit.

Two new hotel openings have recently helped to redress Melbourne’s curious boutique-accommodation shortage. The first is The StandardX. Located in lively Fitzroy, there are few better (or better situated) hotels in town. But should you wish to stay slap-bang in the city centre, consider Melbourne Place. Not only is its flagship restaurant, Marmelo, one of the city’s best new restaurants but you’ll be right around the corner from a Hector’s Deli – home to one of the metropolis’s most venerated sandwiches.

Melbourne is a global café capital so look out for anywhere that uses celebrated local roasters such as Market Lane, St Ali, Seven Seeds or Axil. For a deeper dive into this city’s coffee scene, head to Ona and Disciple, both in Brunswick. The former has a freezer full of rare coffees, while the latter likens itself to a coffee cellar-door experience. For breakfast, line up for a croissant at Lune or head to Florian in Carlton North.

The leafy Carlton North district with its pub- and café-lined boulevards is well worth exploring before you settle down for a tipple or two at Geralds Bar, one of the city’s most legendary watering holes. It’s a short walk to Bar Bellamy and Bistra, two versatile bistros with excellent food and warm service. Over in neighbouring Fitzroy, taste the growing influence of Australia’s Indian diaspora at petite Keralan restaurant Toddy Shop or visit Manzé in North Melbourne to see what happens when Mauritian food meets an Aussie wine list. Melbourne’s best wine bar is still Embla but if you’re after a cocktail, new players such as Purple Pit and Apollo Inn will keep you fizzing along nicely. Last but not least, a meal at Gimlet, perhaps the city’s most singularly elegant dining spot, will linger long in the memory.

Following an illustrious career as a dancer, Damian Woetzel served on Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and led a series of major arts programmes in the US, including at the Aspen Institute. Now he is the president of The Juilliard School, one of the world’s most prestigious performing-arts conservatoires. He recently spoke to Monocle Radio’s The Big Interview about his creative roots, democratising the arts and more.

What first drew you to ballet?
It was a chance to perform and be immersed in the magic of a theatrical environment, surrounded by music and costumes. I found out very quickly that I had a good equilibrium for turning. By the time I was 12 I knew that I was going to be a dancer.

You started to branch out from dancing in your thirties, which is relatively early for a principal. Why?
I wanted to be part of a bigger conversation. I started choreographing shows, leading touring groups and talking about how the arts fit into a bigger social picture. I was influenced by Leonard Bernstein’s Congress testimony on the importance of the arts and Lincoln Kirstein, a founding member of the School of American Ballet, the New York City Ballet and more.

You hope to make tuition at The Juilliard School free one day. How important is that to you?
Money shouldn’t stand in the way of a child discovering their talent because art is a public good. Artists, their communities and their enterprises are all part of society’s development. They create a sense of purpose, inspiration, nuance and knowledge that we can’t find elsewhere.

You’ve been everything from a student and a government advisor to a choreographer and a school president. What next?
Right now, I have a wide aperture. But perhaps there will be a moment when, in a very Japanese sense, I’ll tend the garden. That might be where it all ends.

For more interviews and insights from the world of culture, subscribe to Monocle. Have a super Saturday.