The Monocle Minute

Insights can come from unexpected places. I’m not superstitious but I did crack open a fortune cookie yesterday that seemed to capture the global mood better than most media companies. The uncanny missive, plucked from a bowl left by a Chinese colleague celebrating Lunar New Year, captured the atmosphere of overload and uncertainty that many are feeling. “Everything will now come your way,” it solemnly proclaimed.

Tell me you haven’t also clocked that sense of surfeit and risk this January. From the juddering global markets and Trump’s freewheeling White House to the ongoing drama at the Blue House in Seoul – and from Kremlin to Knesset – there’s a palpable unease. Even the most divided newspapers and rolling TV channels seem to agree. No one is sure of where to look next.

So where should you focus when the world is worrying? Well, I’ve pulled together a few stories from our out-today February issue of Monocle that offer focus, intrigue and ideas to be upbeat about.

Fat profits
Our Copenhagen correspondent sat down with Ozempic inventor, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, a woman whose contribution to employer, Novo Nordisk, might have kept the entire Danish economy from recession in 2024. What’s more, she thinks of herself as just another employee. Talk about snaffling an extra slice of humble pie.

Buildings matter
Addis Ababa’s recently renovated Africa Hall convention centre from 1961 is a concrete (and brick and stained-glass) example of architecture’s capacity to bring people together for a common good. How spaces are made can help us heal too. Herzog & de Meuron’s University Children’s Hospital at the foot of Zürich’s Burghölzli hill shows that care can take many forms.

A cut above
Great designers aren’t born; they’re trained – many at Tokyo’s fêted but impossibly underreported Bunka Fashion College. Fiona Wilson’s report is a must-read. As are our interviews with Uniqlo’s first creative director, Clare Waight Keller, and German designer Jil Sander. The latter’s enigmatic understatement is refreshing. Could 2025 be the year of discretion and restraint?

Character counts
Lastly, we use the 80th anniversary of Tove Jansson’s Moomin creations to delve into the canny business behind a €680m global brand that you’re as likely to see selling ruminative children’s books as collaborating with brands such as Comme des Garçons, Rimowa or Bulgari. Trolling never looked so lucrative.

So, as we wave goodbye to the Year of the Dragon and welcome that of a subtler, less-certain-looking serpent, we all need to stay informed, optimistic and poised to seize prosperity before it passes. However the cookie crumbles, our fortunes – political, social and urban – are often intertwined.

Josh Fehnert is Monocle’s editor. Buy a copy of the February issue or pick up the issue on any good newsstand now. Better yet, subscribe so that you never miss a beat.

Boom Supersonic, the Colorado-based company that says it has the answer to making supersonic passenger travel viable again, has flown its demonstrator aircraft at supersonic speed for the first time. In a test flight high above the Mojave Desert, the XB-1 accelerated to Mach 1.1 (1,358km/h) – 10 per cent faster than the speed of sound. It’s the first time a commercial venture has reached supersonic speeds since Concorde but does this mean that we can look forward to crisscrossing the Atlantic at the speed of sound any time soon?

Perhaps, though it’s not a done deal just yet. Many questions remain: chiefly, which engines will power the final aircraft and be able to do so reliably; the XB-1’s engine is ill-equipped for larger passenger aircraft. “My aspiration is to make the fastest flight also the most affordable,” Boom’s founder, Blake Scholl, told Monocle in Issue 144, when the company was just getting off the ground. “You have to work at it incrementally but you don’t have to break the laws of physics to do it; it’s all possible.” There are a lot more barriers to break if the company is to begin commercial flights for its 2030 target but this week’s success is a positive development – and the news, like the XB-1, travels fast.

Our friends at Die Zeit, Germany’s weekly newspaper of record, have found a new way to engage with readers in Berlin. This spring, it will open a café and bookshop in a former Shell petrol station in the Schöneberg district. “The Zeit Café will present the newest issues of Die Zeit, its magazines, books and products – as well as hosting events and producing podcasts too,” Christoph Amend, the publishing group’s editorial director, tells The Monocle Minute. “Surrounded by trees and a pond with fish, it has been one of my favourite spots for years. It’s an oasis in the centre of the city.”

The space comes courtesy of a collaboration with esteemed art galleries Pace and Galerie Judin. Originally built in 1954, the garage was abandoned in 1986 and sat derelict before a renovation overseen by gallerist Juerg Judin in 2005 restored its modernist charms. From 1 May the gallery will also host a show to inaugurate the exhibition space. And visitors can enjoy good coffee and a trove of print from the same date.

For Monocle’s February issue our Tokyo bureau chief, Fiona Wilson, spoke with Takeo Suzuki, a designer at Pentax. His suggestion to develop a new film camera was initially met with a tepid reception but it led to the production of the Pentax 17, the company’s first such model in 21 years. And it’s not the only camera that’s getting physical in 2025. Here, we’ve compiled three cameras taking instant snaps that have us excited about the future of film photography.

1. I-2 Camera, Polaroid
The recently introduced I-2 – with its ultra-sharp lens, tactile controls and Bluetooth connectivity – is a welcome addition to the Polaroid family and an exemplar of supporting film photography with digital functionality.

2. Instax Wide 400, Fujifilm
At twice the size of the globally popular Instax Mini, the Instax Wide 400 offers on-the-spot prints and a manual timer to help line up the perfect group shot.

3. Lomo’Instant Wide Boston, Lomography
Lomography’s Wide Boston is highly customisable. With three different lens attachments included as standard, this modern instant camera is no longer affected by the limitations of a single lens.

What do sailing and wealth management have in common? For Vincent Lecomte, CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, both require vision, adaptability and trust. Lecomte joins The Entrepreneurs to explain how a turbulent economic landscape requires investors to embrace new challenges, manage risks and adapt to new strategies.