Monocle Weekend
Edition: Saturday

It has been a very soggy week in the south of France (I know, the hardships one has to endure). Usually attendees at Mipim, the world’s largest convention for the property market, can look forward to taking meetings on a sunny hotel terrace while having the year’s first glass (or jeroboam) of rosé. This edition, however, the sun had only a bit part to play on most days but the die-hards still huddled under restaurant awnings every evening and persevered with sunny drinks orders even if a glass of Glühwein might have been more apt. Hold on, isn’t that the Monocle team over there?

The magazine has always reported from Mipim but this year we upped our game and, instead of roaming the stands in the Palais des Festivals, set up camp with our very own Monocle Radio booth, positioned between a lunch station and the Spanish delegation. And our base was cute: a white cube with a big window so that passersby could look in and see us in action. David, our engineer-cum-producer at these events, said that it looked a bit like a fishtank; I certainly felt that I’d gone a bit exhausted jellyfish by day five. But what a few days. My colleague Carlota was drafted in to moderate part of the opening day of talks at “Housing Matters!”, a conference that kicked off the week before Mipim proper began on Tuesday. Taking to the main stage in front of some 800 people, she totally nailed it. Luke and Rebecca from our publishing team speed-dated partners old and new. Fred, our photographer, captured every moment.

One brief aside while we are doing team chat. Mipim has done a good job at bringing in a richer mix of attendees but there’s still a dominant property look that, for the men in the room, involves a navy suit, a puffy gilet, some loafers or perhaps a pair of double-monk strap shoes with, if you are being daring, the top buckle undone. And there’s no criticism implied here. How could there be when both Luke and I realised that we somehow have all the kit. Carlota said that my look was so in step that if I got lost in the mêlée it would be impossible to relocate me without bringing in a sniffer dog. There were, however, a few breakout looks. I liked the gentleman sporting a baseball cap that read “Lehman Brothers, Risk Management” and another who had “Real estate” tattooed on his hands.

But the booth was the masterstroke. In between the scheduled interviews – some 35 people came in to tell their stories – we met subscribers and listeners who had been passing by, and spoke with radio enthusiasts and lots of fans of The Urbanist (really, it’s a very wise and sophisticated audience at Mipim). Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, told us why he’s not convinced that Heathrow needs expanding and why he thinks that Oxford Street will be pedestrianised. Minna Arve, mayor of the Finnish city of Turku, told us how her city will be net zero by 2029 and that even its shipbuilding industry is getting aboard. Alice Charles, director of cities, planning and design at Arup, explained why house-building targets are often problematic and why a good first step is just working out how many empty properties you have. We talked to developers in Saudi, housing officials in Oman, a German pioneer reshaping Hamburg, a man reinventing the carwash, venture capitalists and Ukrainian entrepreneurs.

This is the magic of radio – a medium that people like, a chance to put on headphones and talk to each other. And all made even more fun if you have your own radio aquarium.

To hear from some of the mayors we met, listen to the latest episode ofThe Urbanist. There will also be a special report from Mipim in the May edition of Monocle.

Even the most committed of minimalists are looking to update their look for spring but this shouldn’t equate to the other extreme: over-the-top embellishments or larger-than-life silhouettes (writes Natalie Theodosi). Loro Piana offers a more elegant solution for those hitting refresh: the Spaniard look.

The luxury label has already been enjoying a lot of success with its Spagna jacket, a loosely tailored style with a raised collar conceived in 1998 and inspired by Spanish military regalia. But the Loro Piana design team took it up a notch at its latest Milan Fashion Week presentation, adding delicate embroidery onto jackets, pairing them with voluminous A-line skirts, flat hats alluding to the traditional cordobés styles and billowing sleeve blouses for women.

In the menswear department: gaucho pants, capes and yet more Spagna jackets; all updated in a palette of khaki greens and chocolate browns. These neutral colours and the impeccable fabric quality ensure that you’re never at risk of veering into costume territory, even if you opt for the complete look – cordobés and cape included.

‘Sister Midnight’, Karan Kandhari
Karan Kandhari’s audacious Mumbai-set debut breathes new life into a vampiric tale through a sharp commentary on the pitfalls of arranged marriage. This blackly comic film sees Uma (Radhika Apte) and Gopal (Ashok Pathak) enter an awkward matrimony, which becomes even more difficult to navigate when Uma is bitten by a bug that begins to transform her into something monstrous.
‘Sister Midnight’ is out now

‘Black Bag’, Steven Soderbergh
No one could accuse Steven Soderbergh of complacency. Just a couple of months after the release of his ghost story, Presence, the director returns with Black Bag, a propulsive and phenomenally fun thriller featuring the talents of Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as married intelligence agents. Their union and spy skills are tested when the former is accused of treachery and the latter’s loyalty is split.
‘Black Bag’ is out now

‘La Cocina’, Alonso Ruizpalacios
The Bear, Boiling Point and The Menu proved that restaurants can be an ample source of intrigue – and La Cocina is no exception. Alonso Ruizpalacios sets his film in a gaudy tourist trap off New York’s Times Square, which is largely staffed by recent immigrants. Out of sight of the customers, dishes burn, romances falter, the threat of deportation looms and Ruizpalacios paints an elegant portrait of the American dream’s broken promise.
‘La Cocina’ is released on 28 March

As they say in ice hockey, the past few weeks have been a “gongshow” for Canadians (writes Amy Van den Berg). The country has been locked helmet to helmet with Donald Trump in a nasty trade war fuelled by direct threats to Canada’s sovereignty from across the border. For genial, gentle Canadians, conflict does not tend to sit well – unless it’s on the ice rink. And so politicians, keen to foster national unity, have leaned into hockey jargon, making recent headlines nothing short of a series of entertaining slapshots.

The first blow came in February when Canada beat the USA 3-2 in overtime to win the 4 Nations Face-Off championship, just three weeks after the tariff war began. Each side booed the other’s national anthem and former prime minister Justin Trudeau wrote on social media, “You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game.” More recently there have been anti-US protests across Canada that have come to be known as “Elbows Up” rallies, a phrase also used by Manitoba premier Wab Kinew and Canadian comedian Mike Myers. The name is a reference to a move employed by Gordie Howe, a Canadian ice hockey player famed for his humility off the rink and his aggression on it.

This is the essence of the Canadian spirit, which incumbent Liberal leader Mark Carney (sworn in yesterday as Trudeau’s successor) channelled when he announced, “We didn’t ask for this fight but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.” Carney finished his speech by saying that “in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win”. As the rest of the world tunes in to this divisive match, Carney would be smart to keep up the hockey speak: Molson beers in hand, we’re all holding our breath for a good old-fashioned dirty dangle before the puck hits the net.

The profile of a particularly protruding lip or the glare from a tight, shiny forehead are familiar sights nowadays (writes Sophie Monaghan-Coombs). The prevalence of so-called “tweakments” isn’t new but cosmetic touch-ups might be having more than a skin-deep effect on our culture. One group that sees through the smooth surface is comedians. Hence why London’s Top Secret Comedy Club is banning guests with obvious botox after complaints from comics that their expressionless faces are too tough an audience. Pity the door staff now tasked with doing “expression tests” to vet prospective crowd members for the ability to register emotion.

While the move may be tongue in cheek, stand-up comedy lives and dies on audience reactions: the frowns and sighs when a joke doesn’t quite land, the raising of eyebrows or the relief of laughter and wide smiles that follow a perfectly delivered gag. Even so, I can’t help feeling that it’s a shame for anyone to miss out – we could all do with injecting a little more laughter into our lives.

Paul Revere is the man who, in 1775, rode more than 15km through the night to warn we Americans that the Brits were coming (writes Christopher Cermak). That famous gallop, which preceded the War of Independence, took place on the night of 18 April; this year that date will kick off America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, culminating on 4 July 2026.

But when Revere wasn’t busy staring at the horizon or practising his sidesaddle, he earned his living as a silversmith and engraver. One of his sterling silver coffee pots has been put up for auction by MS Rau in New Orleans for a cool $1.285m (€1.18m). There are only three other Revere coffee pots still in private hands (two others are in museums), making this lot incredibly rare.

Complete with textbook rococo detailing, such as a “fluted scroll spout” and “flower spray cartouche”, you’d be forgiven for never looking at a cafetiere again. After all, what better way to start an auspicious anniversary than with a well-brewed Americano?

Shinji Hamauzu is the founder and CEO of Not a Hotel, a Japanese brand of premium holiday homes. His team deals with the business of paying utility bills and local taxes, while a concierge service takes care of everything from transport and on-site storage to ideas for cultural excursions. Now with six properties and sales of more than €150m, the company has evidently struck a chord in Japan. Here he tells us about the business and what it has planned.

Not a Hotel offers something that lies between a hotel and a holiday home. Why is this concept right for Japan?
People typically stay at their holiday homes for 20 nights a year and often grow tired of going to the same place. Not a Hotel sells fractional ownership – 30 nights, 60 nights or more – for fully serviced holiday homes in Japan’s most scenic locations, designed by the world’s top creative talent. Once you become an owner, you can exchange your nights with stays at our other properties. On the nights that you don’t use, we operate the homes like a hotel, which reduces the owners’ management fees.

How do you find properties?
I started with a beachfront building in my hometown, Miyazaki. Once we were established, many estate agents and property holders across the country reached out to us to show off their sites. The Japanese countryside has so many different landscapes, from snowy mountains to sunny beaches. We want to give our owners access to all of that.

You’ve been teaming up with some big names in architecture and design. How did that come about?
We worked with Japanese architectural talent first: for example, Suppose Design Office, Yosuke Aizawa and Sou Fujimoto. Someone from the Bjarke Ingels Group contacted us one day; that started our collaboration on a three-villa site. Since then we have announced a major project near Tokyo under fashion icon Nigo’s creative direction and a new Kita-Karuizawa property in the mountains with Wonderwall’s Masamichi Katayama. Plus, there’s a ski lodge in Hokkaido with Snøhetta. We try not to impose many limitations and people have enjoyed that freedom.

Who are your customers?
Eighty per cent of them are Japanese but we have made it much easier for those outside the country to become owners now. We cater for people who love exploring. We open properties thinking about where they want to travel next.

Can you see yourself expanding to overseas properties too?
Over the past few years, we have made Not a Hotel work well in Japan. To make this a success overseas, we’ll have to understand the particular rules and challenges in each market. We’re building partnerships in other countries to combine our know-how, in order to make the most creative projects possible there as well.
notahotel.com

For more inside knowledge from the world of hospitality, pick up a copy of Monocle’s Marchissue. Or, better yet,subscribeso that you never miss a beat. Have a super Saturday.