The Monocle Minute

In the wake of Donald Trump’s first inauguration as US president, American cities became restive places as protestors took to the streets. Among the journalists tasked with chronicling this busy, often confusing, daily news cycle, were those reporting for the country’s public-media outlets. “This is the perfect moment for us,” PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff told Monocle at the time. “We’ve always been a programme for the public to turn to when there’s a lot of change going on.”

Public broadcasting is unbeholden to broader business or commercial considerations but its future in the US is increasingly in doubt. As part of the current government’s drive to shrink federal spending, cuts to broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) were set in motion last week, while PBS and National Public Radio could be next in line. In 2022, VOA was listened to by 326 million people around the world every week. As the name suggests, its mission was to project America’s voice and worldview overseas. Its loss would be more than a failing of soft power, however; it would also do away with one of the last bastions of American media that is federally mandated to seek balance and non-partisan reporting in its coverage.

Questions about the funding of publicly owned media aren’t new or exclusive to the US. But such broadcasters are among the country’s most trusted brands, and a healthy national news ecosystem needs a robust mix of commercial and publicly funded newsrooms, particularly at a moment when the ways in which news is consumed online have become so fragmented and fleeting. Choice and quality are important. Particularly when, as Woodruff put it, there’s a lot of change going on.

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Air France unveiled its redesigned first class cabin, La Première, at Paris’s Hotel d’Évreux on Place Vendôme yesterday and expectations were sky high. For those acquainted with the carrier’s current cabins, the muted tones, bright-red accents and curtains (rather than hard walls) remain but there’s a full 3.5 sq m of space – 25 per cent more than before.

“It’s very elegant and fits the brand,” Benjamin Smith, Air France-KLM’s CEO, tells The Monocle Minute. “I don’t think that you can see another aircraft’s seat, be it in first class or business class, that you could legitimately describe as elegant,” he says. “We are quite confident that we can remain at the top of the European space in first class.”

Smith’s confidence is justified. After Air France spent three years refining its new in-flight experience, the competition – from the rest of Europe or around the world – now knows what it’s up against. Air France’s new “suite” features a two-metre-long, lie-flat day bed and the overhead storage has been replaced by a sturdy drawer that holds two carry-on suitcases. Neatly done.

Behind the scenes, Air France tapped a brigade of chefs with Michelin-star pedigree to take care of the menu. Weaving in the best-in-France theme, designer Simon Porte Jacquemus is behind the on-board pyjamas while Paris-based skincare specialists Sisley has seen to the passenger’s amenity kit.

La Première's new cabins take flight from Paris to New York in the coming weeks, with routes to Los Angeles, Singapore and Tokyo next in line. Regulars will be happy to hear about what hasn’t changed: the service still includes chauffeurs, private entry to CDG’s Air France terminal, lounge access and swift passage through immigration and security. “For 92 years, Air France has built its legitimacy on the ‘Made in France’ brand,” says Smith. “It’s the French touch,” he adds with a smile.

Renowned French department store Printemps will open its first US outpost in New York on Friday, just in time for spring in the city (writes Rachel Bouvier). And the promise is that this isn’t just another Bergdorf Goodman. “We plan to pioneer a new format of experiential retail,” says the company’s CEO, Jean-Marc Bellaiche. It won’t include any luxury shop-in-shops or branded beauty counters. Instead, Printemps will own the products for sale, meaning that they can be flexible across brands and price points – something that most multi-brand retailers cannot do.

This capacity for curation, which includes many new-to-the-US French brands as well as five food and beverage concepts, suggests that the department store will be as much a hospitality destination as a shopping centre. Architect Laura Gonzalez has reimagined the space, housed in Lower Manhattan’s art deco One Wall Street, as a vibrant Parisian fever dream made resplendent by art nouveau frescoes and a landmarked 1931 lobby-cum-shoe salon. Printemps is opening against the backdrop of a luxury slowdown and the closure of many department stores, but the French powerhouse believes that it might be able to revive the model.

The wishes of Poland and the Baltic states to withdraw from the international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines were only to be expected (writes Julia Lasica). More than 160 countries, including Afghanistan, Turkey and Japan, adhere to the terms of the Ottawa Treaty, which was signed in 1997. But the sticking point has always been Russia, China and the US’s tacit refusal to accept its terms – Moscow has used the explosive devices extensively in Ukraine, which now has more active land mines scattered across its territory than anywhere else.

“Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia’s decision to withdraw from the convention reflects a military necessity,” says Hew Strachan, professor of international relations at the University of St Andrews. “Any state that shares a long land frontier with a potential adversary has to defend itself as best it can.” The Baltics and their neighbours are pouring billions of euros into protecting their borders, including a wall of drones stretching from Norway to Poland. But the mine, retro yet brutally effective, is making an unfortunate comeback.

David Montalba, who was born in Italy and raised in Switzerland and the US, is the founder of Montalba Architects. With offices in Santa Monica, New York and Lausanne, the studio has designed shops for US grocers Erewhon and for fashion label The Row, as well as a number of celebrated private residences. The Monocle Minute catches up with Montalba at Mipim in Cannes to discuss how global politics is affecting his outlook on the industry.

Why are you at Mipim?
As shapers of the built environment, it’s our responsibility to be part of a wider community. We have people from our Swiss office and our US office converging here and that camaraderie and energy certainly drives us. But I also think that we all have frames of reference and it’s important to expose ourselves to things from all over the world that we’re not accustomed to.

What projects are in the works?
We have projects in the US, some in Portugal and we just finished a family home in Mexico. We’re working on an exciting winery in the German-speaking Graubünden area of Switzerland and a padel club in the Bahamas. They are all global projects, not just from a design standpoint but also in their construction: the steel is coming from South Africa, the millwork from Florida and other parts are sourced in Asia.

Do you find the tariffs on steel and other services nerve-wracking?
Most of us who live in the US are in a state of denial about that. The tariffs will certainly affect things. But while I hate to turn something negative into a positive, the trade war might help us to be more resourceful. I always think of one of my favourite chairs, the Risom chair, which was developed around the time of the Second World War. It’s made from a series of loomed, intertwined seatbelt straps, because they had so many seatbelts left over from war planes. In that spirit, we can all try to find opportunity in times of difficulty.

Graphic designer Vince Frost reflects on his decades in practice; plus Japan’s carpentry culture is front and centre at a new exhibition in London. We then meet Mirkku Kullberg, CEO of Swedish rug company Kasthall.