The Monocle Minute
On Design

Today’s dispatch covers a lot of ground as we touch down on the Emerald Isle to hear the story behind furniture-maker Orior’s success. Then we’re off to Galveston, Texas, where a former motel has been transformed into an Americana-steeped bolthole fit for 21st-century tastes. Along the way, we reflect on changing times with graphic designer Vince Frost and pull the thread on a new rug collection from Swedish brand Layered, inspired by Le Corbusier’s philosophy of colour. Getting us under way is our design editor, Nic Monisse.

I first came across Ideo when I was at design school. The San Francisco-based company is renowned for its work on such pioneering devices as the Palm V personal computer, which was a hit with businessmen in the late 1990s. Despite the ubiquity of its designs, I hadn’t given the studio much thought until my professor wheeled in a TV and played a segment from US broadcaster ABC’s Nightline.

In the 20-minute package, journalist Jack Smith took a deep dive into Ideo’s creative process as it reimagined the design of a shopping cart, considering issues such as manoeuvrability, consumers’ behaviour, child safety and maintenance costs. In stark contrast to the on-screen crew, which included a linguist, a marketing expert, a biologist and a psychologist, I was surrounded by other landscape-architecture students. It was my first introduction to the importance of cross-pollination in design and, as a designer, I always chased this melding of skills and specialities. Now it’s something that I try to nurture as an editor.

Last week we hosted a dinner at Monocle’s London headquarters, Midori House, that included creatives from a host of different disciplines and backgrounds (pictured). The line-up included lawyer-turned-jewellery designer Alexia Karides, lawyer and design CEO Yi Ng, graphic designer Frith Kerr, artists and woodworkers Grant Wilkinson and Teresa Rivera, curator Lily Froehlicher, industrial designer Jay Osgerby and jewellery designer Rosh Mahtani – all rubbing shoulders and comparing notes over dinner and drinks. The latter two got into a discussion in which Mahtani explained how her brand, Alighieri, created cutlery that connected 24-carat-gold-plated brass to stainless steel (“That’s an incredibly difficult thing to do,” said Osgerby). Cross-pollination was taking place at pace.

The event was a demonstration of the benefits of broadening creative horizons. (Who knows? We might soon see Osgerby’s industrial design studio create a gold-plated-brass-and-steel piece.) It was also a reminder of the value of putting yourself in positions where such exchanges can take place, whether it’s a dinner or a site visit to somewhere new.

It’s an approach that paid off for Ideo. Tom Kelley, a founding team member and bestselling author, recounts how a trip to a taxi dispatch office inspired the redesign of a patient transport room for one of the practice’s health-care clients. Stepping outside familiar confines and venturing into the unknown can unlock unforeseen possibilities and ignite creative sparks in even the most seasoned minds. And sometimes it’s nice just to have an excuse for a drink in good company.

Nic Monisse is Monocle’s design editor.

Orior has a great origin story. In the 1970s, Irish Catholics Brian and Rosie McGuigan decided to move to Copenhagen during the worst years of sectarian violence. It was in the Danish capital that Brian, who had studied upholstery at school, fell in love with furniture. Soon their firm, Orior, was born.

But it was their son, Ciarán, who elevated the status of the brand and established it on the global design scene. In 2013 he left his football career behind and took over the family business (though his parents remain heavily involved). The company had been ticking along, servicing the Irish market, but Ciarán saw its true potential. So he reoriented it, highlighting the craft of the Irish makers who work on its pieces, which range from sofas and credenzas to coffee tables and vases.

Now Orior’s wares are sought after by a discerning global clientele and the company has a slick showroom in New York’s Soho – though its soul is still in its utilitarian headquarters and upholstery centre in Newry, Northern Ireland, where most of Orior’s staff work. Ciarán has the business acumen and confidence to grow the firm in the US, not to mention a raconteur’s ability to hold court, but Newry is where much of the brand’s hard graft takes place.

The company is part of a larger group, so some of its outgoings can be offset against the success of its less glamorous contract-furniture operation. But Ciarán tells Monocle that Orior is “the jewel in the crown” with the potential to move in new directions.

For more on Orior, pick up a copy ofMonocle’s March issue, on newsstands now.

In Texas, an Americana staple is quietly being reimagined for a new age. Hotel Lucine is a motel-turned-boutique residence in the coastal resort city of Galveston. It comprises an intimate central courtyard with a pastel-blue tiled pool, a fine-dining restaurant and the largest rooftop bar on the beachfront.

“I have admired the building since I moved back to Galveston several years ago,” says Dave Jacoby, who owns the hotel with his wife, Keath, and their business partner, Robert Marcus. “We were lucky to have the architectural drawings from when it was built in 1963. We knew that to renovate it and run it well, we would need to stay true to the original aesthetic and restore the role of the hotel as a social hub for the community.”

The task of adapting a 1950s motel into a 21st-century stay was inevitably more complicated than simply dressing the property in new finery. Hotel Lucine was updated to meet modern travellers’ higher expectations and reflect the shift in their priorities. “The programming and design of any property plays a crucial role in keeping the space filled with people,” says David Clark, the founder and creative director of Austin-based Kartwheel Studio, which oversaw the motel’s makeover. “We decided to extend the building towards the seawall property line, which enhanced the look and ensured that every space – whether for dining, lounging or socialising – was optimised for both the guests’ experience and operational efficiency.”

For more springtime escapes, pick up a copy of‘The Escapist’, Monocle’s dedicated, travel-oriented publication.

Vince Frost founded his design studio, Frost Collective, in London more than 30 years ago. The practice, now based in Sydney (but with a UK presence too), has since been shaping businesses, organisations and cultural institutions across the globe. Its projects include branding work for Sydney Airport and Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service, and initiatives for the likes of Greater Sydney Parklands and the Qantas headquarters. Here, Frost discusses the inspiration behind his book, Design Your Life, and his reservations about artificial intelligence.

Is great design about delivering a beautiful product or is it a service – one that helps to shape both businesses and lives?
I have done a lot of analysis around why we are in business and it always comes back to helping people. That’s not necessarily what you’d expect a designer to say but I believe that we can help people in a whole bunch of different ways. A focus on trying to do good in the world really resonates with people.

How has the rise of AI affected your practice in recent years?
I have mixed feelings about AI because I saw it coming five years ago and thought, “We need to embrace this, get ahead of it and use it.” This was so that we could disrupt the industry before the industry disrupted us. Some people argue that it’s just another tool like the internet. But AI is different, smarter and more immediate, and we’re already using it to do things that we would have paid people to do. It’s free and has infinite options. I don’t feel comfortable about it.

You wrote a book called ‘Design Your Life’. Can you explain the idea behind it?
I was busy every day for a long time, working hard at my business and on design projects. Then I realised that, as a society, we don’t approach our lives with the same kind of determination. A lot of people put their own wellbeing to the side. I was designing outcomes that were good and intentional; I was doing that every day with clients, on time and on budget, making people happy. So I wrote a book that would help me and others to do that with our lives.

For more from Frost, tune in to this week’s episode of‘Monocle on Design’.

Last year several city councils in the UK announced plans to switch off their streetlights as a cost-cutting measure. The schemes were mostly abandoned thanks to opposition from citizens’ groups, which pointed out that lighting serves a crucial safety function. Instead of leaving city dwellers in the dark, a better solution would be to switch the existing lights for more cost-effective alternatives. In the 1960s this UK-made prototype, designed by Richard Stevens for Atlas Lighting, showed the benefit of taking an unconventional approach.

The lamp pioneered the use of injection-moulding in streetlights, creating rounded plastic lanterns that were cheaper to produce and more resistant to vandals than their glass counterparts of the era. The design was handed a Design Centre Award in 1960 but sadly never ended up lining the roads. Affordable, hardy and unassuming, this street lamp shows that the brightest ideas require a little imagination – which, today’s councils will be happy to learn, doesn’t have to cost the world.

Swedish interior-design brand Layered is tapping into Swiss-French architect and designer Le Corbusier’s philosophy of colour with its new rug collection, La Palette 1931/1959. “We were inspired by the way that Le Corbusier approached colour – not just as decoration but as a fundamental part of architecture,” says Malin Glemme, Layered’s founder and creative director. “The collection builds on that idea, focusing on rich, carefully selected tones that bring depth and character to a room.”

The La Palette 1931/1959 collection of wool rugs consists of four colourways: a light dusty blue, a navy, a subtle red ochre and a burgundy red. As a collection, the contrast between the muted and vibrant tones serves as a compelling reminder of colour’s power as a design tool – something that would have made Le Corbusier proud.
layeredinterior.com

Museum 2D at the Molteni Museum in Giussano offers an in-depth look at how the Italian furniture firm’s collaborations have shaped its identity and global presence over the decades. Curated by Tel Aviv- and Milan-based designer Ron Gilad, the exhibition chronicles Molteni’s iconic advertising campaigns. “It is intended as a celebration of materials and an exploration of the evolution of design, re-examining and lending new meaning to the past,” says Gilad. Images by photographer Gabriele Basilico, Milanese artist Mario Carrieri and others anchor the show, which also includes orange-hued pencil sketches from the early 1990s and pink-toned adverts from the late 1970s.

The Molteni Museum, which was designed by Gilad, is defined by large windows that fill it with natural light, illuminating the sketches, photos, ad campaigns and cyanotype prints, all of which are presented on clean white walls. “These elements, often ignored when creating 3D furnishings, are interpretations by designers who have helped to communicate the work done worldwide by this company,” says Gilad. Unveiled on 2 March, Museum 2D marks the Molteni Museum’s 10th anniversary and is open for the rest of the month.
molteni.com