The Monocle Minute

This week I donned a high-vis jacket and hard hat for a sneak peek of the new V&A East Storehouse in London. Opening in May, it offers the chance for visitors to roam through a giant warehouse of priceless artefacts from the V&A’s collection or to call them up for a closer inspection as part of its “Order an Object” service. The new venture is a smart way to create a new experience for museum-goers and to share the many thousands of objects and books in the care of the V&A, many of which rarely see the light of day.

It was an inspiring visit to an innovative institution and one that you will hear more about in an upcoming issue of Monocle magazine. But around the world, fellow museums are reporting sobering news. Tate, the UK’s leading contemporary art institution, has just announced a 7 per cent reduction of its workforce; the result of government budget cuts and the post-pandemic hangover that continues to plague public institutions. On the other side of the Atlantic, New York’s Solomon R Guggenheim Museum has just reduced its staff by roughly the same amount – its third round of job cuts in five years. Museums need to find new ways to survive.

A new report on American art museums from independent research project Remuseum proves compelling reading. It found that the average cost per visitor to a nonprofit US museum is $101 (€92). Though Remuseum isn’t in the business of suggesting one-size-fits-all solutions for the sector, it makes some interesting points, such as how offering free admission can boost visitors without increasing costs. The report landed in the wake of Donald Trump’s executive order to eliminate the federal agency charged with supporting and funding museums.

I firmly believe that these institutions – and the agencies that support them – aren’t “unnecessary” or a waste of resources. Governments around the world should be doing all that they can to safeguard their future. They entertain, educate and inspire us, working to forge connections across geographies and history. In the case of the new V&A, they can also show us some rather beautiful furniture that we’d quite like to take home. This is a time for museums to rethink their approach, to pull in new crowds and offer something different to their regular patrons. Otherwise, they risk becoming relics themselves.

Sophie Monaghan-Coombs is Monocle’s associate culture editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Founded in the closing months of the Second World War, Tygodnik Powszechny is Poland’s oldest weekly news magazine and has an illustrious history that includes penning pages for the country’s democratic opposition under communist rule (writes Julia Lasica). But the closure of Poland’s network of state-owned newsstands has presented a distribution challenge to such storied titles. Now the weekly has partnered with Inpost, a Polish logistics company operating 24-hour automated package lockers on the street corners of European cities from Rome to Madrid, to offer free delivery to the paper’s subscribers through a national network of 25,000 lockers.

While these postboxes lack the friendly welcome and aesthetic appeal of a good kiosk, this partnership is still good news. “Readers, especially in smaller towns, are finding it harder to access quality print journalism because of kiosks shuttering and a slower postal service,” says Michał Sowiński, a managing editor at Tygodnik Powszechny. “But this collaboration means that we are closer than ever to our audience.” The announcement has had a warm reception in Poland – and Inpost is already looking to roll out a similar service in other countries, including the UK and France. If Inpost’s plan works, perhaps the roadside newspaper vending machines that were once a fixture of US pavements will make a comeback.

San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie assumed office in January, promising to turn around a city that, in recent years, has become a poster child for downtown decay. Taking only a dollar a year in salary, Lurie, a philanthropist and heir to the Levi’s jeans empire, has a bold vision to bring people and businesses back to the West Coast city. He spoke to Monocle’s cities-focused podcast, The Urbanist.

Your campaign for office was about service, accountability and change. Why was that message important?
We all saw people suffering on our streets. We have to tackle those problems by getting people off the streets and into service. Change is something that the city is hungry for. As a city, we must be accountable: there’s a $16bn (€14.7bn) budget and the public doesn’t understand what it’s paying for. Taxpayers and residents deserve better. We’re going to be more effective and efficient with how we spend those dollars. For me, it has always been about service and not about politics. It’s about serving the people of San Francisco, not getting caught up in anything beyond what we need to get done right here. If we can have public safety, if we can get our behavioural-health crisis under control, if we can say to the world that we’re open for business, then we’re going to come roaring back.

The Trump administration often uses San Francisco as a representation of everything that it’s pushing against. Does that make your job even harder?
For as long as San Francisco has been around, people have wanted to take us on because we are leaders here. We lead in arts, culture and values. This is the greatest city in the world when it’s at its best. We have had our downtimes but we have always come back – and this is no exception. Visit up-and-coming neighbourhoods such as North Beach or Jackson Square. We have green shoots everywhere.

What kind of push-and-pull factors can get people to return to work in the urban core?
Getting people back downtown is the key concern. We have recently seen companies such as Gap return to in-office working five days a week, while Salesforce is back to four days a week and 70 per cent of city employees are back in every day. We want to lead by example.

Listen to thefull episode, in which Monocle Radio also catches up with Robbie Silver, president and CEO of the Downtown SF Partnership.

Helsinki is hosting the inaugural Nordic Happiness Summit today at the 1970s modernist resort island of Hanasaari (writes Petri Burtsoff). The two-day event follows the publication of the UN’s World Happiness Report, which cited Finland as the happiest nation in the world, and brings together leading experts in the field to explore the role of happiness in our health, workplaces and societies. With participants eager to understand the Nordic approach to wellbeing, the summit – jointly organised by the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki and the Stockholm School of Economics – focuses on how education can contribute to a happier, more prosperous life.

But those expecting upbeat slogans and free hugs might find themselves rethinking their assumptions upon arrival. For Finns, happiness is not about relentless positivity; it’s about contentment, trust and a work-life balance. But if a quick fix of merriment is required, reinvigorating saunas and cold-water swimming sessions are available on site. Nauti!

In its latest issue, Konfekt sits down with five creative forces and company founders redefining how we incorporate beauty into our everyday lives, from Carrara marble vases and linen-like paper lamps to playful glass homeware.

The design duo: Marc-Antoine Biehler and Amaury Graveleine, founders of Biehler-Graveleine, Paris
“Our relationship is symbiotic. We work across different scales. I focus on architecture, while Marc-Antoine delves into the details of interiors. We feel lucky to be able to turn an idea from a simple sketch into a realised space. To create and see it materialise is perfection.”

The lighting studio: Steffany Trần founder of Vy Voi, New York
“The start of Vy Voi was about looking at heritage materials and seeing how I could tell stories through them. I started thinking about how we could use paper in a more everyday context.”

The marble-carving studio: Sara Ferron Cima, co-founder of Bloc Studios, Carrara
“A decade ago there was no market in marble design beyond countertops and tables, and artisans were limited to making funeral paraphernalia. Designers need the challenge of working with craftspeople to learn what’s feasible. And artisans also need that dialogue with designers.”

The furniture designer: Fumie Shibata, founder of Design Studio S, Tokyo
“We need to think differently. It’s not just a question of plastic being bad; it’s about using it appropriately.”

The decorative-glass studio: Sema Topaloğlu, founder of Sema Topaloğlu, Istanbul
“Craftsmanship is getting lost. Many designers across the world don’t do anything themselves; they order it all. But for me, it is in the process. It takes time to make everything and my design changes as I do it. I am putting a new layer onto old techniques.”

Founder and creative director Rosh Mahtani discusses the literary inspiration behind her jewellery brand, Alighieri, and its expansion into homeware with the launch of Alighieri Casa.