Issues

Back to my place

For years, European manufacturing suffered as fashion labels sought cheaper and faster production partners. The value of handcraft and supporting artisan communities was neglected and, as a result, luxury manufacturing across the continent became something of a dying trade. Younger generations could no longer see a future for themselves in the sector and skills stopped being passed on.

But now luxury brands are rethinking their priorities and moving production back to Europe. Being at the top of the pyramid no longer means producing large quantities of trend-driven, seasonal items – let alone flying said items across continents from factory to market. Brands are focusing on sourcing the highest-quality materials and securing partnerships with Europe’s best specialist manufacturers.

The definition of luxury has been evolving quickly in recent years, with the provenance of the materials and the story of the makers becoming as important to many shoppers as the final design. It’s why those same factories that were struggling to survive five or six years ago are now drawing in new investors and receiving bigger orders from both established luxury houses and buzzy up-and-comers. Many brands are also flagging the factory’s names in garments’ labels – a sign of pride and a selling point for discerning shoppers. Whether it’s UK-based Barbour returning to Scotland to support artisanal waxed cotton producers or the Kering group inking partnerships with Italian mills in the recycling sector, labels are redirecting their investments back to European producers that can keep up with quality standards, guarantee good working conditions for their staff and bring back the magic of human touch to the manufacturing process.

The manufacturers have been investing in new machinery, developing sustainable fabrics and training new staff to maintain momentum and future-proof their businesses – flexing their creative muscles and becoming brands of their own. As the industry moves into what experts often refer to as “the age of the manufacturer”, Monocle visits some of the most prominent production facilities across Europe to discover how owners have been navigating the increased demand and planning for the future.

1.
World-class wool
Manteco, Italy

“This is a revolution in the fashion industry,” says Marco Mantellassi, who helms the fabric-maker Manteco alongside his brother Matteo and their parents.

The business was founded in 1941 by the brothers’ grandfather, who started out by making fabrics from blankets salvaged from the American army. Today recycling is still at the heart of the company, which operates an entirely solar-powered factory in Prato, a city neighbouring Florence. Reprocessed wool has long meant inferior wool but Manteco’s fully recycled MWool fabric has set a new standard: zero waste and no chemical additives or synthetics such as nylon, which are typically incorporated to smooth recycled wool. The fabric’s softness and durability are superior to virgin wool and it can be recycled without losing quality. Fashion’s luxury houses have taken note, with Kering signing its brands on, along with a slew of other significant industry names such as Woolrich, Theory and Kith.

Prato’s history with fabrics dates back centuries but when Marco and Matteo joined the family business in 2000, the industry trend was to move production to China. The Mantellassi brothers instead saw a possibility to “hunt for perfection” and create luxury products that were so exceptional that they would be able to convert the market back to Italy and its sustainable production practices.

“Real sustainability means a recycled material that’s made to last,” adds Mantelassi, with a clattering machine next to him winding dozens of threads together on a spool. The reuse of old garments to make new fabrics has been a tradition in Prato since the medieval era and these days the manual work of separating garments by colour continues at Manteco, with workers known as cenciaioli seated among rainbow-coloured towers of clothing bales, tossing them into piles by shade so that they can be shredded and transformed into new yarns and fabrics. Last year, Manteco repurposed more than 3,151,700 garments destined for landfills, with help from these cenciaioli. The process allows the fabric-maker to create its recycled wool without chemicals or dyes.

Specialist equipment chops the wool and spins threads but the magic of the process lies in the know-how of the artisans. Manteco’s 56 trained craftspeople devise “recipes” for every colour – there are more than 1,000 in their sample card – to create the client’s desired shade. “We have scientific controls for quality but only the artisans can really judge whether a product is coming out well,” says Mantelassi. “Only they can imbue the product with the experience and emotions contained in their hands. That’s the real secret to our fabrics.”
manteco.com

2.
Seaside savoir-faire
Le Minor, France

Sylvain Flet’s first encounter with Brittany-based Le Minor was “a love story”. Back then the Parisian was a long way from becoming co-owner of a coastal business specialising in the region’s famed knitted jumpers and striped marinière tops. The year was 2016 and he was visiting the manufacturer as co-founder of bow-tie and accessories brand Le Flageolet to ask Le Minor to make a collection of beanies. Seeing the expertise of the workers toiling away on the garments, he was charmed.

“But it was a museum,” says Flet. “And a museum is always a little dead.” For all its beauty and heritage, the company, founded in 1922, seemed to be looking backwards and organisation was poor. Though the quality was excellent, his original beanie order was delivered late, missing a crucial Christmas deadline. “It was a misfortune that caused some good fortune,” he says.

Going back for a second visit to the factory in Guidel, Brittany, led to a conversation with then-owner Marie-Christine Grammatico, who confessed that she wanted to sell the company and retire. Flet conferred with his best friend and fellow Le Flageolet founder, Jérôme Permingeat. “We always wanted to have a brand that produces its own clothing,” he says. They bought the company without outside investment and brought in a third partner, Alain Sourisseau, an expert in rescuing storied brands that have fallen on hard times (or “sleeping beauties” as he likes to call them). Sourisseau took a 10 per cent stake.

They set about turning things around, as the company had been losing money for more than a decade before the sale. Calculating the true number of outstanding orders, they gave customers realistic delivery dates and faced the “industrial challenge” of replacing 30-year-old sewing and stitching machines. The average age of Le Minor’s employees was 58, so the savoir-faire that Flet admired was in danger of ending with a generation. “Retirees and those nearing retirement stayed to train others,” he adds. “We now have 72 people and the average age is 34.” Since the 2018 purchase, revenue has more than doubled and personnel has tripled. Demand from Japan is a bedrock – at one point it made up for 85 per cent of business – but demand is growing in Taiwan and South Korea, as well as the UK and even France itself, where it previously had no imprint. “Now, 25 per cent of revenues comes from direct sales and 10 per cent from b2b sales in France,” says Fret, pointing to the re-opening of the company’s shops in Paris and Guidel.

Le Minor is looking healthy but there is plenty more to do. Long dominated by womenswear, the men’s line is expanding. Heritage pieces are being balanced with a new premium line and collaborations with Norse Projects and menswear magazine L’Etiquette. More new machinery is on its way, thanks to government funding.

Flet has swapped Paris for beach living – Le Minor couldn’t be anywhere but Brittany. “We gave ourselves a mission to create durable, desirable clothes by appealing to the textile savoir-faire of ‘Made in France’.”
leminor.fr

3.
Friendly fabrics
Halley Stevensons, Scotland

Halley Stevensons has been producing proofed and waxed fabrics for more than 110 years, after founder Francis Stevenson established the company as a textile manufacturer in his home of Dundee, Scotland, in 1864. In more recent years, there has been a renewed appetite for its signature waxed cottons, which stand out for their water-repellent qualities and good looks. Heritage label Barbour, menswear designer Kestin Hare and a host of European luxury brands have all been placing orders. “I keep saying that when I started in the 1990s, business was terrible,” says managing director James Campbell. “The textile industry in the UK was disappearing, with business going to China and clients asking for price decreases every year. There were no relationships with clients. But we’ve invested the best part of £3m [€3.4m] in the past few years.”

Since 2018, Halley Stevensons has been growing at nearly 20 per cent every year, as British and European buyers return to suppliers in the UK, attracted by the quality and innovation presented by the country’s textile firms. “We’re a small business with a lot of technical skills and we’re developing those skills further every year,” says Campbell. “We’d rather have 10 different production machines than 10 of the same machine. It makes us a small producer but we then have the ability to make a bigger impact.” In addition to this flexibility, Campbell also credits the lengths his team has gone to build relationships with customers whereby “we give people exactly what they want” – and not just the stock Halley Stevensons has on the factory floor.

It’s a sentiment that Dorothy Arnott, sales and marketing manager at Halley Stevensons, completely agrees with. “We would consider a lot of our customers friends,” says Arnott. “That goes in tandem with being able to help each other out with the new developments and strike that balance between what they’re looking for and what we can produce.”

To provide bespoke solutions to customers, Halley Stevensons has invested in specialised machines, many of which have been developed and built in-house. “We use very dense fabrics that are extremely difficult to work with, so you need a technical understanding and custom machinery to handle it,” says Campbell. “Our wax machine, for instance, was designed and built by our engineers, which means that if we have a problem, we have people that can climb into the machine and fix it. Our business is not just our fabrics but the real skills needed to work them.” It’s these skills – and, of course, a commitment to exceptional quality – that have helped Halley Stevensons to turn around its business, enabling all of those involved to look forward to the next 110 years.
halleystevensons.co.UK

Stepping up

“Veja grew so much during the pandemic that by the time we returned to the office, we had outgrown it,” says Sébastien Kopp, co-founder of the trainer label. The Paris-based brand has been gaining momentum since it was founded in 2005 by Kopp and François-Ghislain Morillion with the ambition of introducing the fashion market to footwear made using responsibly sourced materials and creating transparent supply chains.

Veja was years ahead of its time with sustainability. Now that the rest of the industry is playing catch-up, the brand has evolved into a market leader – its V logo has become as ubiquitous as New Balance’s N or Nike’s swoosh. Its success is even more impressive given the company’s policy of not spending any resources on marketing in order to focus on reinvesting profits in innovations and manufacturing. Revenues have grown from €100m in 2020 to €160m in 2021 and its 400-strong team is now spread across Paris, New York, Porto Alegre and São Paulo. Growth continued in 2022, according to Kopp.

It was time to move to new headquarters, both to reflect the company’s evolution from indie start-up to global phenomenon and to make it possible to find a free meeting room. “In our previous office I wouldn’t even make an attempt [to book a meeting room]; I’d go straight to a café because there was never space,” says Kopp as he ascends a spiral staircase in the vast new space, passing open-plan offices, vintage sofas and tropical plants in terracotta pots. The move was a huge weight off his shoulders. “We feel better now because everyone is comfortable. Before we weren’t providing good-enough working conditions.”

On a bustling street near the Gare du Nord, the new headquarters are housed in a 19th-century building once home to the French Communist Party’s publishing house, printing copies of daily newspaper L’Humanité for more than 60 years until the early 2000s. “Some of our older clients remember coming here in the 1960s and 1970s to pick up L’Humanité to distribute in the market and shops,” says Kopp. In the 2010s the site was home to an advertising agency but, by the time Veja found it, it had been empty for years. “Being able to work in such a building is a luxury,” adds Kopp, who was keen on staying in central Paris. “With two stations next door, this is easy for the whole team to access.”

Home to 200 employees, who were previously divided into two offices in the 3rd and 10th arrondissements, the space is spread across 4,200 sq m, leaving room for growth. There are five floors arranged around two glass canopies that allow natural light and create a comfortable environment. Open-plan workspaces overlook a spacious ground-floor area that serves as a showroom and lounge; it also has an in-house vegetarian restaurant.

Veja’s forthcoming collections line shelves on white concrete walls, which will soon be filled with photography from the team’s regular trips to the Amazon to visit the company’s partners and suppliers. There is a photography studio in the basement, where the creative team is always shooting products, while the roof terrace will soon be equipped with tables and chairs for alfresco lunches in the spring.

The restoration works, which took seven months, were entrusted to architect Hugo Haas, a long-time collaborator of the brand who’s also behind Veja’s sleek shop designs in Paris’s 3rd and 18th arrondissements. As one of the founders of Paris-based architecture firm Ciguë, Haas’s portfolio includes Aesop shops, the offices of Paris-based luxury designer Christophe Lemaire and interiors for La Samaritaine department store. In his retail projects for Veja, keeping things simple has always been key. “There is a minimalist attitude, so we would try to do as little as possible with each space,” says Haas. “The materials we use have a minimum expression, which goes well with Veja’s ecological dimension.”

Designing an office, however, was a different undertaking. In Veja’s shops, the aim was to make the product shine while architecture played a secondary role. Here the main concern was designing an office that was as pleasant as possible for Veja employees. This involved adding a kitchen, meeting rooms and call booths on every floor – built using natural materials such as oak and tiles. Haas, meanwhile, restricted himself to only sourcing vintage furniture – aside from some custom-made pieces.

In many cases, practicality was put before aesthetics. One example of this, says Haas, is the use of carpeting (made from recycled polyester yarns) in all workspaces to minimise noise. “It’s the first time I’ve ever used a carpet; I’m not usually a fan,” he says. “But acoustically it was important to make the office work.” Similarly, the interior design involved using a lot of the existing furniture from the company’s former HQ. “We didn’t want to waste anything,” adds Haas. “What matters is that people are comfortable and that they have access to everything they need.”

There is also a focus on providing different kinds of spaces for people to work and meet. All of the floors have large, medium and small meeting rooms. A mixed-use space on the ground floor has been designed to accommodate all 200 employees for conferences and the restaurant provides a laid-back setting for events and meetings. Café 146, just for staff, is run by restaurateur Christophe Juville of nearby Lolo Bistro and offers employees a daily selection of affordable vegetarian dishes such as curly kale and white bean soup or black rice salad.

The creative team is nestled in a quiet corner on the top floor, where Kopp spends a lot of his time working on new designs and checking prototypes. The most exciting new product at the moment is Veja’s newly launched hiking shoe. Featuring a black leather body and chunky rubber soles, it’s a departure from the brand’s tennis-style shoes, but Kopp says it reflects the team’s global spirit even better than their signature trainer design. “You can be in New York, São Paulo or Amazonia in the same shoe. It’s resistant and, for a change, it’s not white.”

Another focus for the year ahead is the development of the various repair shops that the brand has opened in Bordeaux, Paris and Berlin. The company trains cobblers to repair old Vejas as well as trainers from other brands. Aside from allowing customers to extend the life of their products, it’s also a great way for the brand to understand the weaknesses of its designs and continuously make improvements. “Once a month the creative team meets with five cobblers to discuss the construction of shoes and how we can do better,” says Kopp. “Since all they see are the defects, it’s a great way for us to improve.”

Aside from a renewed focus on repairs, Kopp doesn’t like to plan too far ahead, nor does he set annual sales targets. “The only target is to be healthy financially,” he says. For now he’s taking a moment to celebrate having the entire Paris team under a single roof and making the most of the new office to facilitate teamwork. “I’m not a big fan of working from home,” says Kopp. “Designing a trainer remotely was a nightmare. For me, the strength of Veja is in the team. It’s the pleasure of seeing each other every day.”
veja-store.com

True romance

Pierpaolo Piccioli is an outlier. In an industry where designers tend to hop from one fashion house to the next, Valentino’s creative director has been mastering his craft at the same company for more than 23 years. After nearly a decade at Fendi he joined Valentino in 1999, working his way to the top after the retirement of its co-founder, Valentino Garavani, in 2008. Piccioli inspires a sense of trust and stability in those around him, not only because of the length of his tenure but also his romantic attitude to design. He is one of the few fashion creatives who still recognise the value of honouring the past – and making time to dream.

Understated in a black outfit, Piccioli is committed to the house’s existing codes, presenting them through a modern-day lens, rather than chasing disruption for its own sake. “I’ve always felt that I can express my ideas and values using the same codes that Mr Valentino used,” he says. “As a designer you need to bring a new perspective that’s related to the times that you live in. You’re painting a new picture of the same world.”

It was this approach that saw him being named designer of the year at the most recent Fashion Awards in London. The morning after, Monocle meets him in a gilded suite at Claridge’s hotel. Despite the grandeur of his surroundings and the headlines that he has just made (he was up against heavyweights such as Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons for Prada and Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia), Piccioli remains grounded. He gives everyone in the room a hug while holding a toastie in one hand and his phone in the other as he shares the video of his celebratory dance from the previous night. “I wanted to highlight my own vulnerabilities when I accepted the award,” he says. “The American stereotype of the almighty winner doesn’t belong to this moment.”

Piccioli seeks to use fashion to tell powerful stories and make statements about the world. He staged the brand’s latest haute-couture show on Rome’s Spanish Steps, dressing men and women of all ages and shapes in soft tailoring and striking gowns. That inclusive vision, presented during the far-right Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s election campaign, served indirectly as a manifesto against “anti-democratic practices”.

“We have to use the power of image,” says Piccioli. “There was no loud declaration during the show but we made a statement through beauty. It hits the audience’s hearts before it hits their brains and that can drive our message home quicker. We need to lead the changes that we are hoping for, not just watch from the periphery.”

Creating emotional, sensory experiences for his audience is a large part of Piccioli’s formula, helping his work to stand out. He says that he achieves this by staying instinctive – a rather forgotten trait in modern design studios, which are increasingly run on data and digital trends. “I used to be very rational but I’ve learnt to let my emotions flow,” he says. “The way that I relate to colour, embroidery and volume is a lot more spontaneous.”

Creating his celebrated all-black and all-pink collections was another instinctive decision. “I was in Paris scouting a location and reading about Lucio Fontana’s concept of spatialism,” says Piccioli of his inspiration to create monochromatic settings for the two collections.

By stripping away the extraneous details, he highlighted the quality and impeccable construction of Valentino’s garments, while his pink shade made it into the Pantone Color Institute’s colour-matching system; it is now officially registered as Pink PP. “It’s an invitation to see fashion from a different perspective,” he says. “Using a single colour means that we must experiment even more with cuts and volumes. You must go deeper if the collection is monochromatic.”

As personal as his work is, Piccioli also makes room for other voices during the design process. “I start with a reflection of the moment but, when I know what I want to say, I explain the pitch to my team and ask people to put their own stories into the designs,” he says. “I don’t just ask them to execute them. Historically, especially in Italy, designers have been depicted solo, alone with their big egos. You need an ego to do this job but you can also share the work.” At Valentino’s haute couture shows, Piccioli makes a point of taking his bow alongside the house’s team of seamstresses to acknowledge their contributions.

In the same spirit, he still makes space for the co-founder’s presence in the company. “I’ve known Mr Valentino as a creative but also as a human being, so I’ve always wanted to keep his spirit and his idea of beauty alive,” says Piccioli, who works from Garavani’s office in Rome’s Renaissance-era Palazzo Gabrielli-Mignanelli, a sun-filled building with fresco ceilings and plenty of wood accents. “The space might be used differently but the ceiling, the floor… Everything has been kept the same. There’s an obvious parallel between our works but they are different, worn by different people, presented in different ways and telling the stories of two different men. Fashion can tell you something about the people who created the clothes.”

The creations of Garavani and Piccioli are also “in conversation” in Forever Valentino, an exhibition that debuted in Doha last year and runs until April 2023. Marking Garavani’s 90th birthday, it juxtaposes the work of the two designers to highlight some of the house’s most enduring values. “I didn’t want a retrospective but rather a perspective that takes away time,” says Piccioli. “It’s only when you’re aware of the past that you can create a different future.”

Alongside the two designers, Rome is the exhibition’s third main character. Not only is it the birthplace of the house but it has also been Piccioli’s home since he studied there. “Rome is the story of us all,” he says. “There are so many layers to the city, from imperialism to paganism and Pasolini’s Rome. But the real beauty is in how all of these elements live together harmoniously. Every corner has a different charm but Rome’s beauty always feels effortless. That has influenced my approach to design.”

Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of New York’s New Museum, and fashion collector Alexander Fury experienced the pivotal role that Rome plays in Valentino’s story when they collaborated with Piccioli on the exhibition. They also point to the house’s own contributions to the city and Italian culture.

“As an Italian, working with Valentino means confronting more than 60 years of fashion history that is deeply woven into the history of our country,” says Gioni. “Garavani and [his partner] Giancarlo Giammetti are a direct conduit to Rome and la dolce vita of postwar Italy through their legendary relationships with figures such as Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn, while Piccioli’s work today is reinventing a certain image of these places with new ways of imagining communities.”

As for Fury, spending time sifting through the Valentino archives in the Palazzo Gabrielli-Mignanelli offered a more quotidian perspective of Rome that informs the brand’s design values, such as its idea of timeless beauty and its appreciation of the past.

“We look at Roman landmarks such as the Spanish Steps as monumental, whereas for Valentino they are part of everyday life, part of a passage through the city, a place to grab a coffee,” says Fury. “This fascinating idea of living within and alongside history, as well as creating the new, is a vital component of the house’s identity.”

Piccioli plans to keep Valentino relevant through a gentle evolution and by introducing new ideas that reflect shifts in society. “Even today, when fashion seems to be about hyperrealism, you can still use the power of beauty to reflect what we’re all wishing for, rather than the agony of our times,” he says. “Beautiful images can form a manifesto and stand on their own without needing to be explained.”
valentino.com

What to wear

What to wear
In celebration of the loafer

The cult of trainers might still be going strong but the humble loafer has been stepping out of the shadow of its laced-up brethren. Loafers can be worn without running roughshod over a dress code; they are the refined lazy man’s shoe. “They complement so many outfits, offering a dressiness with the convenience of a slip-on design,” says veteran shoe designer Manolo Blahnik. Some style historians trace the laceless shoe’s origins to mid-19th-century England but the modern loafer is more often credited to US firm GH Bass. Introduced in the 1930s, its Weejun penny loafer was inspired by the moccasins of Norwegian labourers and became an Ivy League staple. “The style has endured over the years via its association with American university students,” says Cyril Crentsil, marketing manager for GH Bass.

The penny loafer’s fringed cousin, the Kiltie, also sits at the traditional end of the spectrum and can add a natty sportiness to your stride. There are also classic styles such as Edward Green’s Polperro, with its supple, unlined construction that lends it more of a Neapolitan flair. “The trend for softer, deconstructed tailoring has crossed over to footwear,” says Euan Denholm, head of brand at Edward Green. For those with more contemporary tastes, there are chunky tread-sole loafers or ergonomic Technogel slip-ons offering trainer-like comfort – a signature of Harrys of London. “They have great styling flexibility,” says the company’s creative director Graeme Fidler. “Loafers are the Swiss Army knife of footwear.”

With the current market full of such rich pickings, there has never been a better time to loosen those laces.

What to wear
Creative director, Altea
Luigi Fila

Milanese fashion label Altea had been dormant until the Fratelli Fila Group (also behind popular outerwear label Valstar) purchased the company in 2019. Founded in 1892 by Guiseppe Sartori, the brand built a name for itself for its collections of ties and foulards, as well as the popular flagship it once had near Via Montenapoleone – the shop was a Milanese landmark during the brand’s heyday in the 1900s. More recently, the Sartori family made the decision to pass ownership to the Filas, who share similar family values.

Today, under creative director Luigi Fila (pictured), Altea has expanded its scope to offer a full wardrobe and answer a modern-day need for clothing that Fila says, “looks very elegant, yet not stuffy”. The brand has quickly struck a chord and its stand at the most recent Pitti Uomo trade fair (see right) was among the most popular with buyers, from Mr Porter to US department store Saks.

“We’ve been looking at work wear for inspiration. If you really boil it down, those were pieces made for a purpose and designed to last”

What was your vision for Altea’s new chapter?
We wanted to bring together the best fabrics and a wide network of really specialised artisans, from a group of women in Umbria who hand-knit beautiful jacquard sweaters, to an Italian craftsman who moved to Tibet for a girl and now produces the best quality cashmere scarves from there. We also work with mills in Tuscany to build one-of-a-kind fabrics, such as a loosely woven cashmere that is used in our signature double-breasted jacket. It’s so soft that it feels like a sweater.

How did you define the brand’s signatures?
We’ve been looking at workwear for inspiration. If you really boil it down, those were pieces made for a purpose and designed to last. We try to be equally purist with our approach to volume and silhouette.

What’s next for the brand?
We are looking at opening our own shop in Milan. A lot of the things that we do have a beautiful story behind them and with a physical space, we can get better at telling those stories.

What to wear
Pitti Uomo returns
Fashion parade

The fashion community kickstarted the year in Florence with the Pitti Uomo menswear fair. Monocle once again toured the Fortezza da Basso, but also sat at the open-air Piazza del Mercato Nuovo and under the arches of the Santa Maria Novella convent for Antwerp designer Jan-Jan Van Essche’s catwalk show, this season’s special guest. Van Essche’s models, dressed in elegantly draped tunics and tailoring, almost morphed into the convent’s frescoes.

There was plenty to take in off the runways too, including a refreshing return to elegance on the streets with attendees braving the cold in long cashmere coats, suits in every shade of grey and smart loafers. “Always dress up a little more than you have to,” says Edoardo Biancardi of Milanese tie- maker Bigi, which has been enjoying a resurgence in demand of late.

Some of the most promising newcomers to watch in this year’s show? Paris-based Outland for the best Breton tops; young Danish tailor Berner Kuhl for his cool waxed- cotton suits and Madrid-based Unfeigned, a fledgling label by five brothers and sisters looking to create the perfect wardrobe staples.

Judging by the turnout at Pitti, the year ahead offers a market full of fresh ideas, new names and a return to clothing that’s made to last.

Images: Getty Images

Get your fill

Coush Armó
Barcelona

Barcelona’s Gràcia neighbourhood hosts the latest venture from Francisco Seubert of Buenos Aires-based bakery chain Atelier Fuerza. Open since November, it aims to bring Argentina’s specialities to a European audience: cremonas (a crisp, wheel-shaped loaf), buttery medialunas (Argentina’s take on the croissant) and cheesy bread balls called chipas. Its interiors are by Barcelona firm Arc Disseny, which fitted out the space with a concrete-and-glass counter, original brickwork and restored clay-tile flooring.
Carrer de Sant Marc, 19

Keshiki
Tokyo

Inside Keshiki, a micro-development put together by Media Surf Communications in the district of Nihonbashi Kabutocho, you’ll find this cosy, laid-back restaurant. “I selfishly wanted to create somewhere that I’d want to eat at,” says British chef Tim Mawn. “The food looks simple but there’s a lot of work behind it. Many local producers were involved: the prosciutto comes from Sumida and the stracciatella from Omotesando.” Homemade recipes include Tuscan ribollita soup with pesto and parmesan, and tortelloni with ricotta, sage and brown butter. A great addition to the neighbourhood.
mediasurf.co.jp

‘Table for Two’ by Bre Graham
Global

At the heart of Australian food writer Bre Graham’s debut cookery book is the notion that cooking for two – no more, no fewer – is the most intimate way to enjoy food. Newly published Table for Two explores this theme in thoughtful essays and more than 80 tried, trusted and sometimes stumbled-upon recipes. Expect dishes such as scrambled eggs with brown butter and sage – perfected, we’re told, after the London-based cook accidentally left the hob on a little too long – and a honey, chorizo and peas-on-toast concoction inspired by Graham’s grandfather. Free of formality or stuffiness, this is a book in which leftovers from the night before are seen off with gusto. Evi-O Studio’s old-fashioned illustrations add a sense of nostalgia, nodding to mid-century classics of the genre by the likes of Ambrose Heath. Graham makes an admirable case for cooking for two. All that’s left to decide now is who to invite over.
dk.com

Barbe
Marrakech

Architect Maha Mseffer from Paris and DJ Adnane Belakbil from Casablanca are the married duo behind Barbe, a fetching wine shop and delicatessen in Marrakech. “Shopping for wine in Morocco has never been a fun or comfortable experience,” says Belakbil of the Muslim country. “We felt it was time to create an experience and a space that democratises it all.” Mseffer, who is architecture firm Studio KO’s chef d’agence for Morocco, worked on the project during her free time, restoring the ochre-coloured floors. “I always taste the wine before they go in the cellar,” says Adnane.
61 Rue Yougoslavie

1.
Spanish-style ‘croquetas’

Croquettes, the name of which derives from the word croquer (to crunch), are a creamy, breadcrumb-coated staple in France, but our chef Ralph Schelling prefers the Spanish version that he learnt to make while living in San Sebastián. Schelling suggests adding to the richness of the dish by using jamón ibérico de bellota, made from acorn-fed pigs, which gives the ham a “wonderful nutty flavour”. He also recommends using a mild olive oil. “Otherwise, the taste will be too bitter,” he says. To give the dish a little extra colour, he finishes it off with a dash of oak-smoked paprika. Enjoy.

Starter for 4 people

Ingredients

500ml full-fat milk
Nutmeg, grated, a pinch
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
2 shallots, finely diced
100g jamón ibérico, finely diced
100ml olive oil, plus extra for frying
100g plain white flour, plus extra for dusting
2 large eggs, whisked
150g breadcrumbs
Smoked paprika, a dash (optional)

Method

1.
Heat the milk in a pan and flavour with salt, nutmeg and a few turns of the pepper grinder.

2.
In a separate pan on a medium heat, sauté the shallots and ham in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add flour and stir to form a paste, then gradually add the milk while stirring to create a roux (like making a very thick béchamel sauce).

3.
Once you have a thick sauce, pour into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 5 hours.

4.
Flour a surface and form the paste into croquetas – usually longer than they are wide but they can be ball-shaped. Dust with flour.

5.
Place the beaten eggs and breadcrumbs in separate bowls.

6.
Coat the croquetas with the eggs and then roll in the breadcrumbs. Deep-fry for 2 or 3 minutes. Once golden brown, remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a few sheets of kitchen roll to absorb any oil. Add a dash of paprika if you want colour. Serve warm.

2.
Ribeye with marsala shallot confit

Swiss chef Schelling shares a slow-cooked shallot confit recipe that goes perfectly with a quickly seared ribeye steak. “You can put the confit into jars for later too,” he says. “It will keep in the fridge for about two months.”

Serves 4

Ingredients
50g cane sugar
500ml red wine
200ml marsala wine
1 sprig thyme
1 star anis
500g shallots, peeled
Salt
Pepper
50g olive oil
3-4 tbsps red wine vinegar
4 premium dry-aged ribeye steaks
Fleur de sel

Method

1.
Preheat your oven to 160C.

2.
Caramelise the sugar in a medium ovenproof pan (with a lid), then deglaze with the wines and add the thyme and star anise. Bring to a boil then add the whole shallots.

3.
Season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer in the oven for about 3 hours until the shallots are soft. The wines should be almost completely reduced by the end of the cooking time.

4.
Finely chop the cooked shallots if required. Mix with the olive oil while still hot and season with vinegar. Leave to cool.

5.
Season the ribeye with fleur de sel and grill each steak for about 4 minutes on each side. Leave to stand in a warm oven for a few minutes to settle. Serve with the shallot confit.

3.
Orecchiette with aubergine, lemon and basil

The weather in northern latitudes is chilly so we thought we’d transport you to southern Italy with a Puglian pasta special. It’s currently a vegetarian dish but adding a few tinned anchovies with the oil and garlic would introduce a hit of umami.

Serves 4

Ingredients
400g orecchiette
2 aubergines, medium
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves of garlic, diced
200g passata
4 tbsps grated ricotta (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 handful of fresh basil
Zest of one lemon

Method

1.
Cut the aubergines into 2cm by 2cm chunks. Salt and drain for 30 minutes.

2.
Sauté the cherry tomatoes and garlic in oil for 3 minutes on a medium heat.

3.
Add the passata. Simmer the sauce over a low heat for 10 to 15 minutes.

4.
Rinse the aubergines and pat dry.

5.
In a separate pan, sauté the aubergine pieces in olive oil for about 5 minutes.

6.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions (minus a minute to keep it al dente). Save half a cup of the cooking water before draining.

7.
Add the aubergines to the sauce and cook for another 5 minutes.

8.
Mix everything and serve, sprinkled with cheese, basil and lemon zest.

Hidden gems

Travel to Japan might be back on the agenda after a turbulent few years but visitors should take the opportunity to look beyond the hot spots (and springs) and big cities towards the nation’s more secluded corners. With a population of 60,000, Yame, in the southern prefecture of Fukuoka, is an old castle town that has much to recommend it: historic buildings, traditional crafts and plantations that produce some of Japan’s best green tea. Locals know this region as Chikugo, a name given to Kyushu’s longest river. Monocle leaves a frenetic Tokyo, flies west to the city of Fukuoka and then heads 57km south by car to see what this far-flung corner of Kyushu has to offer.

Our first stop is at Unagi no Nedoko (“Eel’s Nest”), a shop that helped to put Yame on the map when it opened in 2012, selling “Made in Chikugo” crafts such as wooden toys, ceramics and textiles, to mention a few. It’s a wonderful place to browse craft. The Unagi team, headed by the trio of Takahiro Shiramizu, Shogo Haruguchi and Junji Tominaga, has forged a deep trust with makers and residents while bringing the area’s wares to a broader audience.

Now though, not content with merely tempting shoppers, the team has opened a smart new three-room hotel. “We were already giving recommendations and a guided tour,” says Rei Watanabe from the team. “People came to the shop and that was it. As we opened a second shop in the same neighbourhood, the number of touchpoints increased but it wasn’t quite enough.” As the trio saw the market for visiting Yame had outgrown just retail, they started UNA Laboratories to publish literature about the area and work in tourism. “The impression of travel changes depending on how many people you meet face to face on the road,” she says.

Despite being evangelists for the area’s quiet charm and craft heritage, the Unagi trio aren’t from Yame. This said, their passion and commitment to promote the region won support from the locals. When a nearby non-profit, whose mission is to preserve historical old buildings in the area, had two wrecked properties to save, they approached Unagi. “It was great timing,” says Watanabe. “Rather than attracting people from outside who might shop and leave, we wanted to do more, creating an interactive relationship between the visitors and locals. It’s a new style of tourism.”

The team renovated a century-old two-storey residence and a separate kura storehouse into modern Japanese accommodation: the Craft Inn Té. The residence is divided into two guest rooms – respectively Ai (indigo) and Take (bamboo) themed – and the kura is a standalone washi (traditional Japanese paper) room. The Ai room has a wooden table, tapestry and cushions – all indigo-dyed – while the Take room has intricate bamboo lampshades and chairs. The beautiful bathtubs are made from red cedar by woodworking studio Matsunobu Kogei in Yame, while shoji paper screens were handcrafted by Nao Tesuki Washi in the neighbouring Saga prefecture.

When Monocle visits, Watanabe and Tominaga offer us a tour of the surroundings too. The inn is in the Fukushima neighbourhood, an area with many traditional machiya townhouses where the locals started preservation projects 25 years ago. It’s also home to Konomi Honke, a tea shop founded in 1704. Today, 14th-generation tea merchant Kenichi Konomi, a walking encyclopaedia of Yame’s tea history, runs the family business. Then there is a chochin (Japanese lantern) workshop called Ito Gonjiro Shoten. Founded in 1815, the lantern-maker, headed by 32-year-old Hiroki Ito, crafted beautiful washi lampshades for the inn. Recently the team also made chochin for Disney and Netflix films The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Rebecca, respectively. “At Unagi, we work with local culture,” says Tominaga. “Some people are interested in products, while others are more attracted to stories and experience. That’s why our inn matters. Our shops can serve the former while the inn can serve the latter.”

Indeed, guests are keen to meet the producers and get their hands dirty trying their hand at, for example, aizome (indigo-dyeing). At Ikeda Kasuri, Daigo Ikeda practises traditional hand-dye technique and Kurume kasuri ikat hand-weaving; Kurume kasuri, one of the three such heritage ikats in Japan, is from Kurume near Yame. Nomura Orimono is another maker of Kurume kasuri but visits are appointment only.

We hire a car to explore the region’s woods and mountain streams. The first stop is Baba Suishaba, where Takeshi and Chieko Baba produce incense sticks. They source cedar leaves from the forest and grind them with metal pestles powered by wooden water mills. “There used to be more than 30 workshops in Yame but the industry shrunk when the imports of cheaper products and ingredients started,” says Takeshi. They remain true to the authentic way, using only quality natural ingredients. Traditionally, their incense was used for Buddhist rituals but the fragrance of cedar has won them a broader audience. The elderly couple struggle to keep up with the demand; luckily they seem to enjoy the interest.

Next we head to café Saryo Chiyonoen. Here the Harashima family, who run an organic tea farm, offer delicious green tea as well as homemade dishes using foraged vegetables. When we visit, Tamami, who runs the café with her sister Haruka, shows a variety of teas that her parents grow in fields in the nearby mountains.

“I was told that once there was a ceramic called Hoshino-yaki here,” says 81-year-old potter Genta Yamamoto. He moved to Hoshino village in Yame in 1968 on a mission to revive the craft, which existed from the early 1700s to the late 1800s; he eventually did so by identifying styles, clays and glazes. He welcomes Monocle at his kiln-cum-shop, where he deftly kicks the potter’s wheel and treats us to a masterclass.

“Most visitors go to Tokyo and Kyoto, perhaps as far west as Hiroshima,” says Watanabe back at the inn. “The hurdle is still high to bring them to Kyushu but there are many hidden gems here.” Tominaga adds that people around Yame still live and work in the traditional way. “We are like editors,” says Watanabe. “We help visitors to see and understand what happens here.”
craftinn.jp

Yame address book

Asahiya Saketen
Pick up “Made in Yame” saké as well as shochu (Japanese distilled liquor) from Kyushu.
2-105 Moto-machi, Yame
+81 (0)943 23 0924

Konomi Honke
Just a stone’s throw away from the inn, Konomi Honke sells all sorts of fine tea leaves from Yame. Check out old tea caddies and boxes that show the history of the tea industry.
126 Moto-machi, Yame
konomien.jp

Saryo Chiyonoen
Treat yourself to a healthy lunch. Haruka and Tamami Harashima use their grandmother’s recipes to keep the local food culture alive.
6342 Kurogi-machi Kita obuchi, Yame
chiyonoen.jp

Shige
An unpretentious udon joint. Pick your favourite tempura prepared on the table. Just declare how many pieces you’ve eaten; they trust you.
1163 Kamahara, Yame
+81 (0)943 22 2553

Baba Suishaba
Takeshi and Mieko Baba make natural cedar incense sticks. Speak to the inn before you make a visit; the couple might be working in the mountains.
1241-2 Joyo-machi Kami yokoyama, Yame

Ikeda Kasuri
Craftsman Daigo Ikeda offers workshops short and long for aizome indigo-dyeing and intricate Kurume kasuri ikat textile weaving.
1840 Hisadomi, Chikugo
ikedakasuri.jp

Hoshino-yaki Genta-gama
A lovely country setup where potter Genta Yamamoto works and lives. There is a shop too. The staff at Té are happy to help if you want to make a visit.
10471 Hoshinomura, Yame

Unagi no Nedoko
They have two shops in Yame, selling handmade crafts mostly made in Chikugo and Kyushu. Also check out Unagi’s original monpe, traditional female farmers’ trousers.
unagino-nedoko.net

For starters

It’s 12.30 on a chilly Friday and the lunchtime rush is in full swing at Les Nouvelles Galeries Lafayette Gourmet, the new Les Tables du Gourmet restaurant floor in the storied department store, offering seven places to eat.

“Our job is to promote new talent and share their know-how,” says Dominique Louis, director of Galeries Lafayette Gourmet. “We were looking for the best up-and-coming chefs to bring customers something younger than the artisans we are already working with.”

All the chefs have existing Parisian outposts but it’s the street-food side of things that is played up, from Peruvian ceviche and New York-style hot dogs to Japanese gyoza or French chickpea panisses. Perhaps the most hotly-anticipated opening is chef Mory Sacko, who keeps the clientèle well-fed on fried chicken and plantain burgers at what is his second branch of Mosugo.

“We were looking for the best up-and-coming chefs to bring customers something younger than the artisans we were already working with”

Bathed in natural light and with views overlooking the Boulevard Haussmann, Les Tables du Gourmet is about as far removed from a tired in-mall dining concept as it gets: each place feels distinct with its own design, decor and smart staff uniforms but unified enough to dart between. You might start with apéro at the dimly-lit Le Bar de La Cave before moving on to Bagnard, where diners feast on Mediterranean fare. Or pass through Rice Street’s noren curtain for sushi and yakitori skewers beneath the hanging lantern lamps. Leave room for dessert: you’ll probably pass a macaron stand on the way out.
gourmet.galerieslafayette.com

Three to try

Mosugo for Cajun fried chicken
French-Malian chef Mory Sacko’s take on comfort food.

Bagnard for pan bagnat
A salade niçoise – tuna, anchovies, eggs, olives – served in sandwich form.

Yora for empanadas
José Arias’ cheesy, meaty and veggie turnovers are the, ahem, toast of Paris.

Under cover

Our new book

Hotel Palacio Ico
Teguise, Lanzarote

Although it’s no longer Lanzarote’s capital, the town of Teguise has retained its charm and is still worth seeing for its whitewashed colonial-era architecture. One of the most impressive examples is the Palacio Ico, a nine-key hotel in a building from the 1690s. The property wraps around a courtyard and has original features such as coffered ceilings, teak flooring and metre-thick stone walls, as well as furniture made by the island’s artisans.
hotelpalacioico.com

Casa Nereta
Cadaqués, Cataluña

The picturesque Costa Brava town of Cadaqués has long been a favourite with artists: Picasso and Dalí both daubed and dwelled here. The latter was a pal of the painter Joan Ponç, whose grandson James Pons (pictured) now runs a 12-room guesthouse in a mid-century home. “We also aim to offer a memorable experience when it comes to food,” says Pons, who opened the adjoining Bistro Nereta last year. Here guests can wash down local seafood with a glass of Catalan wine.
casanereta.com

Plaza 18
Vejer de la Frontera, Andalucía

Off the Plaza de España in Vejer de la Frontera, James Stuart and Regli Álvarez run a series of hotels that function like a village within a village. “Rather than building from scratch, we’ve reused housing to support growth in the old town,” says Stuart. This includes buildings that date to the 13th century. In 2019 the duo added Plaza 18, a six-bedroom hotel in a restored 19th-century townhouse, which feels more like a tasteful home.
califavejer.com/plaza-18

Atrio
Cáceres, Extremadura

Not everything notable is new in a nation as old as Spain. Cáceres natives Juan Antonio Pérez and José Polo spent decades putting their city on the map. They first launched Atrio in 1986 as a stand-alone restaurant. In 2010, with the help of architects Mansilla & Tuñón, the pair relaunched Atrio as a restaurant-hotel, bringing modern flair to the medieval walled city. In the 14-room property, Pérez and Polo have added personal touches, such as decorating the space with pieces from their own collection (including a Warhol), making the hotel feel like a rather artful addition to their beloved restaurant.
restauranteatrio.com

Cap Rocat
Mallorca

Though it’s just a 20-minute drive from Palma, Cap Rocat feels a world away from urban life. Nestled in a nature reserve, the hotel is in a converted 19th-century fortress (complete with a drawbridge and trenches) and overlooks a protected stretch of coastline. Architect Antonio Obrados integrated the building’s history by converting former artillery positions, where cannons once stood, into the hotel’s sought-after Sentinel suites. Carved from the rock face, each room includes a private pool and terrace that’s best enjoyed over breakfast, with dramatic sea views and the sound of the waves as a backdrop.
caprocat.com

Images: Palacio Ico

Table talk

Where to eat

1.
Las Teresas
Seville

With chunky legs of jamón swinging above the bar and posters of bullfighters and flamenco dancers, it doesn’t get much more Seville than this. Founded in 1870, Las Teresas’s location in the heart of the buzzing Santa Cruz neighbourhood means that it is perennially packed but the patrons are as likely to be locals knocking back a caña as tourists seeking a slice of authentic Spain. It’s worth braving the crowds for the paper-thin jamón ibérico de bellota, a nutty number made from acorn-fed pigs.
lasteresas.es

2.
Dani Brasserie
Madrid

Occupying the coveted rooftop spot of Madrid’s Four Seasons hotel is Dani Brasserie, led by fêted Spanish chef Dani García. The pretty bar and restaurant, with its leafy, light-filled interior and sun-drenched terrace, opened in 2020. The brasserie serves everything from breakfast to indulgent dinners with a menu by the star chef. It’s in the evening though, as the sun sets across the city and the inventive cocktails start to flow, that this space shows what modern Spanish hospitality is all about.
danibrasserie.com

3.
Bar Do Porto
Corrubedo, Galicia

British architect David Chipperfield has reimagined Bar do Porto, a local spot that had been closed for more than 30 years. The bar reopened as a place where villagers can meet for a drink and a hearty meal. He worked with Galician architect Sofia Blanco Santos to ensure that the spirit would be true to the original.
+34 981 865 370

4.
Normal
Girona, Cataluña

From the owners of award-winning restaurant El Celler de Can Roca, brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca, comes a second endeavour – and it is a statement in simplicity. Despite Normal’s sophisticated interior, the menu is rather playful, with dishes such as pickled mussels with apple and fennel, and pumpkin ravioli with truffle. “Eating out should be all about proximity: farm-grown, market-sourced produce and the intuition that harks back to our grandparents’ way of doing things,” says Josep.
restaurantnormal.com

5.
Casa Cámara
Pasai Donibane, Basque Country

Casa Cámara has been serving first-rate seafood to this small fishing community, a 30-minute drive from San Sebastián, since 1884. The building, which is perched on the harbourfront, was once a warehouse where arrantzales (fishermen) unloaded their catch before it was sold at market. Original owner Pablo Cámara converted the space into a seafront restaurant. Four generations later, it has lost none of its magic: the harbour views remain unmatched and the dishes are as fresh as ever.
casacamara.com

Q&A
Clara Diez
Co-founder, Formaje

Spain excels at tradition but there’s a new crop of food folk who are opening shops, restaurants and wineries. Diez founded her Madrid shop with her husband, Adrián, to show that traditional products can be tastefully updated.

Best place to eat in Madrid?
Her, on Calle Hermosilla 4. Order the aubergine milhojas with migas crujientes.

And beyond the capital?
The bocata de calamares (squid sandwiches) at La Mejillonera in Valladolid, my home town.

Your favourite hotel?
Hotel Santo Mauro in Madrid. It’s a 19th-century palace on Calle Zurbano in the Chamberí neighbourhood. It has beautiful gardens and a film-like interior created by designer Lorenzo Castillo.

What inspired Formaje?
After working in the artisanal cheese sector, we realised that the public had an outdated perception of the cheese world. We decided that we would like to create a platform where the product could be sold, exhibited and communicated in a more modern manner, taking inspiration from different fields, such as fashion, architecture and design.

And what’s your favourite Spanish cheese?
Queixo do País, a Galician cheese made by an elderly woman named Josefa and her young team. It is traditionally made at home with milk from the family’s cows.

Shore thing

Best beaches

Playa de la Concha
San Sebastián

San Sebastián might have made a name for itself as a food lover’s paradise but it has plenty to offer sun-worshippers too. Playa de la Concha, a crescent-shaped stretch with views of Isla Santa Clara, sits in the heart of the city and acts as a playground for sunbathers and surfers alike. It’s widely considered to be one of the world’s most beautiful city beaches.

Islas Cíes
Galicia

Galicia might not compete with the rest of Spain when it comes to hours of sunshine but it is home to some of the country’s most beautiful and pristine beaches. The Islas Cíes – a rocky archipelago off the coast of Vigo – have no cars, no hotels and strictly limited visitor numbers, which lends them a beguiling air of Robinson Crusoe remoteness.

Playa de los Lances
Tarifa, Andalucía

Located at the southernmost tip of Spain, the town of Tarifa is one of the world’s premier destinations for wind sports – it is affectionately known among residents as The City of Wind. Playa de los Lances is its nearest beach and offers both golden sands and crashing waves, blowing in kite surfers from around the world.

Three sandy island escapes
Platja de ses Illetes Formentera
This pristine bit of coastline is only a short hop on a boat from neighbouring Ibiza.

Playa el Bollullo
Tenerife
On the northern coast, Playa el Bollullo is only accessible by foot but is worth the hike.

Cala Macarelleta
Menorca
Take the Camí de Cavalls, an ancient pine tree-shaded path that encircles the island, from one of the nearby coves, to reach this secluded spot.

Platja de la Patacona
Valencia

Spain’s third-largest city is perhaps its beachiest, with kilometres of sand easily accessible from the centre. Furthest from the busy palm tree-lined promenade is Platja de la Patacona. Valencians head to this golden stretch for the lively chiringuitos (beach bars), volleyball courts and people-watching opportunities from the comfort of your rented hammock or sun lounger.

Shall we show you around?

Welcome to Spain. Monocle’s sunny new book is available to order now and directs you to the best beaches, bars and ateliers – don’t leave home without it.

A guide like no other

Monocle’s new handbook series looks beyond the tourist haunts to tout a nation’s best hospitality, design, retail and craft offering – not to mention what it might be like to stay longer than a few days and put down roots. Spain: The Monocle Handbook, published with Thames & Hudson, is a lively rundown of all this enchanting Iberian nation has to offer. Order your copy today at Monocle.com/shop

Images: Luis Diaz, Salva Lopez