Issues

Collector by chance: How Pertti Männistö became one of the world’s most accomplished Alvar Aalto archivists

Many serious collections start by chance. Pertti Männistö’s hoard of Alvar Aalto furniture and glassware is a case in point: he didn’t set out to become one of the world’s top collectors of the Finnish designer’s work. “When I moved from the countryside to Turku in 1991, I would go to design auctions with no particular goal,” he says, sitting on a 1940s Armchair 34 at his home in southwest Finland, where he lives with his wife, Kirsti Toikka. “There was Aalto everywhere but nobody paid much attention to it.”

Then something changed. After spotting a prototype Aalto armchair in a private home and buying it for 350 Finnish marks (less than €60), Männistö went to the library the next morning, where he read everything that he could about Aalto and his wife, fellow designer Aino, as well as their furniture company, Artek. “Once I fell in love, I bought their pieces almost in a panic,” he says.

In the three decades since, his collection has grown so large that he claims to own more prototypes by the designers than Finland’s Alvar Aalto Museum. Much of it is in storage and only a few pieces are on display at home. “About 95 per cent cannot handle daily use,” he says. “These are historical objects now.”

Männistö’s focus is on early Aalto furniture – from 1928 to 1965 – before manufacturing processes became more standardised and mechanised. The appeal, says the collector, lies in the richer finishes, the hand-worked surfaces and the patina that has developed over the decades. “New furniture doesn’t age in this way or gain the same spirit,” he says. Among Männistö’s rarest pieces are prototype lighting designs that never entered production, a one-off chair for a 1946 show in Zürich and a Maison Carré armchair – one of only two, signed by Alvar. He also owns about 100 of the designer’s iconic three-legged stools.

In the 1990s those stools could be picked up for the equivalent of a few euros. Now international demand has supercharged the market. Basic pieces remain attainable but prototypes and early rarities require what Männistö calls “detective work”. To track these down, you need access to a network of dealers, descendants and collectors across Europe and beyond.

Männistö suggests looking beyond Alvar. “People should appreciate his wife, Aino, too,” he says. “They made everything together.” Asked whether new Aalto discoveries are still possible, he doesn’t hesitate. “Always,” he says. “Prototypes and one-offs are still being found. That’s the beauty of it.”

Pertti Männistö on how to hunt for Aalto pieces:

1.
Build a library first
“Prioritise printed catalogues and books over internet listings, where Aalto misinformation is common. The process of authentication starts with comparing dimensions, materials and production details with documented originals.”

2.
Buy the early works
“Earlier Aalto furniture is made from better materials and has richer finishes. It has more long-term value.”

3.
But don’t limit yourself
“Finnish modernists such as Werner West and Ilmari Tapiovaara were designers whose furniture remains undervalued compared to the Aaltos’. It’s worth looking further afield.”

How the world’s middle powers are adapting to a new era of weaponised interdependence

The speech that Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, delivered at the World Economic Forum in January continues to reverberate in policy and strategic debates. His diagnosis of a world defined by “rupture” was more than just a striking turn of phrase. It acknowledged that the comfort blanket of the rules-based order is fraying and middle powers can no longer assume geography and goodwill will insulate them from great-power rivalry.

Canada has accordingly deepened economic ties with the EU, advanced defence co-operation with countries such as the UK and is expanding trade and security links across the Indo-Pacific region. These are practical steps to build resilience through diversification and co-operation.

Financial systems and supply chains, once seen as the conduits of globalisation, are now routinely used for strategic leverage. In such a world, resilience is a governing principle: diversify trade, harden supply chains, invest in domestic industrial capacity and build multiple external partnerships to avoid overdependence. Carney’s language on the need for “coalitions that work” captures the shift well. From Aukus and the Quad to ad-hoc Ukraine support groups, the pattern is clear – smaller, purpose-built formats that deliver where larger institutions struggle.

Not all middle powers are playing the same game. Some remain invested in preserving the existing order, especially among US allies and partners. Australia is a case in point. Even as Canberra strengthens its ties with Tokyo, Seoul, Ottawa and Europe, it continues to anchor its strategy in its alliance with Washington. But among the same allies, there are diverging views on how central the US should remain, how much autonomy is realistic and how to manage an ally that can be as transactional and coercive as it is strategically useful.

Others are more revisionist. The expansion agenda of the Brics group reflects an effort by some to reshape parts of the global order, in areas from development finance to currency use. But even here the picture is mixed. Countries such as India and the UAE nurture close links with both status-quo-oriented powers and their rivals, keeping active ties with the US and Europe while engaging with China and Russia. The result is a dense, often untidy landscape of overlapping loyalties.

There is, however, a logic. A growing body of thinking points towards “negotiated pluralism”. Stability, in this view, rests on a system that looks more like a mosaic, with multiple coalitions doing different jobs. Recent policy moves bear this out and there are reasons for optimism. The coalitions assembled in support of Ukraine show that middle powers can lead efforts to act collectively when the stakes are clear. The EU’s push to strengthen economic security is increasingly paired with outreach to Indo-Pacific partners. Discussions around regulatory alignment hint at the emergence of cross-regional economic architectures.

European co-operation in defence is also expanding outward, with new partnerships extending as far as Japan, South Korea, India and Australia. Middle powers are not a substitute for great power consensus, nor should they pretend to be. But in a fractured world, they can still play a stabilising role.

The commute: Take the London Underground with Broadsheet founder Nick Shelton

Melbourne native Nick Shelton is the founder of Broadsheet, an online culture, hospitality and lifestyle platform that also publishes print magazines. Its various editions cover cities including Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney – and now London, where he moved last year. We join him in Notting Hill for his morning caffeine hit, before jumping on a Circle Line train to Broadsheet’s offices on the Strand.

Which brands do you reach for in the mornings?
Trunk and Slowear are mainstays for dressing smartly but comfortably. During my working day I spend a lot of time zipping around town on a Lime bike, going to meetings in Fitzrovia, Marylebone or Mayfair, so I have to take that into consideration.

What’s first on your morning itinerary?
At about 08.00, I get a cortado at Granger & Co in Notting Hill. I like to sit at the counter and catch up on what my Australian team has been up to overnight. I’m also good friends with the owner, Natalie Elliott. She has been a huge supporter of what Broadsheet is doing in London and stocks the latest issue of our magazine in her restaurant.

Why Notting Hill?
Natalie recommended the area when we were looking. London is a city of interconnected villages but this area is a village in and of itself, with local businesses, restaurants and a European community. I can’t think of a comparable neighbourhood in Melbourne.

It’s time to hop on the Circle Line. What will you be listening to?
Two podcasts: Acquired tells the stories of how companies were founded and People vs Algorithms focuses on how culture and technology are transforming.

Other than ‘Broadsheet London’, which publications are you reading?
The Australian Financial Review for news and The New York Times Magazine for culture.

Do you find inspiration during your morning journeys on the Tube?
After getting up to speed on the Broadsheet articles that have been published online in Australia overnight, I have a 45-minute commute to digest them – and then to translate them into ideas for our London edition. In Melbourne, my commute was just 10 minutes by car. While it was quicker, it didn’t give me a chance to let my mind wander. London is fizzing with cultural energy right now and we have an opportunity to tell these stories.

This is our stop. What made 180 The Strand the right location for Broadsheet’s offices?
We’re in a building that’s an interesting creative and entrepreneurial hub in the heart of central London. Plus, food is very important to us and spots such as Toklas Bakery and Corner Shop at 180 The Thames are just around the corner.

Who’s in the office when you arrive?
At the moment, we’re a small team of about 10 in London. It’s like running a start-up in reverse: we already have the infrastructure and a team of 80 in Australia and now we’re establishing ourselves in a new city.
broadsheet.com

How Jetzt is bringing member-funded journalism to Austria

Cronyism is a stubborn problem in Austria, a country where party allegiance runs deep. In 2021, then-chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigned amid allegations that his allies had used public funds to buy favourable coverage. Kurz denies both but the scandal cast a harsh light on a media landscape in which major publications were known for their political leanings rather than fair reporting.

When independent digital media platform Jetzt began its pre-launch membership drive last spring, endorsements from would-be readers on its website stressed one thing above all: that Austria needed an objective journalistic voice unburdened by political affiliation. The outlet’s name, which means “now” in German, is intended to convey that urgency. Media diversity and journalism are enormously important for democracy,” said Corinna Milborn, one of the country’s best-known television anchors, in her support video.

By November, Jetzt had secured the 5,000 subscriptions that it required to get started. Its business model resembles that of Danish outlet Zetland, in which paying members exert a direct influence on what is reported. In fact, Jetzt’s publisher, Florian Novak, was inspired by Zetland’s chief executive, Tav Klitgaard, after hearing him speak at a conference in Vienna in 2023.

Klitgaard explained how it all worked: in the spirit of less is more, there were only a handful of stories a day published in both written and audio form, a discussion forum and a dedicated app to round off the experience. Novak was impressed: “I always wanted media like this, happening right on my smartphone.” An alliance was forged, with Zetland helping to get Jetzt off the ground. 

As a result, the websites and apps of both outlets look almost identical, featuring the same clean layout, colourful navigation blocks and integrated audio playback. An annual subscription to Jetzt costs €189, roughly the same as Zetland’s. Both prioritise mobile use, with about 70 per cent of traffic at Jetzt coming through its app.

Novak is in his early fifties and twinkles with youthful enthusiasm. Although he studied law and completed a PhD a few years ago, he has long been fascinated by journalism. He laughs as he recalls his first venture – a newspaper – which appeared when he was just eight, thanks to a photocopier at the practice of his father, a doctor in Upper Austria. More serious ventures followed. 

In 1997 he co-founded Radio Energy Vienna, one of Austria’s first commercial stations, before launching LoungeFM in 2005. He sees Jetzt as his most important project to date, with a mission to counter the role of social media as a source of news. “I look at my 19-year-old daughter and I think Austrian media are not mastering the so-called digital transformation properly,” says Novak. “And if nothing happens, we will have huge problems 10 years from now.” 

Jetzt’s offices are housed in Vienna’s 1930s Funkhaus, the former radio headquarters of Austria’s national broadcaster, ORF. In spaces once occupied by ORF’s bilingual German-English station FM4, Jetzt now uses three of its former studios – spruced up with second-hand vintage cupboards and plush, green-yellow armchairs – to record its audio and video output. 

The website’s reportage is focused on domestic and international news, covering stories on a diverse range of subjects, from Austria’s alarmingly high femicide rate to the conflict in Iran. Jetzt’s star contributor is Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev, who is known for his deep dives into the murky world of Russian espionage as part of investigative group Bellingcat. He co-wrote Jetzt’s launch essay, headlined “Dirty Water” – an investigation into an Austrian wastewater disposal facility allegedly linked to Russian military intelligence.  

Other Jetzt stories include one about Jordan Mechner, creator of the cult computer game series Prince of Persia and the son of an Austrian Jewish family who fled following the country’s 1938 annexation by Nazi Germany. Another tells the story of an organic farmer in Austria’s westernmost Vorarlberg region, who faced stigma for being the son of a Moroccan soldier who helped to liberate Austria in the Second World War. However far removed in time, what all these stories share is a determination to show their relevance – and their relation – to the present.

That same impulse runs through Jetzt’s audio work, which includes not only voiced versions of written stories, complete with sound effects and music, but also news highlights in the mornings and afternoons. Austrian journalist Pia Miller-Aichholz presents the afternoon bulletin, the B-side. “We want to show the bigger picture behind every story,” she says after recording her latest round-up. “For me, as both a producer and consumer of news, this is the best way not to be inundated with information.”

Jetzt’s membership is growing steadily but it’s too early to say whether, like Zetland, the website will be profitable. For now, Novak’s pitch to his investors is simple: Austria has a problem with its media and he has a solution.

‘Le Figaro’ at 200: Legacy and innovation in French journalism

In 1826 two free-spirited twenty-somethings, Maurice Alhoy and Étienne Arago, decided to start a weekly newspaper in a dingy building on Paris’s Boulevard Saint-Germain. They named it after the raffish hero of playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’s The Barber of Seville, Figaro – three syllables that roll off the tongue. In a crowded marketplace, however, the publication struggled to break through.

The tide turned in the 1850s when Le Figaro was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant, an editor with plenty of business nous and fresh ideas. It has been a mainstay of French life ever since and now has 450,000 subscribers, 320,000 of whom are digital readers. The rest receive the print edition six times a week. In total, five million people visit lefigaro.fr every day, making it France’s biggest news site.

Today the newspaper’s offices are in a Haussmannian building on Rue de Provence. Two golden Fs adorn the entrance; behind the revolving doors is a spacious hall. On the storeys above, 500 full-time journalists cover everything from politics to culture and lifestyle.

The editor in chief’s office, a modest space strewn with books, is on the third floor. Alexis Brézet, its occupant since 2012, is refreshingly unpretentious and speaks passionately about the publication. It has been a few months since Le Figaro’s three-day bicentennial celebrations at the Grand Palais, which were attended by 60,000 people. “This is an exceptional moment,” says Brézet. “There’s no other national newspaper in France that has 200 years of history.” Rival paper Le Monde, for example, was founded in 1944.

Brézet’s official title is directeur des rédactions (“head of newsrooms”) because he oversees content across multiple formats. Alongside the print edition are the website, the app and both weekly and monthly supplements (including Madame Figaro, Le Figaro Magazine and Le Figaro TV Magazine), as well as podcasts, in-person talks and a TV channel launched in 2023. “Everything’s moving more quickly,” says Brézet, who adds that the paper has changed more in the past 20 years than in any other period of its history. He has been blessed – or cursed, depending on how you look at it – to be here for this transformation.

Brézet joined the paper in 2000 as its deputy editor, then progressed to become the editor in chief of Le Figaro Magazine. For the past 14 years, he has steered the publication’s wider editorial operation. Brézet compares his role to that of a conductor: he relies on “many section leaders, like in an orchestra”. He chairs two meetings a day. At the first, his team schedules the day’s web stories and outlines the next print edition. During the second, the following day’s web coverage is planned and the newspaper’s front page is finalised.

Le Figaro has long had a reputation for being right-wing. Brézet prefers to be more precise: the paper is liberal (in the traditional sense, not the American one) and conservative. Both labels, he admits, are loaded in France. “We must reclaim them,” he says. “We say that being liberal doesn’t mean we’re awful and that being conservative doesn’t mean we’re fossils.” Instead, he explains, Le Figaro is liberal because it “supports business and believes in public debate”, and conservative because there are “a lot of things to protect in our model of society, our culture and our art of living”.

Ideas matter to Brézet. When he became Le Figaro’s editor in chief, he revamped the comment pages and created an online opinion offshoot, Figaro Vox. “We couldn’t just do op-eds from ambassadors or MPs,” he says. “We sought out intellectuals.” With contributions from the likes of Bernard-Henri Lévy, Eugénie Bastié and Thierry Breton, Le Figaro is now a driving force in French intellectual life. When Emmanuel Macron reads the paper, which he does most nights, he starts with the comment pages.

Next year, France will go to the polls to pick Macron’s successor. The establishment right – long the natural readership of Le Figaro – is at a crossroads. Some argue for a union with the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) to form a dominant conservative bloc. Others see this as a betrayal of everything that the centre-right is supposed to stand for. During the 2024 parliamentary elections, Brézet wrote an op-ed arguing that the RN’s policies are “in many respects concerning” but that La France Insoumise was far worse, with its “antisemitism, Islamo-leftism, class hatred, fiscal hysteria”. Some Le Figaro journalists published a letter voicing their opposition to Brézet’s piece and how it had represented “unprecedented support for the RN”. In the end, nothing came of it: Brézet issued no retraction. Instead, he sent a reminder to staff about his editorial philosophy.

As he sees it, there is a crucial distinction between political parties, which have voters, and newspapers, which have readers. “Our role is to bring together readers and enlighten them,” he says. “After that, they are grown men and women. They can do what they want.” Brézet’s conception of journalism is at odds with the increasingly popular idea that publications have a duty to be partisan. “Newspapers are not schoolmasters – we aren’t here to issue voting instructions,” says Brézet. “Our views vary from one writer to another. What matters is that as many readers as possible find themselves in that diversity.”

While most people read Le Figaro online, print still matters. According to Brézet, France’s economic and political leaders like to read Le Figaro in its paper edition. “Print is a bit like haute couture,” he says. “When Bernard Arnault [CEO of LVMH] or Emmanuel Macron have something to say, they won’t say it on Facebook or a website. They want to be in Le Figaro and on the cover.”

Such scoops generate advertising euros. Le Figaro is a rarity among French publications in that it makes money. (The paper is owned by the Dassault family, which also owns Dassault Aviation and Dassault Systèmes.)

Brézet’s goal now is to grow the subscriber base. Le Monde is ahead with about 600,000 subscribers, though it has fewer online visitors. Brézet doesn’t think of it as a competition. “There’s room for everyone,” he says. Ultimately, all newspapers are “fighting for fair remuneration for our content, which is being scraped by social networks, search engines and platforms”. And, of course, there is the threat of AI too. Le Figaro is working with software company Perplexity to create a search engine that draws on the paper’s 200-year archives. But Brézet is adamant that the publication won’t publish AI-generated content – whether text, images or illustrations – which would damage the trust of readers.

When Brézet writes articles, he does so by hand, using a fountain pen. Ink bottles dot his bookshelves. Does writing make him more credible as an editor in chief? “There’s that side of it – showing your teams that you still know how to do the job you’re asking them to do,” he says. “It’s a good thing, from time to time, to say that the boss has written something and it’s not too bad.” But, for Brézet, writing is more than just a leadership strategy. It’s a calling. “At some point, you have to write – you have to pull things out of yourself,” he says. “For me, that’s my life.”

Nine highlights from Salone del Mobile 2026 and the rest of Milan Design Week

The annual Milan Design Week is the industry’s most significant event and the Salone del Mobile trade fair – its main attraction – draws more than 300,000 attendees to the Lombard capital. In 2025 the fair and activities connected to it generated €278m.

This year, alongside displays of design excellence by automotive brands, fashion labels and cultural institutions, fresh products were launched and ideas for future designs presented in the city’s showrooms, galleries and houses. We report from the city and fair, and present the perspectives of curators, furniture CEOs, architects and designers on everything from the importance of the home to the power of industry.

Material Value
6:AM Glassworks
Milan

The homegrown design brand making a case for the versatility – and increasing relevance – of glass.

As people turn away from environmentally harmful materials such as plastic, there’s plenty of renewed interest in glass. This was clear at the Milan Design Week show from 6:AM Glassworks, held in the long-closed changing rooms of Piscina Romano swimming pool. “Glass was the only translucent material for interiors and lighting before plastic,” said Francesco Palù, who co-founded the brand with Edoardo Pandolfo in 2020. “People are looking for sustainable alternatives again.”

This year’s show – the studio’s second solo outing at Milan Design Week – featured its Murano-made pieces, including the new limited-edition Paysage and Lina lights, designed by Hannes Peer, and screen-printed additions to the Quadrato wall lights. Among the highlights were the Batch floor-to-ceiling blown-glass cubes, originally premiered at a Bottega Veneta runway show, and the clever recycling of cylindrical offcuts from a 6:AM Glassworks palo-santo burner into concrete panels. “Glass is already part of buildings,” said Palù. “Our goal is to bring a new language to it.”
6am.glass

Home Comforts
Casa Milana
Milan

Why a creative studio is showcasing its work in its founders’ home.

Husband-and-wife duo Mario Milana and Gabriella Campagna informally established creative studio Casa Milana when they lived in New York. The idea travelled with them when they moved to Milana’s home city, Milan, a few years ago. Today, Casa Milana is about transmitting ideas and values as much as furniture. The couple’s home – two knocked-through period apartments in the Brera neighbourhood – blurs the line between a residence and a design studio that shows Milana’s work.

“First, it’s our home,” Milana told Monocle when we visited. “It’s what we put out in the world. We try to push slow living and presence – and design is a medium for that.”

Dotted with Milana’s furniture and vintage pieces, the residence is impeccably appointed. It’s also a setting in which furniture is intended not only to be seen but to be touched and experienced. “Even when we lived in New York and only loosely called our home Casa Milana, we would invite people to sit on the furniture,” said Campagna.

We took a seat in front of Milana’s Void coffee-table system for Ranieri. Made with lava stone, it’s designed to change according to the user’s requirements – as is the Frequenza bookcase system, with its slidable, reconfigurable shelves. Elsewhere, a new collaboration with Beni Rugs gives additional warmth to the home.

Many pieces are reminders that our lives are constantly evolving and the contents of a well-designed home should accommodate this. Flexibility is a big part of our lives,” said Milana.
casamilana.it

Power of nostalgia
B&B Italia
Como

The executive chairman of the Italian design giant is confident that furniture’s emotional resonance will help the sector weather the geopolitical storm.

Though global tensions and war have been causing turbulence in the design sector, Piero Gandini, the executive chairman of Flos B&B Italia Group, remained hopeful. “The industry is flexible by nature, with many channels and ways to market,” he said. Gandini’s group generated €888m in gross merchandise value revenue in 2024. His confidence was reflected in B&B Italia’s decision to return to Salone del Mobile this year after decades away. Here, the brand relaunched Nena, a folding armchair designed by Richard Sapper in 1984.

The Nena’s return added a touch of nostalgia to the showcase – many will have fond memories of the chair in homes throughout the 1980s and 1990s. “The industry is sustained by the emotional value that people attach to design,” said Gandini. “That leaves us in a good position. We’re not in danger like steel companies, where there’s less of a desire.”
bebitalia.com

Meet the producers
Koyori
Tokyo

Munetoshi Koda’s furniture firm is seeking to increase international awareness of Japan’s manufacturing prowess through smart collaborations with international designers.

“We have 4,500 furniture makers in Japan but only four or five have a global profile,” said Munetoshi Koda. It’s something that he has been working to change since establishing Koyori in 2022. The brand brings together several leading Japanese manufacturers, producing furniture in collaboration with makers across the country. It focuses on regions and cities that are known for specialised woodworking skills.

Koda hopes to put Japan’s craftsmanship on the global stage by partnering factories with top furniture designers, including Paris-based Ronan Bouroullec, Copenhagen’s GamFratesi and Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen, who launched his first collection with Koyori at Salone del Mobile this year. “Vincent’s design philosophy resonates with ours,” said Koda, adding that Van Duysen had long been on his list of potential collaborators. “There are similarities with a Japanese way of thinking.” The result was a collection called Hinode (Sunrise), with six pieces including a lounge chair, a stool and a coffee table in oak or walnut.

Koda gave Van Duysen a loose brief, asking him to conceive a chair as “a crucial product for wooden furniture makers”. The subtle curves called for top-level manufacturing, which Koda hopes will emphasise the skill of Japan’s makers.
koyori-jp.com

Beneath the surface
Gallotti & Radice
Brianza

By focusing on a single material, the northern Italian brand explored a diversity of cultural perspectives.

A good group showcase needs a clear organising principle. For Brianza-based brand Gallotti & Radice’s Milan Design Week presentation, Tales in Glass, held at the Palazzo Meli Lupi di Soragna, six female designers from across the globe worked in a common medium: glass. The result was a series of pieces reinterpreting the material through each designer’s cultural lens, from a low table by Los Angeles- and Uruguay-based Estudio Persona to British-Nigerian designer Miminat Shodeinde’s Elege console of stacked glass panes.

“Every material has its complexities, intricacies and joys,” said Shodeinde. “You can do so much with glass. I made a table of stacked bricks of coloured glass representing strength and tactility.”

All of the pieces were developed with Gallotti & Radice, which turns 70 this year. The brand’s back catalogue reveals a long history of working with glass, incorporating precious metals, hand lacquering or colouring. It’s proof that honing in on an idea is often key to perfecting it.
gallottiradice.it

Mixing and matching
Interni Venosta
Milan

How to confidently blend design of different eras and styles.

Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci, who co-founded Milanbased design powerhouse Dimorestudio in 2003, also launched homeware brand Interni Venosta in 2024. During Milan Design Week, Moran welcomed Monocle into an apartment in the fashionable Quadrilatero della Moda area, designed by Italian architect Osvaldo Borsani in the late 1940s. “It has never been open to the public,” he said. “The entire home is beautiful.” Here, he and Salci presented the latest Interni Venosta range. “It’s an intellectual collection,” he said.

The setting was clearly significant: Borsani’s ornamental room dividers, built-in seating and sculptural bas-relief fireplace were juxtaposed with the clean lines of Interni Venosta’s work: think burnished-brass and polished-steel vases, upholstered leather seating and lacquered and burl-wood surfaces. The presentation neither deferred to Borsani’s legacy nor competed with it. Rather, it offered a considered, sleek counterpoint to his warmth and craft – showing that mixing furniture and objects from different eras is about choosing works that confidently, quietly complement each other.
internivenosta.co

Perfect Balance
RedDuo
Milan

The design studio offering a still point in the bustle of Milan Design Week.

When it comes to designing furniture or curating a space, RedDuo’s Fabiola di Virgilio and Andrea Rosso usually meet in the middle. Rosso loves colour while Di Virgilio favours more neutral tones. Partners in both life and work, they balance each other’s tastes. For this year’s Milan Design Week, the studio – founded in 2020 – presented RedDuo Galleria, a showcase of their partnerships, including with Belgian rug maker JOV and lighting brand Leucos. “We pick partners that are close to our style,” Rosso told Monocle.

The show was held inside the Porta Genova apartment where the couple lived before they moved to Città Studi. The choice of location made for a refreshing change from the grandiose palazzi in which some other practices chose to showcase their work. Rosso described the space as “a little bit Palm Springs, a little bit Japan” – a mood that was complemented by everything from Bitossi ceramics to marble from Del Savio 1910. Midcentury pieces were borrowed from Demos Mobilia gallery.

Aiming to create an exhibition where people would want to linger, the duo decided to make the show accessible by appointment only. “You need to see the space when it’s almost empty,” says Di Virgilio. Some returned to the gallery for a second look, while a couple from South Korea was there for three hours. Visiting the show was a chance to gain a more intimate understanding of both the studio and the duo’s evolution along the way.
redduo.it

On Reflection
Deyan Sudjic
London

In collaboration with the Rosewood Hotel Group, the London-based curator explored the cultural and historical value of objects, through the work of Milan-based designer Andrea Branzi.

“It’s important for the next generation of designers to not always consume the next thing,” Deyan Sudjic told Monocle. “It’s important to reflect, think about what has been done before and realise that there is a history to things.” The curator and director emeritus of London’s Design Museum was in Milan for an exhibition that he developed with hotel brand Rosewood, celebrating the life and legacy of the late Milan-based designer Andrea Branzi, who was a pioneer of Italian radical design in the 20th century.

Branzi’s work championed the notion that design is about creating objects that carry meaning and both reflect and critique culture – an idea that’s still relevant today. “Branzi saw design as something that can ask questions,” said Sudjic. “He was suggesting that we can feel emotions through objects – the things that we measure our daily life with.” For emerging designers, it’s a rallying cry to put people at the heart of any design process.
rosewoodhotels.com

Realm of the Senses
Annabelle Schneider, USM & Snøhetta
New York

How artists and designers can use dramatic scenography to help us commune with the world around us.

How can we use design to disconnect from the digital world? That’s the challenge that New York-based Swiss artist Annabelle Schneider sought to address with her “Renaissance of the Real” installation during Milan Design Week. “This is about tactility and the imperfect, and the moment of surprise that you can’t capture in the digital,” she said. “It’s critiquing the feeling of how we use technology.”

Created in partnership with Swiss furniture firm USM and Norway- and US-based architecture studio Snøhetta, it featured the former’s rectilinear furniture as a framework around which bulbous textiles appeared to float, held aloft by fans that pushed air into the structure. The effect was womb-like, with shadows from the garden dancing across the textile and enhanced by the changing natural light. “You have the formality of USM and its grid-like, systematic approach to design, then you have this bubble that unexpectedly pushes against it,” said Snøhetta’s Anne-Rachel Schifmann. The contrast prompted visitors to put down their phones to make sense of the interior world that they had entered.
annabelleschneider.com; snohetta.com; usm.com

Nation Building
Visteria Foundation
Warsaw

How design can help to tell a country’s story on a global stage.

Poland took centre stage at Milan Design Week with two exhibitions from the Visteria Foundation, a cultural institution that promotes the country’s design and craft. Queues snaked around the Torre Velasca to see the two shows. One, in partnership with furniture brand ETEL, told the story of Polishborn designer Jorge Zalszupin, who emigrated to Brazil and became associated with the South American nation’s modernist movement. The other examined how modernism took shape in Poland and featured contemporary designers from the country, including Tomek Rygalik, responding to the movement’s ideals. “It was about trying to combat bigger societal issues,” said Rygalik. “For us, it took hold during the communist years so it became about preserving the values of delight and beauty, and envisaging a more hopeful future. That’s something that we’re still looking at today.”

The pieces on display underscored the importance of looking at the ways in which a nation’s shared experience is embodied in the work of its designers – and that of its prodigal children (such as Zalszupin). Dipping into this heritage can offer a guidebook for the future, building on past struggles and successes.
visteriafoundation.pl

Poland’s Poster Museum packs a punch. Here are 16 standout works to prove it 

Experimental and bursting with allusion, Polish poster design has won fans across the world since the nation’s artists first started developing the medium in the mid-20th century. Among the most famous examples of the genre include city posters, with each major Polish city and town getting its own depiction in printed form. This was a favoured outlet for designers, including Ryszard Kaja in his “Poland” series. 

Opened in 1968, Warsaw’s Poster Museum contains more than 50,000 pieces ranging from contemporary graphic design to art deco-era pieces, and has recently had a welcome revamp. There is also a strong showing from postwar Poland, when the medium came into its own as a way of bypassing Soviet censorship. The country’s lack of a free market in those years, as well as the loosening of restrictions following Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, also meant, ironically, that artists were able to disengage from commercial pressures and create art for art’s sake. For ordinary citizens, it meant the streets – grey, void of any advertising and often still bearing the marks of the Second World War – were brightened with splashes of colour and creativity. 

One name to know? Tadeusz Trepkowski, who revolutionised postwar poster art with his minimalist, symbolic approach. A self-taught artist born in Warsaw in 1914, Trepkowski received his first international recognition in 1937 when he was awarded the Grand Prix in the International Paris Exhibition. After the Second World War, his posters were often rejected for deviating from the socialist realism favoured by Soviet authorities. But before his sudden death in 1954, the artist designed a variety of posters for films, sports events and businesses, including Poland’s flag carrier LOT. 

Here we have gathered some of our favourite examples from the Poster Museum’s collection. 

postermuseum.pl

Chanel’s president of watches and fine jewellery, Frédéric Grangié, on the timely partnership with the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race

The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race has been a key fixture on the UK sporting calendar since 1829. The event, which takes place on the Thames every spring, is always a spectacle. Chanel J12 became the race’s first official timekeeping partner and its title sponsor last year, in a pairing that celebrates Gabrielle Chanel’s love of sport and the heritage of the ceramic J12 watch, which takes its name from the US racing-class yachts beloved by its designer, Jacques Helleu.

Monocle spoke to Chanel’s president of watches and fine jewellery, Frédéric Grangié, about his passion for the river, Chanel’s approach to time and his long-term plans for the brand’s watchmaking division.

This is the second year of Chanel J12’s long-term partnership with the Boat Race. It’s a great collaboration, especially because the J12 takes its name from racing yachts, so there’s the connection to the water. How did it begin?
I love the fact that it happened in such an organic way. We had never done sports sponsorship in the history of the brand and the Boat Race was looking for a new partner. We met at the right time and thought, “Let’s do this.” I really believe in this project. We were delighted to sign a strategic partnership with the Boat Race, with which we share the values of collective endeavour and the pursuit of excellence.

Tell us about the striking creative assets that you designed with Peter Saville to accompany the race.
I thought that we needed to do something special to amplify the project so I set a challenge for Peter: I told him that this is a partnership between two of the greatest institutions in the world. So he developed a first edition, which could be seen all over London from February 2026. If there’s one person who can create the most amazing, desirable posters in the world, it’s him. I said, “Peter, for the 100th anniversary of the women’s competition in 2027, I want the greatest poster that you have ever done. You need to outdo yourself.”

What does time mean to Chanel? It feels like something that’s not completely functional – there’s something poetic about it.
What’s interesting, in an industry where the great houses are a century or two centuries old, is that we launched our first watch [the Première] in 1987. Chanel Watches isn’t even 40 years old. It became a combination of different aspects of the house: leather from fashion, [high jewellery] at Place Vendôme and then also the stopper from the No5 fragrance. And, crucially, it had no indices at all. Our sense of time comes from the fact that Chanel is a family-owned business; we’re independent and have a very long-term view. Look at No5 – a bestselling fragrance for 105 years.

As a fashion brand, what challenges did you face when you entered the world of high horology?
When Jacques Helleu designed the Première watch, there was no capability to make it, so it was subcontracted. The most important decision was made [in the 1990s] to master all aspects of this business, just like any other category at Chanel. Therefore, we needed to find and buy a manufacturer [G&F Châtelain], and revamp it. Along the way we put together a group of partners that would grow with us organically. We serve a lot of brands. We are a supplier to many maisons and it’s an incredible source of pride for us because it means that things like the new [blue] ceramic watches, patented by Chanel, will be available for other houses. We have the best in the world – our clasps are the best in the market, for instance – and I’m very proud of that. We know fashion, we know fragrance and now we know watches.

What’s the relevance of high horology and mechanical watches in this digital world?
It’s about knowing that artisans have spent hundreds of hours on the mechanism. It’s tangible. I see more and more young people moving towards mechanical watches. Some people asked many years ago if the connected watch was going to be a threat. The real threat is that you think you are going to be Apple. Apple is the best at what it does. But people want to be closer to something made by hand. We see the same approach in other fields at Chanel.

You have spent time living and working in New York and Japan. How did those experiences shape your perceptions and your approach to luxury?
Living in New York for 10 years taught me about retail: what good visual merchandising is, marketing. Maybe it’s Chanel, maybe it’s Whole Foods but good retail is good retail. When I moved to Japan, I had to unlearn a lot. I realised the importance of details, of excellence. Japan prepared me for Chanel because there’s that sense of the past that you must respect. It’s a family-owned company and what you are doing here will matter in the future.

Dries Van Noten finds a new chapter in Venice, where fashion design and art come together

Every year, millions of people come to Venice to admire its crumbling palazzos, with their spiral staircases, Moorish arches and intricate mosaics. Though acknowledged as treasures, their upkeep is often too much for the city to handle. For a certain class of creatives and entrepreneurs, however, they offer an appealing challenge. Sculptor Anish Kapoor and investor Nicolas Berggruen, for example, have marked new stages in their lives with revamps of Venetian palaces. It’s a club that retired fashion designer Dries Van Noten has joined with the opening of his own foundation in Palazzo Pisani Moretta, a 15th-century residence with mullioned windows and frescoes.

Best known for his eponymous fashion brand, Van Noten was on an extended holiday in Venice when he was invited to the palazzo. “The moment that we entered, everything changed,” he says, recalling the gothic windows, Murano-glass chandeliers and rococo furnishings. “The history, the craftsmanship, the way that every detail had been considered – it felt as though the building itself suggested the direction that we should take.”

The designer already had plans to set up a foundation with his partner, Patrick Vangheluwe. The couple initially envisaged basing it in a neutral, contemporary space. But their encounter with the palazzo and its owners, the Sammartinis, led to a change of direction. Having used the building as a family home for decades, the owners were keen to pass it on to someone who would open it up to the public as a cultural institution, rather than turning it into another hotel. This made Van Noten and Vangheluwe its ideal new custodians. “Venice became meaningful to us almost by chance,” says Van Noten.

The Fondazione Dries Van Noten’s inaugural presentation, which opened in April and runs until October, showcases more than 200 pieces from the worlds of fashion, design and art. The curation also demonstrates the timeless qualities of the palazzo that charmed Van Noten and those who came before him. “The Fondazione allows me to explore ideas on a scale and with a freedom that the rhythm of fashion never fully permitted,” says Van Noten. “It’s a space where different disciplines meet, influence and resonate with each other, without the pressures of seasons or markets.”
fondazionedriesvannoten.org

The AI art adviser in your pocket: How Artsignal is supporting art collectors and auction houses

Eighteenth-century landscape paintings aren’t currently in vogue in the art world. Nonetheless, enticed by their beauty and investment potential, some have been building collections of these pieces. Sam Glatman, the co-founder of Artsignal, has an eye for such under-appreciated works.

Artsignal is an AI-assisted research tool, built to support the work of professionals in the sector by generating reports on any work. “At a minimum, we require an image and the name of the artist,” Glatman tells Monocle over coffee in London. All available information (such as the size of the work or its date) is then combined with relevant material sourced online – the kind that you might find using a tool such as ChatGPT – and from a database that includes details about auction sales, exhibitions and more.

The result is a summary that can help auction houses, for example, to decide how much to lend against an artwork or to assess an object’s potential investment trajectory. According to Glatman, Artsignal’s specific method of using the image as a starting point and employing the latest technology to amass extra data makes his service the first in the art world that “really looks at an work in its entirety and makes a judgement on what makes it an interesting or a harder proposition for a potential buyer”.

This has made Artsignal popular among auction houses, galleries and art lenders – and has garnered investment from Christie’s Ventures, part of the revered auctioneer. Though the business currently works with only a few individuals with large collections, Glatman hopes to widen its reach to less established collectors. “If you’re a young person getting into collecting, you might not be able to afford an art adviser,” he says. “But you should still be able to make informed decisions.”

The entry of AI into the art business is understandably a concern for many but Glatman envisages Artsignal as working alongside experts in the sector, rather than against them. “We want to be a tool that art advisers use to give a better service and grow their businesses,” he says. “We would like to be a friend of these market players, not their replacement.”
artsignal.co