Issues

The business agenda: Swedish snowmobiles, reimagining London’s high streets and Singapore’s special brew

Mobility: Sweden
Cool runnings

An electric snowmobile might sound risky: if its batteries fail in the cold, wouldn’t it leave you stranded on the tundra? But Swedish start-up Vidde says that it has a solution. Its electric snowmobile, the Alfa, is currently in its last stages of testing and Monocle recently took it out for a spin in Jukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland. All clean lines and appealing finishes, the Alfa has a frame that’s partly made from a timber-based biomaterial and whizzes along with a refreshing lack of engine rumble or fumes. Its batteries, made by Swedish manufacturer Mattr Collective, promise a range of up to 100km on a single charge. Crucially, the Alfa features an intelligent heating system that keeps these batteries warm, increasing their charging speed and helping them to last longer. And that’s not to mention its zippy acceleration and option of adjusting the seat for comfort to suit different types of terrain. Vidde has about 300 pre-orders and is hoping to start deliveries later this year, with the goal of producing 1,000 units in 2025. The current cost to reserve an Alfa is €26,200. 
viddemobility.com

Music: Serbia
Gig economy

“For most bands, Serbia hasn’t been a tour stop for years but I believe that it has a lot of potential,” says Dmitry Zaretsky, the co-founder of concert agency Honeycomb. He’s acting on that conviction by promoting shows in Belgrade for the likes of UK indie stalwarts Bombay Bicycle Club, punk-popper Yungblud and even Ed Sheeran, who will give an outdoor performance at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. 

For Serbian music fans accustomed to being ignored by big international tours, the change has been welcome. But it might not have happened without Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to the demise of Zaretsky’s previous business. Pop Farm had promoted shows in Russia for everyone from Billie Eilish to the Arctic Monkeys, as well as Moscow’s Bol festival. Zaretsky was among the thousands of creative Russians who chose Belgrade as their location for a restart. “Serbia’s mentality is similar to Russia’s and the language is simple for us to learn,” he says. And with no initial visa requirements, it’s easy for his compatriots to start businesses here. Honeycomb now operates in 12 countries, including Greece and Romania, but Belgrade remains its base. “It’s full of people who love music, so why not bring it to them?”

F&B: Japan
Q&A

Makiko Ono
CEO, Suntory Beverage and Food

Makiko Ono is the first female CEO of Suntory Beverage and Food, a Japanese company with revenues of more than €9.6bn last year whose global portfolio includes Ribena, Schweppes and Lucozade. Within its home country, it sells 120 million cases of Tennensui mineral water, 100 million cases of Boss Coffee and 61 million cases of Iyemon green tea every year. Suntory is increasingly focusing on water conservation and plastic reduction. Monocle spoke to Ono at the company’s Tokyo office. 

Where do you see areas of growth in Japan?
Though Japan’s population is declining, it’s a huge, mature market that appreciates novelty. To cater to its ageing society, we’re bringing in value-added products called Food for Specified Health Use [For example, Iyemon Tokucha, a green tea drink that helps to lower body fat]. Sugar-free tea drinks and bottled water hold large market shares in Japan and there are vending machines everywhere, so people can buy them any time. 

What are your major challenges?
Suntory Group has a target of using 100 per cent sustainable pet by 2030. Water is a top priority too: it’s our most precious ingredient. We have been working on things such as water sanctuaries and a water-education programme. 

How do you keep the business growing globally? 
We have two growth streams: inorganic, which comes from M&A or partnerships, and organic, which comes from polishing existing brands. We’re trying to do more to share the strengths of the Japanese business with other regions and, in turn, import best practices.

The Japanese side does a lot of research and development. We want to bring that to other places. Boss Coffee is a unique product that has given us expertise in making canned and bottled coffee, so we are expanding it into Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam, and maybe Europe in the future. 

How did you begin your career? 
When I joined Suntory in 1982 I was in a team that was acquiring a French winery and other international companies. No woman had worked abroad in our company but I was keen to go overseas. So I was sent to Paris, where my role was to manage the winery and a cognac company that Suntory had acquired. I needed to learn about production, management and finance, and deal with banks – something that I wouldn’t have experienced in Japan unless I’d been in the finance division.

How can Japan bring more women into the top level of management?
Women can lack confidence even when they are just as capable as men and there are unconscious biases at play. Companies could offer flexibility in working hours. Positive discrimination is unpopular but we are trying to nurture female talent and build career plans for women.

What’s your vision for the company? 
More than half of our sales and profits come from our international businesses. But we are also a Japanese company and want to keep that specialness, which makes us different from our peers, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.

Retail: UK

Having tapped into the demand for temporary retail spaces in London, Paris and New York since 2014, Ross Bailey, the founder of Appear Here, is now taking on a whole high street with his latest project, Deptford Market Yard. “Through Appear Here and the 30,000 pop-up shops that we have launched around the world, we had a good idea of the streets that people wanted to be on,” says Bailey. “It wasn’t Oxford Street or Fifth Avenue. It was the likes of Broadway Market in east London. The smaller streets were key. So we thought about creating our own.”

In 2023, Bailey found a site in need of love in Deptford, southeast London, where there were about 20 spaces for retail or restaurants under old railway arches. He seized the opportunity to shape a street that would unapologetically be part of the community, tapping into chefs and creatives who were already active in Deptford, rather than bringing in outsiders to disrupt the neighbourhood’s existing character.

“We looked at areas of London such as Brixton and pockets of east London that are undergoing rapid gentrification as examples of what not to do,” says Bailey. “Yes, we wanted the project to feel slightly curated but not like it was owned by a corporation.” Growing up with shopkeepers as parents, Bailey’s aversion to homogeneous high streets – with the same rotation of chains, from sandwich shops to chemists – runs deep.

To achieve the overhaul of the area in a manner that was respectful of Deptford’s community, Bailey decided that anyone taking over an archway had to have some connection to the area. “Everything on the street is designed by someone from southeast London,” he says. “Even the flags down the road were drawn by local schoolchildren.” The restaurants that dot Deptford Market Yard, from Afro-Caribbean venue Jerk Yard to family-owned Japanese café Kekaki Izakaya, attest to the diversity of the neighbourhood. 

So far the reception has been positive. Appear Here is now looking to, well, appear, at a more extensive scale, in north and east London. “If you truly want to understand a city, the key is to pay attention to the shops and streets, not the public buildings or town halls,” says Bailey. “Museums and monuments tell outsiders what a city wants to be. But the streets and the shops tell people what a city really is and how it treats and serves those who actually live there.”

F&B: Singapore
Bean and gone

In February, Singaporean start-up Prefer raised $2m (€1.8m) to scale up the manufacturing of its signature product: bean-free coffee. Its co-founders, Jake Berber and Tan Ding Jie, are betting that their substitute, a fermented mixture of soybean pulp, barley and bread, will satisfy the most ardent coffee aficionados.

“It looks and feels just like ground coffee,” says Tan. Prefer’s product is cheaper, quicker to make and more sustainable than the original. It brews in the same manner and even produces a layer of frothy crema. But a lack of coffee beans means no caffeine. Prefer’s grounds make a great decaf, while customers looking for a kick can opt for a sprinkle of caffeine powder that the company extracts from tea. “As with any novel product, there’s a healthy amount of curiosity, as well as scepticism,” says Tan. But Prefer has managed to win over an important demographic: baristas. The product is already available in 14 cafés in Singapore and there are plans to expand to the Philippines.
prefer.coffee

Why stamps are sticking around and still used as a soft-power pusher in the post

Despite their slightly fusty image, stamps show no sign of being consigned to the dustbin of obsolescence. Indeed, these small pieces of paper, whose inherent design has remained largely unchanged since 1840, when the Penny Black became the first adhesive stamp used in the public post, still possess a potency that belies their humble function. The rarest sell for millions but since designs only have limited print runs, any stamp can become collectable. Postal services worldwide use stamps to promote their countries, so some of Monocle’s correspondents sent us a collection that they felt would leave a good impression on a foreign recipient. Here’s our pick.

1.
National icons
Japan

There are few topics or occasions in Japan that don’t merit a stamp: a new bullet train, a change of season, a sports team or obscure historical figure are all good material. Philatelists keep a beady eye on Japan Post’s releases for good reason: new stamps sell out in no time. These stamps are part of a series celebrating the attractions of regional Japan: snow monkeys and Matsumoto Castle in Nagano and a bowl of Tokushima’s famous ramen. There is only one problem with Japan’s dedication to quality stamps: many are just too good to use.

2.
Wash and go
Slovenia

A cross-country skiing boot, a vintage desktop computer and a washing machine are not, perhaps, the typical subjects of European philately. But as far as Slovenia is concerned, they are evidence of an impressive heritage in industrial design. The Alpina boot is from a company that claims to be “the first choice of Olympic and World Cup winners”. Meanwhile, the Gorenje washing-machine stamp highlights another company with Yugoslav heritage that continues to thrive in the 21st century, albeit under Chinese ownership. But this design celebrates a pair of Slovenian industrial designers, Janez Smerdelj and Anton Holobar. And the Triglav computer was Yugoslavia’s bid for IT glory in the 1980s. Despite Vid Bratasevic’s innovative design, it failed to crack the global market. This stamp gives the Triglav some overdue international exposure.

3.
The people’s architect
Italy

Italy likes to tout itself as a global centre of design, so it’s no surprise that it celebrated the centenary of the birth of architect Carlo Melograni on a stamp. The interesting thing about Melograni is that he wasn’t a “starchitect” by any means. An academic, teacher and author, Melograni – pictured in stately profile – almost exclusively focused on projects for the common good, including residential blocks and schools during the postwar boom years. There’s a clear message in the use of a picture of his Ludovico Ariosto di Ferrara state high-school project: we could do with more architects like him today.

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s campaign and the rising prospects of third-party candidates

You won’t get far in the US without a healthy amount of self-belief. So when Robert F Kennedy Jr introduced his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, a Silicon Valley stalwart and deep-pocketed donor to his campaign, as “the next vice-president of the United States”, he said it without a scrap of irony. Of course, Kennedy – nephew of JFK, son of Bobby, now running as an independent tearaway disowned by the Democrat establishment – probably knows he isn’t likely to be in the White House come January 2025. But that hasn’t stopped him whipping up a modest yet vocal movement of his own. To understand this forthcoming election, it’s essential to recognise the threat that third-party candidates such as RFK Jr pose to the two main parties and why some Americans are looking for another way.

I was in Oakland, California, to see Kennedy announce his “Veep”, and the crowd of flag-waving supporters were surprisingly normal for a candidate who has made anti-vax and conspiratorial waffle his stump. Ben, a former Democrat voter turned “mega-donor” to the Kennedy campaign, has had dinner with RFK Jr. “I’ve seen how the country has been run over the past four years and I don’t think it is being managed in the interest of the people or the international community,” he told me. “I will vote for Mr Kennedy.” Jessy had never been to a political rally before and, incredibly, believes Kennedy is a centrist voice. She fiercely dismissed any suggestion that her candidate peddles in conspiracy theories. “He just wants more truth, more transparency,” she said. 

Kennedy’s campaign is tapping into a distrust of media and official narratives that has seeped into so much American discourse. It is also the case that many voters feel turned off by both Trump and Biden (so-called “double- haters”) and might be seeing what they want to see in the outliers. One political consultant who has spent time around Kennedy tells me that while he may be disconnected from reality, you can’t underestimate the enduring brand power of his surname. That nostalgia was on display in Oakland. “Neither my father nor my uncle would recognise the version of America we have today,” came Kennedy’s raspy voice over a video showing scenes of homeless encampments in Los Angeles. Yet there was old-fashioned US optimism in there too: “[Americans] are ready to unite to rebuild this country.”

Appeals to emotion might be basic tactics but compare that message with Donald Trump’s, who warns of a “bloodbath” if he loses in 2024, or Joe Biden, who says that his opponent is an existential threat to democracy. “People want to vote for something, not just against something,” Lindsay Vermeyen, a pollster for the Benenson Strategy Group, which advised the successful Obama campaign, told me. The campaigns of today’s two mainstream parties are a far cry from anything like “Yes, we can”. 

Vermeyen is unsure whether many of those currently waving the flag for third-party candidates will ultimately come out to vote on election day. But the Democrats have been stung before – not least in 2000 when analysts say that votes for the seemingly distant Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader, ultimately swung it in favour of George W Bush – so the party isn’t taking any chances. The Democratic National Committee has set up a dedicated task force of strategists to challenge third-party candidates, with much of the focus currently on messaging that the Kennedy campaign has some of the same donors as Donald Trump. Meanwhile, there are legal challenges to keep Kennedy off the ballot in swing states. “If that happens, I would feel I’ve been failed as an American,” said one Californian voter as we left the event in Oakland.

Christopher Lord is Monocle’s US Editor.

The culture agenda: Brazil’s publishing push, the Venice Biennale at 60 and Hans Zimmer’s world-building

Art: Venice
Altered imaging

If you happen to be an artist at the apex of your career, what do you do when given carte blanche at one of Europe’s most prestigious exhibition spaces? The stock answer is to round up the best artworks from the archives and stage a grand retrospective. But the parallel exhibitions at the Pinault Collection’s two spaces in Venice – Julie Mehretu’s Ensemble at Palazzo Grassi and Pierre Huyghe’s Liminal at Punta della Dogana – both shake up the traditional solo show format to eye-opening ends.

“There is a weird rewriting that makes it seem like art is only independent, visionary moments,” Addis Ababa-born US artist Mehretu said on opening day in March. “The truth is that none of us makes all of this by ourselves.” For Ensemble, she invited seven fellow artists who have influenced her through collaborations or just dinner-table conversations. Around Palazzo Grassi’s atrium, works by the likes of David Hammons and Tacita Dean are interspersed with Mehretu’s bold, inimitable canvases. At the start of the exhibition, visitors are presented with a documentary about Mehretu’s career and creative process. The result is a personal show that helps to demystify the making of an artwork. Huyghe’s Liminal at Punta della Dogana is, instead, all mystery. There are no labels on the walls, and visitors must feel their way through cavernous, Tadao Ando-designed spaces in the dark. The new work in the show includes two videos driven by machine learning and centres loosely on a human skeleton that Huyghe came upon in Chile’s Atacama desert. 

On show alongside this year’s Art Biennale, Liminal and Ensemble are unmissable stops on the way to the Giardini and the Arsenale. Both jumble the stale idea of the artist as a lone genius: one by celebrating art as a social endeavour; the other by ceding control to a machine. Even Huyghe handed over one room to the drawings of Anthony Nosiku Ikwueme, a young artist who years ago wrote him a letter out of the blue and struck up a dialogue. “We’re in a discourse all the time, and that’s how art gets made,” said Mehretu. “In fact, that’s how art gets better.” 

Julie Mehretu’s ‘Ensemble’ runs until 6 January 2025. Pierre Huyghe’s ‘Liminal’ runs until 24 November; pinaultcollection.com

Media: Brazil
Press run

Brazil’s five largest newspapers experienced a rise in circulation last year. Financial paper Valor Econômico is now looking to expand internationally. For editor-in-chief Maria Fernanda Delmas, the US presidential election and local ballots in Brazil are the top priorities. Here are three other Brazilian titles to look out for. 

1
Carbono Uomo/ Carbono Donna
Published by Lili Carneiro, from publisher Editora Carbono, the lifestyle quarterly takes an elegant look at Brazilian fashion, tourism and art.

2
Piauí
With its large format and in-depth political coverage, this monthly is one of the most admired Brazilian titles – think of it as a tropical New Yorker.

3
Ela (O Globo)
One of Brazil’s few magazine supplements, from daily O Globo, Ela is a fun weekly look at fashion, the best from Rio and great columns, all cleverly edited by Marina Caruso.

Listen to our interview with Maria Fernanda Delmas on ‘The Stack’ on Monocle Radio.

Film: Gobal
Q&A

Hans Zimmer
Composer and producer

Think of the memorable scores that underpin the blockbuster films of the past 40 years and there is a high chance that the man responsible is German composer and music producer Hans Zimmer.

Zimmer, whose work is known for helping to steer both the plot and the audience’s emotional response, has been the recipient of four Grammy Awards and two Academy Awards for best original score, for The Lion King (1994) and Dune (2021). Monocle caught up with him to discuss his work on Dune: Part Two, his approach to world-building and the enduring passion he retains for his work. 

How did the collaboration between you and Denis Villeneuve on ‘Dune’ come about?
We were waiting for a car, and he very quietly asked me if I had ever heard of a book called Dune. I became one of those little dogs that gets excited and jumps up and down. I think I scared him a little bit with my enthusiasm.

The music feels like such an organic part of the film. Is that how you see it?
The whole idea, especially in movies like this, is that we are world-building. There’s nothing there before we start, so it’s very important that it’s not just about pretty tunes; it’s about building the sonic landscape that these characters inherit.

What’s your motivation for your work?
I try to do my best because I know people work hard. If, when the weekend comes, they put their hard-earned money down to go to see our movie, I had better deliver the goods. That’s who I write for: the audience. I love what I do.

Art: Venice
Foreign affairs

This April the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale is uniting creatives from around the globe to celebrate the brightest and best of the contemporary art world. We speak to national pavilion curators about their projects and reflections on this year’s theme: “Foreigners Everywhere”. 

Jacob Fabricius & Lee Seolhui 
South Korea

Jacob Fabricius, director of Art Hub Copenhagen, and Lee Seolhui, curator at Kunsthal Aarhus, worked together during the 2020 Busan biennial in South Korea. Fabricius is the first foreign curator to represent South Korea in Venice and Lee the youngest. Titled “Odorama Cities’, the pavilion is presenting a sensory project by artist Koo Jeong A focused on people’s memories associated with the scents of Korea. 

What inspired this project?
JF: It was a natural choice to look at scent because it’s immaterial, weightless and borderless, yet has this immersive aspect. When you look at the history of Korea and the Korean peninsula, it’s been divided into North and South. But since scent doesn’t know borders, it brings people together. That’s why it’s interesting to capture olfactory memories from the whole Korean peninsula. 

How does your project relate to this year’s theme?
SL: I’m South Korean but when I talk about North Korea, I feel like a foreigner because I haven’t experienced it. My generation’s relationship with the country has been completely curtailed.

Ciprian Muresan
Romania

Cluj-based artist Ciprian Muresan shares his studio space with painter Serban Savu. They present “What Work Is”, a retrospective of Savu’s work with paintings, architectural models and mosaics looking at work and leisure in post-Eastern Bloc Romania. 

What inspired this project?
Serban had been thinking about big, outdoor mosaics. He started architectural models for ideas that he couldn’t complete because of budget restrictions. I suggested starting from these objects. 

How does your project relate to this year’s theme?
On one hand, Serban touches on the commodification of an artist’s labour. Romania has about four million people working abroad in places such as Italy and the UK and this creates alienation from our own culture; we become foreigners.

Andrea Pacheco González
Chile

Chilean curator Andrea Pacheco González is based in Madrid, where her work focuses on exile, memory and Latin American diasporas in Europe. In partnership with Chilean-Swedish artist Valeria Montti Colque, Pacheco González presents “Cosmonación” at the Chilean pavilion, an installation including carpets, printed textiles and photographs.

How does your project relate to this year’s theme?
Through the work of Valeria Montti Colque, we approach the specific life circumstances of the Chilean diaspora in Sweden, most of whom come from the exile of thousands of families after Pinochet’s military coup. 

Could you explain the term ‘Cosmonation’?
It refers to the term “cosmonational”, used by Haitian-American anthropologist Michel S Laguerre. He argues that diasporic communities don’t sever relations with their place of origin but remain attached to their ancestral land through family ties, cultural traditions or participation in political life through voting. In this way, they inhabit a nation extended beyond geographical boundaries. 

The 60th edition of the Venice Biennale opened on 20 April and will run until 24 November.

How Livraria Lello continues to stay relevant in the 21st century

With a history dating to 1881, Livraria Lello is frequently referred to as the world’s most beautiful bookshop. It’s a title the institution is proud of and one that provides a calling card for its host city, Porto, where it attracts thousands of visitors every day. But there is more to Livraria Lello than cosmetic appeal. Among the ceiling-high bookshelves, grand wooden staircases and stained-glass windows operates a dynamic business, concerned with preserving an important piece of the city’s patrimony and remaining relevant as a 21st-century cultural player. 

While large queues are generally a good sign, they have posed some challenges here. “People would come in, take a picture and forget altogether that this is a bookshop,” says Livraria Lello’s manager, Aurora Pedro Pinto, who with her husband bought a majority stake in the company in 2015 and the remaining shares in 2023. The solution to the problem of sightseers came in the form of a small fee: visitors are now required to pay for an €8 voucher upon entry, which can be used for book purchases. “We’re not a museum,” says Pinto. “Our aim has always been to form readers.”

“Forming readers”, for the shop’s managers, is about more than just selling books. It requires planning a cultural calendar, with signings and readings that will soon spill over into a building acquired nextdoor. Livraria Lello also publishes its own beautifully designed editions, which today account for many of the shop’s book sales. Then there are the collaborations on products and events. “We partner with several international institutions, from Pantone and Zara to the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation,” says Pinto. Livraria Lello teamed up with Bic last year to launch a pen celebrating the Porto-based Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Álvaro Siza. That’s not to mention restocking the 3,000 to 5,000 books sold daily or managing the booksellers who make sure they are flying off the shelves. Pinto tells Monocle, “We always say, with some boldness, that we want to make the whole world read.”

Born in Vizela in 1961, Aurora Pedro Pinto taught law at Portucalense University for 26 years before going into business. She and her husband, Pedro Pinto, have invested in a range of Porto’s cultural and tourist intitutions. They acquired a majority stake in Livraria Lello in 2015; two years later, Aurora became president of its management committee and, in 2021, its sole administrator.

1. 
Hugo Miguel Silva
Head of marketing and communication
“Responsible for the bookshop’s cultural programme, which welcomes locals to events free of charge.” 

2. 
Nuno Melo
Bookseller
“One of our senior booksellers. He gets people to fall in love with books.”

3. 
Luísa Couto
Head of commercial, purchase & logistics
In charge of restocking 3,000 to 5,000 books a day from our suppliers.

4. 
Carla Matos
Accounting and administrative manager
“Responsible for Lello’s bookkeeping. A reliable and calm pair of hands.”

5. 
Nelson Pereira
Information and communication systems manager
“Nelson is behind the IT systems of Livraria Lello at a time in which being at the forefront of digital innovation is fundamental to our success.” 

6. 
Andreia Ferreira
Director for brand
“Responsible for Lello’s national and international recognition and outreach. She connects the entire team to the world.”

7. 
Marisa Miranda
Business general director
“A force of nature, Marisa makes sure that the business is in top financial and operational health.”

8. 
António Pedro Pinto
“The future of the family business.”

9. 
Filipe Costa
Cashier
“Having worked at Lello for 24 years, Filipe is an endless source of stories that entertain the whole team.”

10. 
Cecília Machado
Head of finance, accounting and administration
“Leads our financial department, staying up to date on the spreadsheets that control the entry of thousands of visitors as well as the sales of thousands of books daily.”

11. 
Mafalda Teixeira
People care manager
“Mafalda knows her colleagues better than anyone and tends to everyone’s wellbeing.”

12. 
Faustino Barbosa
Head of human resources, people, culture and development
“Takes care of the business’s main asset: its employees. He works tirelessly to attract and retain talent by increasing employee satisfaction within the company.”

13. 
Francisca Pedro Pinto
“The future of the family business.”

A lesser-known hideaway in the Venetian Lagoon

It’s only a 12-minute boat ride from Venice’s St Mark’s Square to the island of Sant’Andrea but the two places might as well inhabit different planets. Away from the phalanx of tourists brandishing selfie sticks, Sant’Andrea is remarkable for being, in many ways, unremarkable. There’s no hotel here, no restaurants and no obvious tourist attraction. And our skipper for the day, Paolo Rosso, wants it to stay that way. “There’s a very codified vision of Venice: gondolas, baroque, carnival,” he says from the helm of his Topetta-style wooden motorboat as we pull up to the fortified island. “But if you look at Venice as a whole, you can see it in a different way.”

Rosso has been scratching beneath the surface of Venice since arriving here 16 years ago. A native of Pavia, south of Milan, he has carved out a niche as a leader of some of the city’s more avant garde cultural offerings, including a floating cinema bobbing in the water off the island of Giudecca that shows experimental films alongside Venice Film Festival every September. Slightly unkempt and with a contagious enthusiasm, he answered an open call in 2022 to co-run part of the island.

Sant’Andrea might not be developed but it’s full of history if you know where to look. It was a key defensive outpost during Venice’s days as an independent republic and there’s an impressive brick-and-stone monument that remembers the victory of the Holy League, which included Venice, over the Ottoman Empire in the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. Casanova was imprisoned on the island, Rosso tells us, and it played an important strategic role in the First World War. 

We wander inside a church, its door ajar and part of its roof overgrown with creepers, and Rosso points out the naïve frescoes painted during Mussolini’s fascist regime – an odd mixture of holy icons alongside military insignia in the bottom corners of a wall. Though the idea is that the clutter inside will be tidied up, it will be done with the lightest touch possible, according to Rosso. “It’s a beautiful place in which to reflect,” he adds.

Two intrigued young men show up at the door, one of the occasional groups of locals that moor their boats next to the island and get off to explore; Monocle gets the sense that Sant’Andrea is probably the location of an occasional teenage tryst too. Rosso welcomes the pair, assuming his role as unofficial island tour guide and starts to recount its history. 

Not far away, next to the ramparts of the impressive but dilapidated 16th-century fort, marked by elevated walkways, a team from the University of Padua is setting up equipment, including plunging a camera into the water, to map the architecture of the little-known island. One day this part of the island might also be under Rosso’s tutelage and there is talk of cultural activities, including musical performances and guided tours. For now it feels like we’ve been let in on a secret, away from the commodified city centre. 

Rosso offers to drop me back at the train station and we motor across the water, picking up artist Giorgio Andreotta Calò along the way. He is a friend of Rosso who is also involved with the Sant’Andrea project and we sit talking on the tied-up boat before leaving. The artist says that he thought about bringing some of his works to the island but then he decided that the place itself was enough. “There’s no longer anywhere in Venice that can be considered authentic – but Sant’Andrea is,” he says. “It’s a spot where you don’t need to build. Instead, you can preserve.”

A celebration of Buccellati, a conversation with Heath Ceramics and new briefings

How to live: The Broader View

Go the distance
Tyler Brûlé on why taking a step back can give you deeper, more insightful perspectives.

As we finalise our May edition and ink hits paper at our presses in Germany, Monocle will be moving on to two of the most important trade fairs on our editorial calendar. At Geneva’s Watches and Wonders, the world’s biggest watchmaking event, our editors will, of course, cover the newest launches but they will be more interested in tracking shifts in sales. What markets are on the up? Where are the new connoisseurs based? Where will the next generation of watchmakers hail from? 

Shortly afterwards we’ll be jumping over the Alps to Milan’s Salone del Mobile, the largest jamboree for industrial design and furniture manufacturing. While you might have read our reports from Geneva and Milan in our newsletters and listened to our features on Monocle Radio, it’s the stories with longer lead times that tend to have the most impact. We aim to be on point and get things first but it’s also rewarding to give ourselves some distance from these fairs to allow our impressions to settle. 

Very often it’s the side Q&A with the tiny Japanese watch atelier or the forgotten manufacturer from northern Portugal that suddenly feels right for our take on a certain current in the industry or has the most relevance to a story about sustaining skills. As much as we’re interested in the techniques that go into making a new chronograph or a collapsible chair, we’re even more curious about how people are working to prevent brain drain in Switzerland’s watchmaking valleys, say, or ensure that there’s sufficient talent to handle cruise-ship orders for armchairs in Italy’s Brianza region.

Reporting from:
Monocle has a network of correspondents in cities around the world. Our brief updates feature LA’s hottest new neighbourhood, party politics in Bangkok and London’s pedestrianisation plans.

Los Angeles
Silver linings

The Silver Lake neighbourhood is sometimes called the “Beverly Hills of East Los Angeles” and could soon give Rodeo Drive a run for its money. Several new boutiques are opening in the Sunset Row shopping centre, with more independent retail to come.

Bangkok
Making moves

The Move Forward Party shocked Thailand’s establishment in 2023 by winning the most seats in the general election. But now the opposition party faces the same fate as its predecessor, Future Forward: dissolution by the Constitutional Court.

London
Best foot forward

Plans to pedestrianise London’s Oxford Street have progressed to the next stage after two thirds of residents and local businesses approved the scheme. One of the capital’s busiest retail destinations, the regeneration project will increase pavement space by 40 per cent.

Style and substance 

On the hunt for a design for the first Monocle Design Awards trophy back in 2021, we tapped long-time Monocle collaborator Harry Thaler. The South Tyrolean designer’s brief? To create an award that was not only distinct but embodied the values of the prize itself: practical, functional and beautiful. Thaler did not disappoint, designing a timber-bodied, brass-based trophy that doubles as a paperweight. “The brass disc gave it status and importance, and the ability to have a dual purpose,” says Thaler.

After initially being made with an oak body, followed by cherry in 2022, then ash last year, the designer was keen to do something different in 2024. That’s why this year the award’s body is made from offcut timber. “It’s scrap wood, so it’s a recycled product,” says Thaler. “There’s a message here about importance of sustainability.” It’s an appropriate evolution for the award and ensures that the trophy continues to embody the values of the prize itself. Curious to see which people, places and products do just that? Check out our Design Awards. 

Notes from the road

When reporting this issue, Monocle’s correspondents have brought back insights into world leaders, education and more. Here are just three of the things you’ll learn in this issue. 

1.
Stamps can be soft-power tools
Despite their diminishing usage, stamps continue to be used as a secret soft-power tool. We look into why these little stickers have such an impact.

2.
Bengaluru is India’s Silicon Valley
The tax incentives and liberalisation of India’s economy has attracted multinationals to Bengaluru, which boasts about 67,000 registered tech companies and 13,000 start-ups. 

3.
Creatives are flocking to Athens
The Greek capital has been gaining in popularity not only as a summer destination but as the HQ for many emerging brands and small boutiques. 

Jewel in the crown 

Milan is famed for its sciura, a breed of extraordinarily glamorous elderly woman. These ladies in mink coats, with Birkin bags and blowouts, adorn the city’s sidewalks and piazzas. Their diamonds, as the stereotype goes, are from Buccellati. The jeweller first opened in 1919 next to the Milan’s Duomo and has, across three generations, become a byword for upscale milanesità. But, surprisingly, Buccellati has chosen to stage its centennial retrospective not in its hometown but in Venice instead.

“Buccellati has a very strong relationship to the arts,” says Alba Cappellieri, curator of “The Prince of Goldsmiths: Rediscovering the Classics” exhibition that is on show until 18 June at the Oficine 800 venue on Venice’s Giudecca island. “Here, Buccellati is celebrating jewellery as an art form.” Cappellieri, who directs the jewellery department at Politecnico di Milano, has picked out gems from Buccellati’s archives to be displayed in tall vitrines in the old industrial building on the Giudecca Canal. From lithe, diamond-encrusted bracelets to a solid silver lobster-shaped table ornament, the pieces make for a formidable side show to the Biennale Arte. Historically, Venice was the entry port for precious gems arriving from faraway. Many of the city’s churches and palazzos are still embellished with gold leaf. Jewellers from Buccellati to Bulgari, which last year staged its haute joaillerie catwalk in Venice, understandably find the Serenissima’s ethereal air just right for their brands. Besides, every sciura enjoys an escape to Venice, where she can be found – more often than not – sipping a bellini.

Words with Tung Chiang
Studio director, Heath Ceramics

Sausalito-based Heath Ceramics has established itself as a leading producer of world class ceramics sold across the world. Tung Chiang, grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the US in the 2000s to start a career as an industrial designer.

How did your experience shape how you approach the world of ceramics?
Industrial design gave me the necessary foundations on how things are made. It also taught me about the relationship between customers and consumer products. Understanding who the customers are and how they use things is really important. 

Looking at your work, what is your unique take or voice that is particular to you?
Ceramics, tableware for example, don’t usually come with a story but I want them to have one. Heath creates pieces with modern designs, as well as longevity, which will make them relevant for the future. What makes us different is this combination of future, past and present. 

Despite working in San Francisco, you are still inspired by nature. How does that work?
Nature’s designs have existed for a far longer than ours. A lot of people will agree that nature is the better designer. But that doesn’t mean that humans should compete with it. As designers, it is our job to understand that we are part of nature and then to continually try to connect with it. 

For weekly interviews, analysis and insights, subscribe to The Monocle Minute’s Weekend Edition, our free email newsletter, at monocle.com/minute

Springing into action
As spring rears its head (at least in the northern hemisphere), the month ahead promises a busy schedule but also some welcome moments of respite. Here are some of the events and happenings taking place in May that we have on our radar.

1.
Full of the joys of spring 
In the Balkans, spring is a time for celebration. Bonfires set the night ablaze in Slovenia and Croatia at the beginning of May and you might even find our Ljubljana-based correspondent, Guy de Launey, attending his local celebration on Rožnik Hill. In Serbia, May means an excuse for a two-day picnic, including pigs on spits. 

2.
All part of the design 
After a busy Milan Design Week, Monocle’s design editor, Nic Monisse, will be keeping an eye on the emerging talent and trends that will be on show from Australia to the US this month. Lisbon Design Week, Melbourne Design Week and nyc 3 Design (including the fair’s concurrent trade show, The International Contemporary Furniture Fair) are all taking place in May.

3.
Top-secret’ tipple
Stop into The Diplomat, a speakeasy in Hong Kong’s central neighbourhood. Operated by award-winning bartender John Nugent, the drinks menu includes small-batched produced wine and vintage liquors. But the reimagined classic cocktails are the most interesting.

The Grand Palais director on the fragile art of renovation

Didier Fusillier has one of the most prestigious cultural roles in France. As chairman of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, he oversees 18 museums, including as director of Paris’s celebrated Grand Palais. Fusillier took the helm in September 2023 after being selected by Emmanuel Macron. One of his first and most pressing tasks has been overseeing the completion of the Grand Palais’ renovation, under way since 2021. And he has key deadlines to meet: a partial reopening must occur by July so that the palace can host the fencing and taekwondo events for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. No pressure then.

“France has a robust tradition of restoring its monuments and this is no different,” says Fusillier. His hope is that the updated space will feel current, with a dynamic programme ensuring that no two visits to the Grand Palais are comparable. “Our collection will be abundant and ephemeral. But what really sticks in our collective memory when it comes to the Grand Palais is the building itself. The iconic roof is like a compass that Parisians use to orientate themselves around the city.”

Synonymous today with the Belle Époque – a period in the late 19th century of unrivalled industrial progress – the Grand Palais is crowned with Europe’s largest glass roof. The art nouveau exhibition hall was constructed in 1900 for the Universal Exposition trade show and rolled out the red carpet for most innovative technological advancements at the turn of the century. 

Fusillier’s career began in less grand cultural circumstances, in the town of Maubeuge. There, in the 1990s, he found himself at the centre of a push to make the arts more open and democratic. Today, France’s Association des Scènes Nationales constitutes 77 public cultural institutions in mid-sized towns, including Maubeuge, where Fusillier began his career as director of performing arts space Le Manège. “At that time, my native town was a matrix of experimentation,” he says. “Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove came to Maubeuge because everything was eccentric and unpredictable.” 

Fusillier wants to bring that same spirit of inclusivity to the Grand Palais, where entry to some of its spaces will be free. “The most important thing is that culture in Paris is shared,” he adds. “I want young people to grow up coming to the Grand Palais and then to bring their children later in life. There will be something for everyone – and enough going on – to keep visitors here for the entire day.”

At 72,000 sq m and with vast swaths of surrounding greenery, the Grand Palais is the biggest space that Fusillier has ever worked in – it eclipses even the Palace of Versailles. Here, he will configure the empty canvas with the same flair for experimentation he has possessed since he first entered the industry. “It’s like a construction game,” he says. “With a space this flexible, we want to rethink its purpose. I’d like to stage operas, dance, theatre and concerts, because who else in metropolitan Paris has a space this big to play with?” As the light streaming through the ornate glass roof shifts with the sun, a visit to the Grand Palais offers a snapshot in time. “I’ve never had the opportunity to work somewhere so dependent on the seasons.”

As well as being reinstated as the host of Paris+ par Art Basel and providing the runway space for Chanel’s collections during various fashion weeks (the French luxury house pledged €25m towards the renovation), the Grand Palais will also exhibit works from the Centre Pompidou during its own five-year renovation from 2025. This coming together of cultural domains – everything from fashion and design to art and sport – indicates the scope of ambition that will drive Fusillier throughout his tenure here. “I want to channel all of these artistic influences into the reopening of the Grand Palais,” he adds. À bientôt à Paris, everybody.

Editor’s letter: Andrew Tuck on pages worth owning

And the winner is? Well, there are 50 of them in our annual Design Awards, brought to page each year by Nic Monisse, our design editor. The reason that we originally wanted to enter the fray when it comes to bestowing accolades in this realm is that we felt that too many good projects were being overlooked – and perhaps too many garlands were being draped around the necks of the same recipients in the same few design outposts. Using our global outreach and our usual focus on simple solutions, honest materials and a quality of life for all, we hope that the line-up of talent that appears in this issue will delight and surprise – and nudge along projects and plans that sit on your agendas (whether revamping your company’s HQ or remaking your domestic setting).

There’s another list to pore over in this issue – and one that in many ways intersects with the world of design. In what turned into an epic and revealing project, we have asked 50 academics, designers, photographers and writers to pick the one book that they think you should own (seeing as some of them have chosen rare first editions, you might need to go for more affordable alternatives unless you have intentions of switching your career to become a cat burglar).

We’ve always, for selfish and wise reasons, been champions of print but the idea for this project went further. In recent months we started to come across numerous beautiful books produced as passion moves, or as limited runs, and realised that the book world was seeing the arrival of a wave of innovative publishers. When we were recently in Warsaw, for example, we met Filip Niedenthal, a former editor of Vogue Polska, who has now turned to books with his imprint 77 Press. He was enthused about the potential to deliver innovation between the covers. In Singapore, our correspondent Naomi Xu Elegant told us about Jayapriya Vasudevan, an agent shaking up the Asian literary landscape. And then we had a visit in London from celebrated typographer Erik Spiekermann, who, back home in Berlin, has an impressive letterpress set-up, where he resets and reprints limited-edition versions of novels and some factual books. It’s called TOC – The Other Collection – and he is part of a team that includes designer Susanna Dulkinys, author Irene Dische and publisher Birgit Schmitz. Every book gets a new jacket, which is based on a fabric that connects to the story, the topic and the author. Clearly it was time for us to help everyone make a new library – and ask the well-read what should be on its shelves.

One of the best parts of being on a magazine is when everyone comes together to make a story work: a writer who creates a narrative that’s well reported and enticing, matched with photography that sings and a page design that feels innovative without being painfully verbose (we want you to read with ease). I hope that this chorus of effort has come to the fore in this month’s Expo.

As someone who has bought quite a few print editions, I have always been interested in the idea of ownership. If you buy a painting, it’s yours. But an edition, even if it’s numbered and signed, and made by the artist – is that just a step up from a poster? You rarely dwell on this for long as even if you buy a print that’s one of 100, the chances of walking into a house and seeing “your” picture are pretty slim. Until now. Working with Edition VFO in Zürich, we tracked down where the prints from one of its editions ended up. The cast of owners and their stories explains this part of the almost democratic section of the art market with ease. And, yes, they are also a celebration of ink, paper and print – to this day the most powerful way to tell a story.

We hope that you enjoy this issue. And you can always let me know your thoughts by dropping me an email at at@monocle.com. Ideas for future awards? Books we should know about? Multiple musings? Send them our way. 

Interview: Nuria Cruelles, Loewe perfumer

Over the past decade, Loewe has transformed from a dormant Spanish heritage brand into one of the world’s most relevant luxury houses. This is largely thanks to its creative director, Jonathan Anderson, and the many ways in which he has revitalised the house’s fashion business, with mesmerising runway shows in Paris, a growing range of accessories and a commitment to artisanal production. 

Now, customers are equally excited about discovering the brand’s perfume and home-scent collections. Driving the momentum is Nuria Cruelles, the nose behind Loewe Perfumes. Cruelles, who also trained as an oenologist, grew up smelling the delicate floral notes of Loewe Aire on many women in her native Spain. Today, she has been working to give the brand’s original perfumes a new lease of life, as well as creating fresh hits. Much like Anderson, she has a flair for rule-breaking and is known to experiment with the most unconventional ingredients. She tells monocle about the new formulas that she has been concocting and explains how she created one of the most sought-after home fragrance lines using nothing but the humble ingredients in her kitchen.

What drew you to the world of perfumery?
As a child, I always found myself trying to guess what perfumes people were wearing. Over time, it became an obsession. I started by studying chemistry because being a perfumer is all about blending different ingredients and understanding chemical reactions. A perfume is alive. I spent some time travelling around Europe and, when I returned to Spain, Loewe called. It’s a dream to work for the only luxury Spanish brand.

What does Loewe and the global recognition that it has received in the past decade mean for Spain?
We’re all so proud. Through Loewe, we can show the world who we are, what we can do and the crafts that we specialise in. That’s why we want to highlight ingredients from Spain in our perfumes. 

Tell us about the new collection that you have been working on and its ties to Spain.
The idea was about having a single ingredient define a whole collection. We began by thinking about Spain and how to incorporate more of our values in the perfumes. The country is easily associated with the Mediterranean and aromatic scents but we wanted something even more special so we used rockrose from the south of Spain. It’s a very rustic, balsamic odour. It’s like discovering a rough diamond and having to polish it. When we are distilling it, we choose the cleaner, fresher facets of the ingredient to tailor it to our needs. We turned it into something sophisticated. It’s like gastronomy – a chef can take a few basic elements and create art. 

Do you try to keep a dialogue going between the fashion and perfume sectors of the business?
Jonathan Anderson has always respected my expertise and what I can bring to the table. At the same time, his collections inspire us: the shapes, the colours and the textures of the clothes that you see on the runway all inform the perfumes. 

Was the process of creating home scents very different to the way that you create perfumes?
We wanted to ensure a point of differentiation between the two. I wanted to use singular elements: the leaves of tomatoes, beetroot, cucumber. Translating this type of formula into candles that smell good when you burn them requires real skill. It’s like architecture: the simplest structures are usually the most complex.

What scents would you recommend for different moments at home?
For relaxing in a bath, try the oregano line – it’s calming, like lavender. If you’re hosting a dinner, go for one of the tomato, cucumber or sweet-pea candles, something that matches the food. For the bedroom, I recommend our wasabi candle and the honeysuckle room spray. 

Do broader market trends influence your work?
We want to be trendy but we don’t follow trends. The key is to choose an ingredient and work around it. Dress it up and use it to create different textures and feelings. The perfume talks to you and it will tell you what it needs. You just need to listen. 

Could you tell us about the day-to-day process of creating new formulas?
To create, you need peace and time. That’s why I recently decided to move from the centre of Barcelona to the countryside. Now I grow tomatoes in my backyard. I wake up every morning to water them and I’m always walking barefoot with my children. You might smell the soil after the rain, along with some patchouli or magnolias that happen to be behind you, and you immediately get inspired. If certain smells work together in nature, I try them in the laboratory.

What’s your advice for someone who wants to find their signature scent?
At Loewe, we offer a rainbow of options so you can choose different ones for different occasions. You can also combine them and create your own essence. Everyone can be an alchemist.
perfumesloewe.com