Three new firms and founders using innovative methods to stand out from the crowd

1.
The couple using bamboo to build in Sri Lanka

When Aoife O’Sullivan and Julien Bailly moved to Sri Lanka in 2019, they saw bamboo growing all over the island, planted years ago by the government as a potential cash crop but later abandoned. The pair planned to build a hotel with this renewable resource to appeal to eco-holiday enthusiasts. But after mapping out the island’s bamboo groves, they realised the plant’s potential. So they founded Una Gama, a factory and centre to kick-start Sri Lanka’s bamboo-based manufacturing. “We’re targeting developers, architects and designers – anybody who wants to work with bamboo and innovate with the material,” says O’Sullivan

Bamboo is 30 per cent cheaper and produces less carbon dioxide than concrete. “We realised that if we want to build with this material, somebody needs to tackle the supply chain and make it more efficient,” she says. Una Gama’s first factory (made from bamboo, of course) opens in central Sri Lanka at the end of 2024 and will produce construction-ready poles for hotels and residential projects.

The couple still intend to make good on their dream of building a hotel but the project has taken a back seat for now. In the meantime, they are hopeful that other hoteliers in Sri Lanka will build with bamboo. “If you have a strong vision and a strong goal, there will always be an opportunity to pivot,” says O’Sullivan. “We’ve discovered a purpose that feels greater than us.”
unabambu.com

2.
Minh Ngo
Founder, Modern Metier

Vietnamese-Australian entrepreneur Minh Ngo founded Modern Metier as an online platform featuring contemporary European lighting, furniture and décor. Ngo’s marketplace highlights independent brands and designers working with local artisans. Having recently launched her own collection of furniture and décor with French designer Léa Zeroil, Ngo has transitioned from curator to manufacturer. She tells us why Modern Metier is less like a gallery than a publishing house.

Why focus specifically on European design?Having lived in Stockholm, London and Paris, where I’m currently based, I wanted to be able to focus on the local without limiting myself to only my French network. Keeping our attention on Europe allows my taste to be reflected in the selection but it also lets me cater to a wider customer base.

What is Modern Metier’s business model?
People like to compare Modern Metier to a gallery but I would describe it more as a maison d’édition. The idea is that we curate a list of new designers who align with our vision, while simultaneously having éditions that allow us to invest in a single designer and manage the [manufacturing] process. These are two very different activities but, as an entrepreneur, it’s rewarding to now do both.

Can you share more about the process of creating the Léa Zeroil collection?
I never imagined that I would produce a collection. But sometimes an opportunity presents itself and you must seize it. I reached out to Léa because I wanted to represent her but, from our very first meeting, we decided that we should collaborate instead. Léa was the creative force and I acted more as an editor, providing a framework and guiding her with furniture quantities and what décor pieces to include. It took us about a year and a half to launch the collection in time for Paris Design Week.
modernmetier.com

3.
Shannon Maldonado’s expansion into hospitality helped to revive a neighbourhood’s creative legacy

When we speak to entrepreneur Shannon Maldonado, she is busy installing furniture and artworks at a new residential project in the Queen Village neighbourhood of Philadelphia. A consultant on the development, Maldonado moved her own business, Yowie, to the area in 2017, first as a homeware shop before adding a hotel upstairs last year. Her arrival has sparked an interest in this somewhat neglected corner of the city, attracting other small businesses and cafés to open here.

“South Street is a place I came to a lot as a teenager,” says Maldonado, who grew up in Philadelphia. “It was where I got my first crazy haircut.” She explains that she wanted to preserve the neighbourhood’s countercultural legacy. “It was good for us to put down anchor here and be a part of the next wave of culture because our brand is all about supporting artists and makers.”

Maldonado worked in fashion before striking out on her own eight years ago. She launched Yowie as a website selling small-batch homeware before opening a dedicated shop in the neighbourhood, presenting pieces in a crisp palette of primary colours that popped in the otherwise minimalist white interior. Yowie’s momentum as a brand grew after Maldonado moved the shop to South Street. Before launching the hotel upstairs, she cut her hospitality teeth designing two other guesthouses, The Deacon in Philly and Dye House Hotel in Rhode Island, with Deacon Hospitality.

For Yowie Hotel, Maldonado has created 13 spaces that are more pieds-à-terre than conventional hotel rooms. The establishment’s roomy kitchens are stocked with handmade plates and ceramics. Everything you see is for sale, from the perky little lamps by San Francisco-based Gantri to the knobs on all of the fixtures by New York-based designer duo Chen Chen & Kai Williams. It’s a clever extension of the shop downstairs but also a platform for local talent. “I feel like I took the opportunity to trust my gut after being a creative designer for over 20 years,” says Maldonado. “This is the aesthetic that I believe in. Some people will get it and love it – and I’m also going to open other people’s eyes.”
helloyowie.com

The sharpest workwear and accessories for taking care of business in style

From J Crew to Alex Mill: Mickey Drexler’s bold new chapter

“Happy chaos” are the words that spring to mind when you peek inside fashion label Alex Mill’s headquarters in New York’s Soho neighbourhood. The office dog, Alan, is hanging out as people share pasta dishes from Italian restaurant Parm down the street. The door to the office of the company’s ceo, Mickey Drexler, is open for the team to waltz in and out. It’s a world away from Drexler’s previous set-up at US multibrand label J Crew, where he served as ceo from 2003 to 2017. The feel is also very different to that of Gap in San Francisco, where he spent almost two decades growing the brand from a $400m (€358m) business into a $15bn (€13bn) one. Here, the hierarchies are less rigid and the atmosphere more familial. “I initially joined as a sort of senior mentor,” says Drexler. “Now I’m involved in all of the details.”

This isn’t a new venture. Drexler’s son, Alex, (centre-left), founded the label more than 10 years ago. “It was just me at the beginning,” says Alex, wearing a crisp, white shirt and black-framed glasses. Much like his father, he favours uniform dressing. “I started with a small shop on Elizabeth Street and the idea of creating the perfect shirt.”

Over time, the brand developed a niche following, working with speciality shops in Japan and a handful of global retailers such as Mr Porter and Bergdorf Goodman. When Mickey left J Crew and started feeling the entrepreneurial itch again, he realised that his next big opportunity could lie a lot closer to home than he had expected. “This wasn’t part of some grand scheme,” he says. “I was getting a little bored because I wasn’t building anything. I liked the name of the brand and saw a white space in the market. The companies that I have previously worked for are changing direction, so there is room for a new label to offer cool clothes that aren’t overly trendy or expensive.”

Alex Mill relaunched in early 2019, with Mickey as ceo and Somsack Sikhounmuong, a veteran of J Crew and Madewell, as creative director. Ali Dillon, formerly of Gap, has also joined the business as brand president. “I love not having a number of units to hit,” says Dillon. “It’s more about making things that we’re proud to produce,” she says.

The brand’s collections span menswear, womens- wear and accessories, and live up to the team’s promise of creating tasteful, reasonably priced designs. These are fuss-free clothes for people who “understand quality and love fashion but aren’t obsessed with it”, says Alex. Mickey has overseen the label’s recent expansion to categories such as denim and cashmere, as well as the opening of two new physical outposts in New York on Mercer Street and Madison Avenue. “It was a small business at the start but it’s coming around now,” he says.

He credits part of this recent success to the power of imagination, rather than careful research or strategic marketing. “To me, imagination is what drives business,” says Mickey. “Some companies – I prefer to call them bureaucracies – can operate almost without thinking but that’s when everything starts to look the same,” he adds, recalling some of his most successful ventures, including the launch of labels such as Madewell at J Crew and Old Navy at the Gap, all of which all happened “on a whim”. “I believe in instinct, talent and risk-taking.”

Successful matchmaking is also part of his formula for success. In this case, introducing his son to Sikhounmuong was pivotal in pointing the brand in the right direction. “I could see the potential,” says Sikhounmuong. “I was ready to roll up my sleeves and get my hands much dirtier than I ever had in the past,” says the creative director, explaining that creating smaller collections allows him more time to indulge in every detail and achieve a balance between fashion-forward and classic designs.

“Sikhounmuong built Madewell from scratch,” says Mickey. “The only difference is that we had the bank of J Crew then. Here, we don’t have any investors because we don’t want any. I don’t need someone doubting what we do.” After years of reporting to boards, Mickey was adamant about “being his own boss”. It’s why Alex Mill is one of the few ready-to-wear labels that has committed to direct-to-consumer sales, avoiding the additional price mark-ups that come with wholesaling.

The brand also steers clear of fashion’s unhealthy discounting culture. “The most successful department store in the world is TJ Maxx, which sells pieces by many major brands at 50 per cent off,” he says. “What does that do to a consumer? They think that everything is a deal. We won’t participate in this. It’s two sales a year and that’s it.”

This formula is working. Alex Mill has gradually been progressing in its mission to create the “perfect wardrobe” and customers continue to purchase classic styles. “It’s about focusing on specific items rather than trying to do everything quickly,” says Alex, who is adamant about holding on to the founding values of the brand. Still, he shares his father’s vision about the business’s potential. A new shop inside the Rockefeller Center is also in the works. “The importance of interacting with customers is something that Mickey has emphasised throughout his career,” says Alex.

With the label’s foundations now securely set, Mickey says that it is in a good position to start reaching a new audience outside the US. “I believe that we can become as big as many other major clothing companies but, for now, I would rather think about what I need to do day by day,” he says. “I have made many people a lot of money in the past – but this is more personal.” — L
alexmill.com

Wildflower Studios: The production company bringing Hollywood-style filmmaking to New York

“There is no other facility like this,” says Adam I Gordon, co-founder and managing partner at Wildflower Studios, the newest production lot in New York’s growing ecosystem of film and television facilities. Filming of the studio’s first project commenced in October but the idea for the site came to its founders five years ago.

“It turns out that New York has been underserved for many years in terms of studio space,” Gordon tells monocle during the 30-minute drive from Manhattan to Wildflower Studios in Queens. As the owner and developer of one of the city’s most expansive networks of warehouses – whose largest client is Amazon – he started receiving enquiries from studios seeking spaces big enough to shoot their programmes in. “I started getting knocks on my door,” says Gordon. “After the fourth or fifth knock, I decided to do some research.”

That entailed visiting an old friend who is well versed in making films, Robert De Niro, who today co-owns Wildflower Studios. “We have been friends for two decades,” says Gordon. “When I went to see him, I discovered that he had a strong interest in developing a film studio. He sent me on a listening tour to Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York to find out more about the cities’ stock of film studios.”

During those visits, Gordon was inspired to refresh the template that film complexes were conventionally modelled on. “I felt that the design of these spaces wasn’t particularly well thought out,” he says. “There were these incredibly creative people who were spending their careers working in tired warehouses of every shape and size. But the buildings were often quite dispiriting and dull.”

“I have spent my career thinking about environments that elevate us,” says Gordon, referring to the series of boutique residential properties that he has developed across New York over the past few decades. Before bringing them to market, he and his family would often move into the properties to test the renovated designs.

“I have always been interested in how a place can make us feel more inspired,” he says. “And I thought, ‘What if we could combine these optimal ingredients and create a kind of mise en place for film production in New York – bringing together the poetry of a beautiful place with the city’s great food and a hospitality culture that elevates people and their experience of making art.”

To conceive a building as complex as a film studio, Danish architect Bjarke Ingels was brought on board. His designs flip the script on how studio lots are usually laid out. Traditionally, soundstages – soundproof rooms in which films are shot – occupy hangar-like buildings on large footprints of land. Wildflower Studios is more compact. The 2.2-hectare plot was built on the former manufacturing site of piano-makers Steinway & Sons (which still operates a factory nextdoor) and houses 11 soundstages.

The soundstages have been stacked vertically – a first for the design of a studio complex – and are all enclosed behind the  building’s striking, panelled edifice. “There is no such thing as an urban, vertical studio anywhere else,” says Gordon. “We have the only one in the world.”

The goal of that design, he says, is to streamline the process of making a film. “We sat down with the people involved in the day-to-day business of filmmaking to gain a better understanding of how it works,” he says. “We asked everyone from lighting experts and actors to hair-and-make-up artists, carpenters and directors, ‘How do you like to work? What or who do you need to be working next to?’”

Gordon estimates that the design of Wildflower Studios will make the facility’s output between 20 and 30 per cent more efficient than that of other production companies. This streamlined approach affects every aspect of the filmmaking process, including transport.

Inside the studios, an oversized turntable allows trucks moving sets, building materials and other equipment to drive in and be rotated, before reversing the short distance to one of the six “elephant elevators”. These lifts then transport their contents upstairs to the workshop spaces that adjoin every soundstage. “People often ask us how we can provide sizeable studio facilities in a space-constrained city such as New York,” says Oscar Morales, Wildflower’s vice-president of development. “I think that we have knocked it out of the park. Not only are you able to film in a large studio but you can also access it very quickly. It’s really simple to move between one part of the building to another.”

Each soundstage at Wildflower Studios is interconnected. Retractable walls allow for several productions to occupy different soundstages at the same time and make it easier for a single production to film across multiple rooms. This is particularly useful for TV series that require shooting scenes over more than one set at once. As part of the initial soundproofing process, bowling balls were dropped onto the floors to assess whether sound would seep from one stage to the next. It didn’t.

Gordon also took into consideration the welfare of the actors who would be working in the space when he came up with the studios’ design. At other, more spread-out complexes, paparazzi photographers are often found attempting to scale the walls or sneak in to get behind-the-scenes shots of actors. Wildflower Studios’ self-contained nature, however, allows high-profile actors to discreetly move between the stages between takes.

“Everyone here is treated the same and receives the same level of service,” says executive director Cheryl Huggins, who oversees the studios’ daily operations. The dining rooms capture this sense of warmth, with handsome wooden furniture crafted by San Francisco-based studio Fyrn and paintings by Robert De Niro’s late father, the abstract expressionist painter Robert De Niro Sr. The rooms also play host to chefs from across New York’s restaurant scene, in addition to the regular menus.

“We want to do everything that we can to make the production staff’s day go smoothly,” says Huggins. “If that means having a coffee cart pull up to their soundstage as they’re unloading at 06.00, then we’ll do it. Many people have already walked through here – line producers, for example – and their jaws are always on the floor. They say that they can’t believe that they can work somewhere like this.”

One goal of the new complex is to attract productions back to New York – a city that is often portrayed on screen through soundstages in other filmmaking hubs such as Los Angeles, Toronto, Atlanta, Calgary and London. “This type of studio has never been built before,” says Gordon. “It takes a completely different approach. It has enabled us to create an industrial building that is able to function while being beautiful in a novel way.” — L
wildflowerstudios.com

Business benefits:
While several North American metropolises have boosted their film-making ecosystems, producers often prefer locations where the cities themselves are part of the draw. “People want to be in New York,” says Gordon. The 30-minute drive from Manhattan to Queens means that the best of the Big Apple is within easy reach.

How AI-powered cameras are stopping wildfires in Colorado

On a hot, dry July morning, lightning sparked a wildfire in a Colorado canyon 37km south of Denver. Just 24 minutes later, first responders were at the scene dumping water from two helicopters and a 40-person ground crew had mobilised to hike deep into the terrain.

By evening, the fire had been extinguished, after growing to just 12,000 sq km. The risk of a hard-to-control, fast-moving blaze that could engulf nearby homes had been prevented.

Such a destructive prospect is increasingly common in wildfire-prone areas, such as the western regions of the US, the Mediterranean, Australia and Argentina. The reason why Colorado could muster such a speedy response that day? It has two 360-degree cameras mounted on mobile-phone towers. Made by Pano AI, a San Francisco-based start-up that was founded in 2020, the ultra-high-definition cameras scan, identify and monitor wildfires.

In the Mountain state, two electricity utility companes had separately invested in the Pano system, which costs $50,000 (€45,000) a year per camera. The two cameras triangulated the fire’s co-ordinates and a staffer at Pano’s intelligence centre verified the image’s accuracy to confirm that the cameras had not misidentified fog or clouds as smoke.

“We combine human and artificial intelligence to deliver the best quality of alerts to our customers,” says the company’s co-founder and CEO, Sonia Kastner. Historically, wildfire detection has relied on trained spotters in lookout towers deep in the mountains. Often, there isn’t any available land to put up new fire towers in areas near urban populations. “However, there are plenty of telecommunication towers, water tanks and other existing structures that we can mount cameras on,” says Kastner.

With $45m (€40.8m) in venture capital funding to date, Pano has sold its kit to 10 US states, from California to Arizona; it has sold five to Australia and one to a Canadian province. The company’s 30 or so customers include timber companies, ski resorts, government land agencies, energy companies, wind-farm operators and private landowners.

As wildfires become a year-round threat, technology such as Pano’s has the potential to play a crucial role. Demand for such systems, for which existing infrastructure is used and AI complements rather than replaces human know-how, is only likely to grow.

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How heritage brand Tolix’s revival reflects the boom in traditional luxury design

There’s something afoot in the peaceful Burgundian town of Autun. Among the vineyards and the vestiges of Roman temples, design brand Tolix has been undergoing what could be described as a fashion makeover since Antoine Bejui and Emmanuel Diemoz took over the company in October 2022. After meeting at Parisian couture house Balmain, where they held executive roles and helped to save the firm from bankruptcy, Bejui and Diemoz worked at fashion brands Anya Hindmarch and Carven, respectively. But when the opportunity to turn around a French heritage brand arrived, the pair sensed that it was time for an industry sidestep. Now, nearly two years since they bought the company, they have helped Tolix to get its groove back.

Founded in 1927, Tolix produces sturdy steel chairs and stools that you’ll spot in many parks, terraces and cafés across France. Despite this, it has long flown under the radar. The arrival of cheap made-in-China imitations in the 2010s resulted in a challenging time for the company. “Tolix occupies a space in the French collective consciousness without many of us realising it,” Bejui tells monocle at the company’s industrial headquarters in Autun. “The brand was losing esteem. It’s like we’ve taken over a vineyard that hasn’t been tended to for a couple of decades but no real damage has happened. It just needs some attention and care to bear fruit again.”

Bejui and Diemoz’s priority after purchasing Tolix was to streamline its catalogue. Initially, only a small selection of its most emblematic pieces were produced, including the t37 chair, which the brand’s founder, Xavier Pauchard, designed in 1937, and the UD chair by his son Jean, originally made for the University of Dijon in 1958. From there, new designs have gradually been introduced in a more cohesive manner. “While we wanted to establish some house codes, we didn’t want to get stuck on the same three chairs,” says Bejui. “So Tolix asked French designer Pauline Deltour to add pieces such as a high-chair and a bench to her outdoor patio collection [which launched in 2020].” With the brand’s offerings tightly controlled, the materials and colours were also reworked and a more restrained palette introduced. Finally, the duo’s background in fashion came into play as the logo, image and branding were given a contemporary refresh.

Tolix’s new ownership reflects a wider trend that has been gaining momentum in recent years: fashion crowds have serious designs on… well, design. Luxury brands including Prada, Bottega Veneta and Hermès are now regular fixtures at Milan Design Week. New Parisian design salon Matter & Shape made waves in March when it launched during the French capital’s fashion week. Finnish heritage brand Iittala’s new creative director, Janni Vepsäläinen, made the switch to design from UK label JW Anderson. France, where the luxury industry employs more than a million people, presents itself as fertile ground for this type of aesthetically minded cross-pollination, helped by a general appreciation for and investment in smaller-scale manufacturing.

When Bejui and Diemoz took over Tolix, they inherited a factory staffed with talented craftspeople who specialise in the production of its metal pieces. Autun and the surrounding Sâone-et-Loire region were once bastions of the French metalworking industry and many of the tools used to make Tolix’s designs date back to the mid-20th century. As we make our way across the factory floor, sheets of steel are being cut, moulded, hand-hammered and checked. One chair is being customised with an engraving as a wedding gift for an employee. “We keep our production as artisanal as possible,” says Maxime de Almeida, who is responsible for development at Tolix. “By continuing to use the techniques that have been inherited from our ancestors, we’re keeping our savoir-faire alive. Today we employ 30 people who can produce as many as 300 products per day.”

Tolix has been designated by the French state as a Living Heritage Company – a prestigious label that comes with the responsibility to transmit know-how to young apprentices. On the factory tour, a stop is made so we can watch a new addition to the team, Samuel, weld a chair with a thin brass brazing rod. The choice of brass rather than copper or aluminium is a Tolix signature. It also helps to distinguish the genuine article from imitations, as the welding process leaves behind gold-coloured marks.

Once the pieces are cut, moulded, assembled and welded, they are cleaned and galvanised or powder-coated. The hazmat-suit-clad team responsible for this process carefully examines every newly coated piece as it’s hung upside-down from a revolving conveyor belt. If a paint coat isn’t quite up to scratch, it will be sanded down for another round. In the stock room, colour labels point to a restrained palette going form jet black to brown green and oyster white. For those who are more partial to the industrial look of metal, a simple coat of varnish is also an option.

Luckily for Bejui and Diemoz, metal furniture has been enjoying a renaissance, with aluminium and steel designs taking over bars and restaurants in cities such as Paris and Sydney. This year, as part of their plan to broaden Tolix’s international appeal, the company has been cropping up at design fairs including Matter & Shape and Milan Design Week (at the latter, in Finnish firm Marimekko’s temporary café Bar Unikko). A new flagship on Paris’s Boulevard Saint-Germain is helping Tolix to establish itself as a premium brand. As for global retail, the company works with select shops and stockists to reach a demographic that has an appreciation for French manufacturing and industrial history.

“We’re here to save a piece of national heritage and make sense of it,” says Bejui. The entrepreneurial duo now split their time between Paris and Burgundy to be close to the manufacturing team. “It’s a source of pride for Frenchmen that we have these extraordinary companies such as Tolix. I feel a civic duty to tell people about the marvels that take place here.” — L
tolix.com

Three firms demonstrating the role of architects in designing productive workspaces

Architects play a powerful role in shaping our lives and the success of companies too. Whether it’s a sprawling campus-style office or an intimate workshop space, a building’s form and function have a profound effect on employees’ morale, collaboration and overall wellbeing. Office architecture can also communicate messages about the brand and help to shape company culture. Here, we meet the teams behind three distinct workplaces that demonstrate how thoughtful design can enhance the quality and output of a business.

The community-minded lawyers
M127, universal design studio and ono architectuur
Antwerp

“It is a modest building but when you get closer, the storytelling and playfulness begin,” says architect Paul Gulati, director of Universal Design Studio, which refurbished this 1960s former police station in Antwerp. Needing more space for its office, Schoups, a law firm specialising in construction law and property, bought the building with architect and entrepreneur Chris Poulissen. Instead of occupying all eight floors, Schoups tasked Universal Design Studio with opening up the building, now named m127, to the community.

To that end, Universal worked with Antwerp-based practice Ono Architectuur to create a street-facing café for Belgian speciality roasters Caffènation and an event space for public hire on the ground floor. Two floors provide co-working desks, offices and meeting rooms, while the rest of the building is occupied by Schoups. There is also a new terrace and a cosy library, with textile wall hangings by Belgian artist Philip Aguirre y Otegui throughout.

To freshen up the look of the building, Universal stripped it back to expose the existing concrete structure, rebuilt the interiors to create double-height spaces and mezzanines, and updated the envelope to be more energy efficient.

The lawyers are well accommodated on the upper floors with private rooms for confidential work, as well as an informal meeting space on the first level. The rest of the building hums with activity, with people reading in the library, freelancers in the co-working spaces and residents of the area sipping coffee downstairs. Students are welcome to use the common areas and visitors to the neighbouring church are free to wander into the garden.

The project’s ethos of giving back to the community appealed greatly to Gulati and his collaborators. “But the owners get something back too,” he says. “They get to see the community coming in and caring about the building. And it’s important for them to be connected to the next generation of lawyers. They want to attract young talent who will feel that it’s not just an office building but that it’s embedded in something bigger and doing something positive for their city.”
m127.be; universaldesignstudio.com; ono-architectuur.be

The vibrant life-sciences campus
Torrey view, flad architects
San Diego, USA

In the hills of San Diego, on a site that looks out at the Pacific Ocean, is a cutting-edge life-sciences campus called Torrey View. The cluster of five structures is designed to boost the region’s already robust biotechnology sector and houses companies in fields including biopharmaceuticals.

Conceived by the San Francisco office of US firm Flad Architects, the campus’s main building has a façade composed of tessellated stepped panels in reinforced concrete, intended to gently filter the bright Californian sunlight entering the interiors. Designing for life sciences presents unique challenges: requirements over vibration, exhaust, temperature and chemical storage are strict in order to make safe workplaces. Yet the design team aimed to do more than build state-of-the-art scientific workspaces. The goal was also to create opportunities for collaboration.

“Human creativity doesn’t happen in isolation,” says Philip Ra, one of the architects behind the project, explaining that Torrey View is a compelling argument for the “office park” model of working, with multiple tenants in similar sectors, all in close proximity. According to Ra, this approach has resulted in “a creative cluster that fosters serendipitous interactions and knowledge sharing” at Torrey View. Mauricio Ortega, another architect who worked on the project, agrees, emphasising the park’s duality. “It’s important to differentiate the scientific spaces, which are more rigid, from the collaboration and social spaces in these buildings,” he says. “That balance is key.”

A case in point is the large plaza that unites the entire campus and is fringed by amenities, including a café, library and lounge. “It’s a central space that provides connections for people, creating informal chance encounters with others who are outside their specific field,” says Ra. It’s just a bonus that these conversations come with views of the Pacific Ocean and refreshing sea breeze – something that links to the site’s other key quality, its green ambition.

Given the striking natural environment surrounding it, Torrey View also incorporates numerous environmentally minded features. Green roofs, drought-tolerant landscaping and smart irrigation technology all contribute to water conservation – a critical concern in Southern California. The below-grade parking structure maximises green space, reducing the heat-island effect.

In short, Torrey View places a premium on its connection to the natural world, both in terms of the vistas it provides and the green features incorporated into the build. “It’s about being inspired by nature and allowing creativity when you’re trying to tackle science,” says Ra. “Emphasising a connection to nature and its surroundings is very important for these researchers as they tackle the big problems that face humankind.”
flad.com

The wellbeing-focused HQ
116 Rokeby, Figurehead and Carr
Melbourne, Australia

Every successful business eventually needs to relocate as it grows – and few decisions are more important than where to go. When Melbourne-based developer Figurehead Group reached its latest tenancy crossroads, it had an ace up its sleeve: it would build its own perfect office. “I’m big on investing in growth first and then growing,” says Figurehead’s founder and managing director, Joe Grasso. “We’re a small company but we wanted to prepare a permanent home for generations to come. Producing the best possible workplace was front of mind.”

The new home is 116 Rokeby, an arresting 11-storey building completed this year in the inner-city suburb of Collingwood. In a neighbourhood known for its low-slung early-20th-century warehouses and Federation-era workers’ cottages, this glass and concrete mid-rise is a complementary addition to the skyline despite its size.

In 2019, Figurehead awarded the project to longtime collaborator Carr, a local architecture and interior design practice, which conceptualised 116 Rokeby as a “breathing space” for occupants. “Our narrative was to create a future office, where all the spaces harness the fundamental characteristics of abundant natural light and fresh air,” says Carr’s director, Stephen McGarry. “It’s all about the end user and putting tenants first.” Carr achieved this by focusing on passive, fixed architectural elements, such as the diaphanous skin that envelops the building’s northern façade. On cool days, this translucent double-exterior uses trapped warm air for heat, while on one of Melbourne’s blistering summer afternoons, it can accomplish the opposite. The hope is that for 60 per cent of the year, 116 Rokeby won’t need to use its mechanical heating and cooling systems.

Focusing on workers’ comfort and wellbeing rather than surface-level bells and whistles was a priority for Figurehead and Carr. Design elements include air circulation and rainwater storage, as well as abundant third spaces and ample access to drinking water. Courtesy of its mechanical hvac systems and rooftop solar panelling, 116 Rokeby is an all-electric building. Its base build design also makes it the only structure in the area to comply with carbon neutrality. Thanks to its eco-friendly credentials, 116 Rokeby was permitted to exceed Collingwood’s 68-metre height limit and granted an extra storey.

Inside, the building is brimming with thoughtful design touchpoints such as electric vehicle charging stations, spacious shower and changing facilities and communal meeting areas.

“It’s the hub that I’ve always wanted,” says Grasso. “People are happier and there’s lots of smiling.” Carr seems to think so too. The firm is so pleased with its design that it’s moving into 116 Rokeby too. Now that’s a vote of confidence.
figurehead.com.au; carr.net.au

The entrepreneurs helping to reimagine Nice and San Diego’s forgotten spots

01.
Nice
France

The courtyard at Hôtel du Couvent feels more like a sleepy village square in the south of France than the scene of one of the season’s most anticipated hospitality openings. Locals with market baskets queue to pick up freshly baked loaves from the boulangerie and a florist rushes past with an oversized bouquet, while chic patrons sip cups of café crème on the leafy terrace. Watching the ensemble from the shade of an orange tree is Valéry Grégo, the hotelier who spent 10 years thoughtfully converting the 400-year-old Couvent de la Visitation, a Nice landmark, into a five-star retreat.

“A decade is a long time to do as little as possible,” he says with a smile. “Ideally, I want people to think that we have been lazy all this time. That would be the best compliment.” “Lazy” is not the word that we would use to describe a €100m undertaking such as this. But Grégo, who sold his other hotels (including Paris’s Le Pigalle and Les Roches Rouges on the Côte d’Azur) to finance the venture without the help of investors, has a point. The site seems as though it has always existed in this form, with its sober, subdued décor courtesy of Parisian firm Festen Architecture and peaceful, terraced gardens designed by Tom Stuart-Smith – plus a bakery and apothecary located in the same places as during the nuns’ tenure. And yet, until recently, Hôtel du Couvent was the kind of project that would have been unthinkable in France’s fifth-largest city.

Though Nice is now buzzing with new activity, this was far from the case in 2008, when incumbent mayor Christian Estrosi took office. He felt that the city, with its belle époque palaces and faded French Riviera charm, was in need of a refresh to attract a younger and more high-end crowd. And so Estrosi initiated the hotel conversion of the historic Couvent de la Visitation, calling for a competition from which he selected Grégo’s grounded take on luxury hospitality. But Estrosi was also keen to introduce more accessible urban options, which helped to bring in establishments such as Mama Shelter and the California-inspired Pam Nice to the gentrifying neighbourhood of Riquet. “We want to be a hub for quality, not mass tourism, where locals and visitors can live together in harmony,” says Rudy Salles, delegate president of the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolitan tourist office. As the city’s deputy mayor until 2020, Salles was Estrosi’s right hand in advancing this vision. For instance, in 2015, the duo opposed the construction of a cruise port to protect Nice from the same pollution and crowding issues faced by tourism hot spots such as Barcelona and Venice.

Recognising that a city must first be welcoming to its residents before it can reposition itself on the world stage, Nice invested heavily in improving its tram and bicycle network, enhancing green spaces and improving the cultural calendar. “The first ambition was to make Nice a city where people could live well,” says Salles. “If it’s pleasant for the Niçois it will be pleasant for tourists.” While the efforts are ongoing – such as the construction of a vast urban forest cutting through the centre – the city is already reaping significant rewards. Café terraces are now spilling onto once traffic-heavy squares, major venues are taking form to host events such as the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference and new direct flights to Europe, North America and the Gulf are being added weekly.

Hotel occupancy rates aside, the city’s transformation has been good for other local commerçants too. Trésors Publics, a boutique for “Made in France” goods popular with Niçois and tourists alike, has recently moved to bigger premises, expanding its shop floor by 30 per cent. The new space is also set to include a 200 sq m cellar that will host workshops with artisans. An upstairs chambre d’hôte is expected to open in 2025. Even hospitality mainstays, such as Dominique Le Stanc’s celebrated restaurant La Merenda, are adapting to the times: while it remains cash-only and still doesn’t accept phone reservations, the 25-seat establishment now offers online bookings, resulting in a full house for each of its four daily services.

Handsome businesses founded by a new generation of entrepreneurs are springing up across the town. Many of the founders are Nice born and bred; they have sought experience elsewhere only to bring their new skills and knowledge home. Among them is the former beverage manager of Experimental Cocktail Club, Maxime Potfer. His bar, Povera, opened near the old port in July. “Before, there was nothing to do in Nice after midnight,” he says from behind the bar. “For the first time, we have more demand and anticipation than supply.” The result is a welcoming business environment with space for newcomers – from neighbourhood bakery Pompon to Italian-French restaurant Marmar and coffee and ice-cream shop Frisson.

A strong hospitality and retail industry is encouraging other professionals to set up shop here too. Emmanuelle Gillardo spent 25 years in Paris, working in PR. But she believes that now is the time to return to her native Nice. “I noticed that Parisians were being hired to handle PR for southern French hotels and restaurants,” she says. “We need local experts who can create a more authentic and relevant discourse about the city.”

In the same way, hospitality outlets are increasingly calling upon creatives from the Côte d’Azur to infuse their spaces with Mediterranean flair. The recently renovated La Pérouse hotel features antiques curated by Rémi Chiappone of the Cap d’Ail and Paris-based Galerie Astéria. While Paris is still central to their trade, many creatives are turning their backs on the capital in favour of the south. Léa Ginac recently designed a set of wooden stools, tables and marble vases for Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport but Nice, where she has just finished exhibiting at Trésors Publics’ future chambre d’hôte, is home. “I love that there’s the sea, the mountains and the proximity to Italy,” she says. “Nice is so complete. I don’t understand why it hasn’t had this kind of effervescence before.”

02.
New Bahru
Singapore

Though Singaporean retail and dining venue New Bahru opened to the public this summer, the roots of the project go back almost a decade. Hospitality entrepreneur Wee Teng Wen was visiting his wife’s art studio at the site, which sits in a quiet residential area north of the Singapore river. The former high school – a five-storey, C-shaped structure huddled around a courtyard – had been rented out to various tenants over the years but large sections of it, including the high-ceilinged school hall, still preserved some of their original features.

“I fell in love with the building,” says Wee. As he wandered its halls for the first time, he thought that the salmon-hued concrete structure, with its distinctive scalloped roof, could be turned into something remarkable. “When it came up for a master lease tender, we put our heart and soul into winning the bid,” he says.

As the founder of The Lo & Behold Group, Wee has spearheaded some of Singapore’s best bars and restaurants, including Tanjong Beach Club, The Warehouse Hotel and Odette. New Bahru is his most ambitious undertaking yet. It consists of multiple buildings on an indoor-outdoor site across an area of more than 20,000 sq m, with about 40 independent businesses spanning retail, dining and hospitality. (Wee describes it as a “creative cluster”.) There are frequent pop-up events, fairs and art exhibitions here, as well as a pre-school, a plant shop and an 55-key hotel and serviced apartments.

After an extensive renovation of the 83-year-old complex, New Bahru opened in stages. The first weekend of its soft launch provided a sneak peek of the transformation, much to the delight of the residents of the quiet, tree-lined River Valley. “In Singapore, what was really missing was a vibrant neighbourhood that you could spend a day just walking around and exploring,” says Wee.

You’ll find restaurants and shops among the area’s high-rise apartment blocks but the closest retail options were previously the glitzy mega-malls of Orchard Road, home to big-name global brands and chain restaurants – with little in the way of exciting independent ventures. By contrast, every business in New Bahru is a homegrown Singaporean brand. The founders can be found in their shops on most days, manning the tills, chatting to customers or helping in the kitchen.

“A lot of people say, ‘I live in that building’, and point over there,” says Keirin Buck, chef-owner of cocktail spot Bar Bon Funk (also part of Lo & Behold), as he gestures towards a nearby residential block from the terrace of the bar. Buck says that he is already welcoming regular customers who live within walking distance of New Bahru. “It’s nice to have people popping in at 22.00 to have a quick drink and then go home.” Wee views his tenants as “co-conspirators” and was careful when it came to who he selected. He sounds more like a fan than a property developer when he says that he wanted to assemble “the most talented entrepreneurs and designers in the country. Singaporean retail brands needed a little bit more visibility.”

He reached out to some directly, while others approached him as word of the project spread. The current list of tenants includes popular e-commerce businesses such as coffee specialist Morning, which decided to make the leap to bricks and mortar for the first time with New Bahru.

“A lot of our customers are design-centric people so it made sense to move here,” says Leon Foo, Morning’s ceo and co-founder. “The tenant mix couldn’t be better here. There are many creatives and we have cool neighbours.”

Other brands have expanded their footprint at New Bahru. Design shop Studio Yono, which used to occupy a tiny shared space elsewhere in the city, now has a spacious standalone shop here. The extra space has allowed its owner, Kaïa Nelk, to begin selling furniture.

“We paid attention to entrepreneurs who were wildly ambitious, the ones who would be able to create new, exciting and experiential concepts,” says Wee. Many retailers offer in-person workshops and classes that are exclusive to their New Bahru locations. The concentration of talent has led to several collaborations: womenswear brand Rye designed the staff uniforms for Atipico bakery, while Alma House’s serviced apartments are equipped with Morning’s coffee machines.

“This is like a vertical street block,” says Wee, squinting in the sun at the building that he has helped to revive. “If you laid all of this out on one level, you basically have an entire neighbourhood or village.”
newbahru.com

Meet the talent

1.
Bessie Ye
Founder, womenswear label Rye

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2.
Leon Foo
CEO & co-founder, Morning coffee roasters

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3.
Wee Teng Wen
Founder, The Lo & Behold Group and New Bahru

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4.
Kaïa Nelk
Founder, design shop Studio Yono

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5.
Keirin Buck
Chef-owner, Bar Bon Funk cocktail bar

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6.
Ivan Woo and Angeline Goh
Co-founders, artisanal plant shop Soilboy

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7.
Giselle Makarachvili
General manager, Alma House boutique hotel and serviced apartments

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03.
Jacumba Hot Springs
California

When three entrepreneurs decided to buy the faded Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel in the desert outside San Diego, they didn’t know that the deeds came with a dried-out lake full of old mattresses, a ruined 1920s bathhouse and a row of empty shops on so-called “Main Street”. “We basically bought a town in the middle of nowhere,” says Jeff Osborne, who stumped up much of the initial investment for the property. Since 2020, Osborne has worked with business partners and designers Melissa Strukel and Corbin Winters to restore the hotel, creating a smart bolthole a stone’s throw from the US-Mexican border. The hotel is now attracting new visitors to a dusty corner of California and reviving the area’s past glories.

When Jacumba (pronounced ha-koom-bah) was built in the 1920s, it was a roaring stop-off on the route from Arizona to California – a competitor to Palm Springs with four-storey hotels and supposedly healing hot springs that bubbled up from beneath the sand. But when a highway was built that circumvented the town in the late 1960s, it began to wither. A series of fires tore through much of its old landmark buildings and, as the decades passed, many families packed up and left. By 2020, when the entrepreneurs first arrived, only the 1950s-built Hot Springs Hotel and a liquor shop were still in business. Aside from visits by a few hippies and ufo-seekers (most people in Jacumba seem to have at least one sighting story), the old tourist trade wilted in the hot desert sun.

The hotel’s previous owners – a nudist couple with a reputation for throwing raucous parties – had kept the place going but it was in desperate need of renovation. Strukel was on a roadtrip at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and passed through Jacumba; she says that she immediately felt a connection to the place. When the hotel serendipitously came up for sale months later, the three entrepreneurs jumped at the opportunity to buy it. Then they moved out to the desert and set to work.

“Melissa and I hand-drafted every aspect of this property,” says Winters, unfurling the original pencil drawings in an office that was once an abandoned petrol station. Prior to moving here, the two designers had renovated a hotel in San Diego. “Even when you are your own client, you still lie awake at night questioning your decisions,” says Winters. “I would have a knot in my stomach before things were installed.”

The result of their efforts is a pueblo- style lodging with hand-moulded walls and hints of the high desert dwellings found in New Mexico. There are homely tiled floors in the bedrooms and an extra­ordinary attention to detail throughout, from the artful, Moroccan-inspired lights to a thoughtful selection of art and books that detail Jacumba’s story in every room. On a hillside just beyond the site, the group has kitted out an eight-bed lodge that has boulders in the back garden and striking views looking out to Mexico. It is already being hired out for retreats.

On the Sunday evening that monocle visits Jacumba, Clinton Davis, a fiddle player based in San Diego, is belting out cowboy tunes in the restaurant’s courtyard. Tables are laid under Afghan pine trees and residents of the area dine on rustic cross-border cuisine by candlelight alongside hotel guests. The weekend has been filled with DJ sets and open-air performances in the old bathhouse and, as the sun sets over ashen mountains, a few guests are having their last, slightly sulphurous dip of the evening in the mineral pools. These are fed by the underground hot springs, which are partly filtered in the town’s restored lake. It was cleaned up by the entrepreneurs, who had 75 native palm trees planted all around it. Idyllic at sunset, the lake has been a hit with the townspeople. Tim Burnett has lived here for most of his life and says that he previously couldn’t sit out on his porch because of the mosquitoes that would come from the once-stagnant water. “The phoenix has risen from the ashes with this place,” says Burnett.

The restored hotel and restaurant has brought some 60 jobs to the area, which has helped the three entrepreneurs to win over Jacumba’s residents, despite some initial wariness about “LA hipsters”. The team is hiring young people who wait tables in 10-gallon hats, while some among the check-in staff have been enticed to decamp here from nearby cities to greet guests in a charming trailer parked out front.

Even the nearby airstrip has had an uptick in arrivals. “We have prop planes landing here from Van Nuys Airport with Hollywood types; some are coming for the weekend, others just for lunch,” says the hangar’s owner, Roman Wrosz, who now takes hotel guests up for aerial tours and loop-the-loops in his glider.

The entrepreneurs are clear that the road to reviving Jacumba will be long and not without challenges. Occupancy levels have been good but they need to maintain momentum. The next step, they believe, is to find tenants for the shops on Main Street; they would ideally like a small grocery store that can sell fresh produce. “Whoever opens up here has to live here too,” says Strukel. “A lot of people need things wrapped up with a pretty bow before they can see the vision. But before any of this was done, we saw it immediately.”
jacumba.com

Vanguart’s strategy for thriving in the luxury-watch industry

Walk into any luxury watch fair and you’ll see big booths bearing familiar logos – Rolex; Richemont-owned Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Van Cleef & Arpels; lvmh’s Tag Heuer, Zenith and Hublot, among others. The way that these spaces are laid out mirrors the dynamics of the watch industry; heritage brands, luxury groups and historic designs dominate the sector. The complexities that come with crafting a high-end watch and the deep investments required leave little room for independents and young upstarts.

But four ambitious entrepreneurs have been taking on this rarefied world and proving that, once you master your craft, you can launch a luxury-watch brand from scratch. In 2017 they founded Vanguart from the living room of the company’s ceo, Axel Leuenberger, in Basel. “We wanted to start with a blank canvas and bring something fresh to the market,” says Leuenberger, who previously worked at the research and development department of storied Swiss manufacturer Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi (aprp).

Joining Leuenberger is Jérémy Freléchox, another aprp veteran who has taken on the brand’s chief technical officer role; Thierry Fischer, a seasoned designer and Vanguart’s creative director; and Mehmet Koruturk, a former financier who is now the company’s president. Unlike his three partners, Istanbul-based Koruturk doesn’t have a background in watches. He became acquainted with horology while working for Genii Capital, a global fund known for its involvement in motor­sports. But the potential in a new-generation watch company quickly became clear to him.

“Every 10 years or so, there’s space for a new independent brand to go big,” he says. “That’s simply because there’s consumer appetite for new design and innovation. You reach a point of saturation and people begin to look for a new name.” Koruturk was confident in his partners’ creative vision and expertise. “Axel worked with Giulio Papi, one of the most respected watchmakers of our day,” he says. “Papi’s company is behind some of the most complicated watches of the past decade.”

Vanguart aims to bring novelty and playfulness to the world of watches. It’s why Fischer ripped up the design rule book for the brand’s first watch, Black Hole – a futuristic model comprising 775 components, including a custom-made tourbillon that appears to be levitating above the dials. Rather than having a traditional display, It features three rotating discs, each indicating the hours, tenths of minutes and the minutes. “We wanted to make a bold statement about what Vanguart stands for and the kind of complications that we can create,” says Leuenberger.

It took more than three years of design, research and development to create the Black Hole. “You get one shot and you need to be very precise,” says Leuenberger. “You can’t spend hundreds of thousands of euros during the development stage like bigger brands do. It’s all about finding ways to be cost effective. You can start by using parts of old watches to prove your concept.” The coronavirus pandemic then forced the team to spend an extra two years refining the watch. “It ended up being a blessing in disguise because we got to test our mechanism without rushing,” says Leuenberger.

The five years that it took Vanguart to go from idea to launch shows how long entrepreneurial journeys can be, particularly when you’re trying to penetrate a traditional sector. Even when pandemic restrictions began to be lifted, obstacles remained. “Producers had a huge surge in demand from existing clients so, when we tried to order a component, it would take six months rather than one or two.”

By betting on industry relationships, piquing the curiosity of the right suppliers and bringing most of its production process in-house, the company was finally able to release the first models of the Black Hole in late 2021. The co-founders then began to discreetly sell the watches to clients from their existing networks, as well as to collectors who had found them through word of mouth. “This wasn’t going to be anyone’s first watch,” says Koruturk. “It was designed for the seasoned collector.

Having overcome its growing pains, Vanguart is now in a position to make itself more visible. It has started receiving bespoke orders, including for a hand-engraved version of the Black Hole, commissioned by a customer in the Middle East and priced at chf750,000 (€800,000). Earlier this year it released a new unisex model, the Orb, with an intimate presentation at a Geneva hotel, rather than competing with the bigger players in conventional fairs. The Orb has a slimmer design, with a more traditional, symmetrical case, as well as some edgier signatures, including a hand-finished flying tourbillon movement that allows the user to switch between automatic and manual modes.

The final part of the equation was to establish a sales strategy. Vanguart is focused on direct sales and only works with a handful of distributors. “The goal is to be more global,” says Koruturk. “Asia will be a big market in the future but you can’t expand too quickly when every component is hand-produced.”

Since its inception, the company has grown from four employees to 15, moving out of Leuen­berger’s living room and into a sleek space in La-Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland’s “open-air watch factory”, as the ceo calls it). This has given it proximity to some of the world’s best suppliers.

Other watchmakers are becoming interested in buying the mechanisms that Vanguart has perfected. Thanks to the initial investment in creating these in-house, the journey from sketch to finished product will become smoother. “We have a design language and all of the technology that we need to create new models,” says Leuenberger. “But it doesn’t mean that you’ll see new Vanguart watches tomorrow. We want to grow the project gradually. Sometimes, you have to let go of time.” — L

How bakery Maymana turned its Moroccan pastries into an international gift-box sensation

Pastry shop Maymana’s gift boxes have long been a beloved treat for Moroccans. Originally a teacher by trade, Naïma Berrada founded the shop and catering service in 1985 after spotting a gap in the market for traditional patisserie. Maymana quickly established itself as the place to go for gazelle horns and other quintessentially Moroccan pastries. Over the past four decades, Berrada’s one-woman enterprise has grown into a business of 510 employees, 70 per cent of whom are women.

Walk across Rabat’s upscale Souissi neighbourhood or through Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport and you are almost certain to spot Maymana’s distinctive gold lettering. The bakery’s reputation is stellar not only among the breakfasting Moroccan public but also among the country’s executives, because its wares are a top choice when it comes to corporate gifts. In a country where gift-giving holds great political and cultural significance, Maymana’s tarbouche de Fez boxes are a reliably elegant (and delicious) option. Last year, many private companies and public institutions, including the French consulate in Morocco, chose a Maymana gift box as a New Year present for their clients, contacts and friends.

The bakery’s popularity is rightly attributed to its generously chocolate-covered dates and irresistible honey-based specialities, but equally important is the fine design detail in its packaging. With a felt exterior, faux-leather materials and gold tassels, the boxes are a modern interpretation of the fez hat – a historic symbol of Moroccan identity and a fitting gift for embassy staffers.

Maymana’s delicacies are now available in several spots beyond Rabat, in places from France to Qatar. Berrada’s daughter, Majdouline Benchakroun, is the current ceo and her younger daughter, Lamia, runs the development of the brand internationally.

The business has recently expanded its presence to the Gulf with a new shop opening in Doha in October 2024. Its tarbouche boxes are sure to be a welcome gift. The brand has solid credentials as an ambassador of Moroccan gastronomy and culture. Perhaps a European airport location is what’s needed next?
maymana.ma