27 July 2017
05 minutes
Trend forecasting has become big business in the fashion industry. But is there a risk that its prophecies are self-fulfilling, and curbing designers’ creativity?
27 July 2017
Share episode
DownloadWant more radio episodes like these in your inbox?
Sign up to Monocle's email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.
Monocle on Design - latest episodes
Extra: Austrian audio
Austrian firms have always been sound when it comes audio technology. The tradition continues today with Mikme, a Viennese start-up with designs on revolutionising the sector. Monocle’s Alexei Korolyov pops his ear to the…
Meeting BV Doshi
The 2018 Pritzker laureate shares some wisdom and tells us why he’s never been tempted to build outside of his native India. Plus: who are the Pritzkers and why is their approval so prized?
Extra: London calling
Born out of necessity but protected by nostalgia, the red telephone box has become a byword for Britishness. Where did the design for the ubiquitous kiosk, with its embowed roof and panelled doors, come from? And how can…
Britain’s postmodern buildings
We ask why a spate of the UK’s bright and bewildering but controversial postmodern buildings have just obtained listed status. Plus: dispatches from the Venice Biennale – what can the Holy Land teach us about sharing and…
Extra: Enid Marx
You’ve looked at, lazed on and may have even licked her work but have you ever heard of Enid Marx? With her textiles, prints, illustrations and stamps she deftly defined the design of the mid-1900s in Britain.
Freespace: Venice Architecture Biennale 2018
Venice, a city of canals, church bells, bobbing boats and over-fed pigeons is a-chatter with talk about the just-opened Venice Architecture Biennale. Josh Fehnert sits down with the directors of this year’s show. He also…
Extra: Oficios Asociados
Argentinian studio Oficios Asociados was founded five years ago, with the notion of taking control over every aspect of the architectural process, from concept to construction. We visit Buenos Aires to find out more.
Why go to architecture school?
Does architectural education need an overhaul? We put the question to the heads of two leading architecture schools: London’s Architectural Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Prese…
Extra: Sitting pretty
Thonet’s No 14 model chair is a ubiquitous but often overlooked success story of commercial furniture design. The Viennese café chair is still made using just six components, which are easily taken apart for to allow for…
Jim Olson: framing nature
We meet architect Jim Olson to ask how buildings can bring us closer to nature. Plus: we talk making it in the city at London Craft Week and proffer a little advice for younger designers looking to secure space on the…
Extra: ‘Brasilia: Life After Design’
Building a city from scratch may seem like a dream commission but, as Oscar Niemeyer discovered with Brasilia, it isn’t always so simple. We ask documentary-maker Bart Simpson how much the city’s design has dictated the…
Meeting Michael Anastassiades
We sit down with London-based designer Michael Anastassiades in Milan. Plus a word with a Saudi princess on the nation’s first fashion week and telling our Arsenale from our elbow ahead of the Venice Architecture Biennale…
Extra: Savile Row – a cut above the rest?
Clothing trends change faster than the seasons but the tailors of Savile Row have held onto the skills and traditions that have seen them through. But who are the designers shaping its future?
Made in Britain
This week we look at how the ‘made in Britain’ brand is fairing, sit down with UK chair-maker Goodfield and rifle through the textile prints at Liberty department store.
Extra: Beirut: a city without monuments
Beirut is a city still dealing with past conflict: the bombed-out buildings and abandoned houses speak of the wars that scarred the Lebanese capital in the 20th century. Although it’s a lively place to visit, the lack of…
