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Monocle on Design
Your essential guide to design, covering furniture, craft, and architecture. Discover fresh stories, rising talents, and the latest from top studios.
Latest Episodes
Greek revival
The Greek economy is improving despite a ruinous financial crisis, and today more Athenians are heading home and looking to help shape the city for the better. Our Athens-themed dispatch delves into three industries (from urban planning to fashion and hospitality) to see how design is offering new solutions in…
Extra: City security: Oslo’s new neighbourhood
Oslo is currently redesigning its government quarter. The administrative buildings here were damaged by a terror attack in 2011 and are set to be demolished to make way for shiny new replacements and large public parks to boot. We meet the architects behind the overhaul.
London with Simon Jenkins
Author and historian Simon Jenkins talks to Josh Fehnert about how London came to look the way it does. Plus: Architectural historian Elain Harwood on the UK’s overlooked art deco buildings.
Extra: Show stoppers
How do you redesign the familiar and the everyday? We visit London’s Ace Hotel, which recently invited Diego Faivre, Boaz Cohen and Shay Alkalay to refresh objects such as doorstops and rugs as part of the ‘Custom Exercise’ design project.
Keeping it natural
We meet celebrated architect Tom Kundig, co-owner and design principal of Seattle-based partnership Olson Kundig, to discuss how his enthusiasm for natural materials flows into his work. Plus: Maria Cheung of London-based architects and designers Squire and Partners joins us to discuss how to design workspaces that are creative, productive…
Extra: Game changers
Mattel have released a new braille edition of classic card game Uno. Games expert Dr Michael James Heron explains design choices encouraging wider accessibility for the visually impaired in board games and card games.
Bold futures
We head to Eindhoven to check out the best of Dutch Design Week. Plus: how the Cold War shaped Vienna’s architecture and Rob Dickins introduces The Architects Underground at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Extra: Seeing double
We visit Baltimore’s Post Typography to learn how founders Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen grew a successful design and branding agency from their beginnings as collaborators in the city’s music scene.
The politics of pattern
We discuss the politics of pattern design with writer and curator Priya Khanchandani and architect Sam Jacob, whose exhibition at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale challenges established norms. Plus: staying in Portugal, we head to Modtissimo, the trade fair in Porto that shows off the nation’s best textiles.
Extra: Best seats in the house
We speak to Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon of London’s Pinch Design about how to create furniture that’s elegant yet homely.
