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
Extra: Expo 2025 Osaka: The USA Pavilion
Trey Trahan, the lead architect for the USA Pavilion, discusses the structure on show as part of Expo 2025 Osaka.
‘The Sculptor of Ultima Thule’
‘The Sculptor of Ultima Thule’ is an exhibition celebrating the 110th anniversary of Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala’s birth. Co-produced by the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, the Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation and Blue Sheep, it features more than 300 of Wirkkala’s works. It is also headlined by the exhibition’s…
Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2025 – Part 2
More conversations from this year’s edition of the fair. We hear from multidisciplinary maker Omer Arbel and visit the cavernous design gallery Nilufar Depot. Plus: a continents-spanning conversation with researcher Wong Eng Geng and Nifemi Marcus-Bello.
Extra: Six N Five
At Milan Design Week, Argentine digital designer Six N Five (Ezequiel Pini) discusses his move into the material realm via a collaboration with the Italian furniture brand Poltrona Frau.
Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2025 – Part 1
The team report from the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan, with interviews from architect David Rockwell, the CEO of Italian manufacturer Artemide and the design duo behind the studio Formafantasma.
Extra: Finding relief
Architect Hugh Broughton and the artist James Lambert discuss their designs at a newly upgraded public facility on the Victoria Embankment in London. Monocle’s Francesca Gilks reports.
‘Living Modernity’, ‘Solar Biennale’ and ‘Splash!’
We explore experimental ways of living thanks to a new exhibition in Tokyo and we imagine sunnier futures at the ‘Solar Biennale’ in Switzerland. Finally, a cooling dip in the pool as we visit ‘Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style’ at London’s Design Museum.
Extra: My First Sony Cassette recorder
We take a trip down memory lane to find out why this toy offers a glimpse into a much bigger moment in design history.
Powerhouse, Tej Chauhan and a ‘Konfekt’ preview
We visit a floating office in Rotterdam and meet industrial designer Tej Chauhan in Helsinki. Plus, a preview of some of the design stories in the latest issue of ‘Konfekt’ magazine.
Extra: Orla Kiely: ‘A Life in Pattern’
The National Design & Craft Gallery in Kilkenny, Ireland, celebrates the bold patterns and organic shapes found in Orla Kiely’s work in its latest exhibition.
