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
The quiet architect: Kevin Roche
The Irish-born Pritzker prize-winning architect Kevin Roche died this month at the age of 96. We revisit his lifetime of achievements in a feature-length interview with the maestro recorded in 2016.
Extra: Best brew: Bialetti’s Moka pot
After suffering bad debts, Italian product manufacturer Bialetti hopes the Moka pot can perk up its future.
Sydney style: Akira Isogawa
We head to Sydney to meet Japanese-born Australian fashion designer Akira Isogawa in his atelier and talk about his childhood in Kyoto, his take on slow fashion and the first major exhibition exploring his career. Plus: what London should have learned from the Thamesmead housing estate.
Extra: What makes an album’s artwork a hit?
Album covers can be as coveted as the discs they serve as packaging for. But what does it take to achieve iconic status?
Meeting Stefan Sagmeister
We visit New York-based graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister to talk about growing up in Austria, his big break in album art and why taking sabbaticals is so important.
Extra: Right on time: Vienna’s Silver Arrow
The Silver Arrow, the first generation of Vienna’s U-Bahn trains, was awarded the state design prize in 1981. Today the train is approaching its final destination but the design is not yet scheduled for departure.
Meeting Irma Boom
We sit down with Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom to ask why she considers book design to be a feat of architecture, the future of inkless printing and why we should judge books by their cover. Plus: Josh Fehnert runs through the design headlines with the V&A’s Rory Hyde.
Extra: Terry Farrell’s Comyn Ching Triangle
A tour of Sir Terry Farrell’s Comyn Ching Triangle in London’s Seven Dials. Dr David Knight of the Royal College of Art decodes the maestro’s masterwork in an episode to accompany our feature-length interview with Sir Terry.
Meeting Sir Terry Farrell
Architect Sir Terry Farrell’s playful pastiche of styles can be seen from the MI6 building to the Breakfast Television Centre in London. His six-decade career has veered from masterplanning city blocks to building train stations in China. Josh Fehnert sits down with the postmodern master.
Extra: Stockholm’s Beauty Council
Pushing architectural boundaries can be a challenge in Stockholm. It’s a historic, low-rise, waterfront city and any new developments are policed by a unique state-funded body called the ‘skönhetsrådet’ or Beauty Council. We find out more.
