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
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.
Vince Frost, ‘The Craft of Carpentry’, Mirkku Kullberg
Graphic designer Vince Frost reflects on his decades in practice; plus Japan’s carpentry culture is front and centre at a new exhibition in London. We then meet Mirkku Kullberg, CEO of Swedish rug company Kasthall.
Extra: From fashion to furniture
Monocle’s design editor Nic Monisse reflects on the blurred boundaries between the design and fashion industries.
Matter and Shape, ‘Brutalist Japan’, Make Play
Highlights from the second edition of Parisian design salon Matter and Shape. Then: we learn about brutalism in Japan. Plus: we visit Young V&A in London to meet designer Charlie Boyden.
Extra: ‘About Consuming Books: The Nijhof & Lee Collection’
The current exhibition at the London Centre for Book Arts explores the legacy of the Dutch design bookshop, Nijhof & Lee.
