Sponsored by
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
New frontiers of design
We take a look at how the design industry is exploring new frontiers: the RIBA’s new venue in Liverpool, the advent of outdoor lighting with the chief executive of Flos and what to watch out for in the menswear industry.
On Design 45: Did Norman Foster invent the modern office in Ipswich?
The Willis Corron building in Ipswich launched Norman Foster’s career and set the standard for modern offices in the unlikeliest of settings.
California: designing freedom
London’s Design Museum looks at the Golden State’s influence, we speak to the co-chief executive of one of the biggest architecture and design firms in the US and we meet one of the people responsible for some of the most recognisable rock art of all time.
On Design 44: Vertical gardens: a breath of fresh air for overcrowded cities?
As a city grows, the need for greenery becomes ever more acute while the space available for it becomes ever scarcer. How to solve this paradox? One solution is to grow upwards.
Illustration: the state of the art
We talk to two leading illustrators about the past, present and future of the art form. Plus, eyewear innovation in Vienna and modern office furniture from Another Country.
On Design 43: What works about the workers’ jacket?
The utilitarian and ubiquitous blue-hued French worker’s jacket – or ‘bleu de travail’ – is enjoying a sustained revival after years of obscurity. But will its popularity continue after the world has reached peak workwear?
Beirut Design Week 2017
Now in its sixth year, the Lebanese fair was called ‘Is design a need?’ Far from flogging furniture, the event sought to stimulate wider social, political, environmental and technological discussions around design.
On Design 42: How did the Fender Telecaster hit all the right notes?
Six decades after its debut, Fender’s Telecaster model remains one of the most iconic and enduring electric guitar designs. What’s more, it was the first commercially successful one. The reason? Sound design, of course.
Material world
We speak to three young designers innovating with new materials at Interzum furniture production fair in Köln. We also ask if renovation and demolition have betrayed the values of Britain’s post-war architecture, and do a stocktake of the new shop at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
On Design 41: How ‘Jantelagen’ shaped Stockholm’s fashion
‘Jantelagen’ – the ‘law of Jante’ – describes the Nordic mentality that celebrates the collective and not standing out from the crowd. Paradoxically, its application in fashion has helped designers from Stockholm distinguish themselves on the world stage.
