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
London’s new Design Museum
London’s design fans are waiting with baited breath: the city’s Design Museum will open the doors of its new building on 24 November. We bring you an exclusive tour of the museum’s new home led by architect John Pawson and deputy director Alice Black. Plus: design and architecture reports from…
On Design 16: Berlin’s theatre posters
Today, Berlin’s streets look for the most part like those of any big European city, with uniform façades and ubiquitous brands. But among the advertising for food-delivery services and the latest Rihanna album, something stands out: the striking posters promoting plays at Berlin’s leading theatres.
Tomorrow’s design nations
More and more countries are recognising the advantages of cultivating a strong design scene, from boosting their economy to building up their soft power. We focus on three nations stepping up to the plate and asserting themselves as global design players for the 21st century.
On Design 15: Will Madrid’s next big museum ever open?
If Madrileños needed any further reminder of the political stalemate paralysing their country, a beautifully designed but conspicuously incomplete construction project next to the Royal Palace stands out as a searing symbol of the impasse.
Design and the silver screen
On today’s show we turn our attention to the crossroads where design and architecture meet film, from a documentary about a St Louis housing project to an appreciation of the title sequence of ‘Superman’.
On Design 14: What can Antwerp teach us about fashion?
From the ‘Antwerp Six’ to Demna Gvasalia, the Antwerp Fashion Academy has produced some of the best international design talent of the past 30 years. So what makes this pedagogical powerhouse so special?
Singapore special: design in the little red dot
This week we’re in Singapore to discover what the Lion City can teach the world about doing a lot with a little in the fields of fashion, architecture, product design and city-building.
On Design 13: Who is Álvaro Siza?
We explore the life and career of Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza. During six decades of work Siza’s style has come to encompass the optimism of the post-Salazar years and speaks volumes about Portugal’s soft-power pull today.
Section D Live
This week we bring you a very special edition of ‘Section D’ recorded live from Midori House in London’s Marylebone. Typographer and designer Erik Spiekermann, ‘Disegno’ founder and V&A curator Johanna Agerman Ross and architecture critic Peter Murray join host Josh Fehnert to reflect on their careers, consider London’s status…
On Design 12: To build or not to build?
Most architects influence their discipline by completing iconic projects but others, such as Superstudio, make their mark despite leaving no building behind. We meet the 1960s avant garde Italian collective that made architectural history working with utopias and not bricks.
