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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
‘Why Materials Matter’
We peek inside the innovative Berlin-based design company that’s developing pollution-eating façades to tackle city smog. Plus: Mexican architect Frida Escobedo on her love of traditional materials and a discussion on the ethics of what we build with in new book ‘Why Materials Matter’.
Extra: The Frankfurt kitchen
Considered to be a milestone in domestic architecture, we trace the roots of the modern kitchen back to 1920’s Frankfurt and the woman who cooked up a storm within in: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky.
Hostile architecture
We look at the ups and downs of ‘hostile’ or ‘defensive’ architecture, those prickly interventions designed to curb anti-social behaviour, vandalism and lingering. Plus: a new book about weaving and a special dispatch from Vienna Design Week.
Extra: Designing Disneyland
Will Disney’s theme parks continue to uphold the ideals of Walt’s original vision?
Fixing public space
Public space in cities is increasingly scarce, we seek out an example in Lebanon that’s getting it right. Plus: Monocle’s Fashion editor Jamie Waters on why Celine’s new creative director is causing a stir and a report on the designers who call Vancouver home.
Extra: Remembering Robert Venturi
We discuss the reluctant father of postmodernism and his life and work partner, Denise Scott Brown. Venturi redefined not only how buildings should look but how we should think about architecture’s role in the world.
‘California Captured’
We make for the sun-soaked hills of southern California to examine the post-war modernist-architecture boom (and mine a few lessons for today). Plus: Josh Fehnert talks to Katie Treggiden about London Design Festival.
Extra: The UK’s post-war prefabs
In post-war Britain, prefabricated houses were a temporary solution to a sudden housing problem; but 70 years on, some homes are still standing.
Meeting Renzo Piano
A London exhibition sheds new light on maestro Renzo Piano’s life work; we sit down with the man himself. Plus: we head Las Vegas to discover how graphic design has shaped Sin City.
Extra: Middle Eastern masonry
Architects, stonemasons and engineers in the Middle East have used ablaq for hundreds of years. Examples are found across Spain, the Middle East and North Africa, showing how architectural techniques pre-date the borders of modern states. Our correspondent in Beirut, Lizzie Porter, visits a restoration project in the northern Lebanese…