In studios around the world, they sit with scalpels, glue and balsa wood – creating everything from mini cities to pint-sized planes and shrunken ships in order to secure big budgets to build the real thing. Monocle meets…
“This is one of the first literary cafés in Porto,” boasts Antero Braga, a veteran of the book industry for 38 years and manager of Lello since 1994. Despite being over 100 years old, Lello is still breaking new ground.…
Nestled in a chilly valley between wooded volcanoes is the guitar-making capital of Mexico. While many in Paracho battle to survive against a flood of cheap Chinese imports, a few are drawing on generations of knowledge to…
The central region of Alentejo has long been dismissed as Portugal’s sparsely populated breadbasket but is now becoming known for its hospitality offerings. São Lourenço do Barrocal is an impeccable 40-room stopover in the…
Unlike the usual identikit winter lodge, this remastered getaway in the French Alps is inventive – but its unique sense of style doesn’t detract from its homely charm.
Tasmania is a quiet force on the design scene but government backing, a decent museum and a school saved from closure are helping to put it on the world map and attract clients from abroad. We visit the studios of five…
Japan’s long-distance trains are entering a new era of luxury and innovation. Monocle visits the industrial and interior designers who are redefining train travel.
The redesign for the Flemish Parliament in Brussels, a new collection from furniture designer Gesa Hansen, plus a Japanese architect who relocates neglected rural buildings to a new life in the city.
Monocle visits the annual trade fairs where craft aficionados are upholding traditions such as barrel-making and basket-weaving and forward-looking ceramicists are reinventing the humble tile.