Monocle on Design

The creative director of Aspesi discusses the fashion label’s focus on quality materials and its ability to carve out its own path by avoiding fads.

We stop by a new exhibition by design studio Bassamfellows in New York, then discuss sustainability and the circular economy with design writer Katie Treggiden. Plus: we get the highlights from the menswear collections featured at Paris Fashion Week.

We visit an exhibition at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts that hopes to convince visitors to behave more responsibly towards the environment.

June is always a busy month for fashion but, after a quiet year, summer 2021 is packed. We hear from esteemed automaker Ferrari about its new clothing line, return to Men’s Fashion Week in Milan, and peek behind the factory doors of Scotland’s Begg x Co.

Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao discusses her new book ‘Two Sides of the Border: Reimagining the Region’. Its aim? To look at the shared histories, cultures and economics of the US and Mexico through the lens of architecture and design.

Community involvement in the design process is good for the public and creatives alike. We meet Yinka Ilori, the designer whose artworks have brightened many civic spaces, and visit Tableau Zürich, the Swiss outdoor gallery bringing art to the public. Plus: a preschool in rural Vietnam that puts its local community at the heart of the project.

Zhuo Tan, director of Design Shanghai, discusses the return of colour and positive attitudes to the trade booths at this year’s event.

The team touches down at the London Design Biennale at Somerset House. We speak to this year’s artistic director Es Devlin and the curators and designers behind the Ghanaian, French, Chilean and African Diaspora pavilions.

We speak to Marco Guagliardo, founder and editor in chief of online magazine ‘Mid-Century Home’. He shares the journey of the digital platform that highlights the evolution of modernist interiors, furniture and architecture.

From wood-framed construction to the world in 2038, we meet the entrants from the US, Britain and Germany. Plus: we reflect on diversity at the biennale.