The Entrepreneurs

Stelar was founded in Bali in 2017 by Scottish-born goldsmith Lorna Watson, a veteran of luxury design. Stelar’s artisans create elevated women’s accessories using many of Bali’s long-standing weaving methods, some of which have been eroded in recent years by the pressures of mass-manufacturing. Stelar’s range of bags is now available at select outposts around the world, each one fostering a unique relationship between the person who buys the product and the artisan who crafted it.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Claude Cormier is one of Canada’s most celebrated landscape architects. His eponymous studio, which he founded in Montréal in 1995, has created several notable public spaces in Canada over the past few years. He tells Tomos Lewis about the evolution of his practice and explains how to reconcile design ideas with entrepreneurship in public-space commissions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We meet Claire Chung, CEO and co-founder of Ignae, an innovative Portuguese skincare brand. She started it in 2016 when her colleague and co-founder, Miguel Pombo, a native of the Azores, began to identify key natural ingredients on the Atlantic island chain with potential for use in anti-ageing creams and oils.

Caleb and Natalie Ebel believe that they can use the power of paint to reshape your home, with a transformational approach to the business of selecting, buying and using the product. This husband-and-wife team explain how and why they started on the journey to make buying paint a better informed and more intentional design decision. They discuss why they are driven by a desire to strip away consumer confusion and to turn the purchase of paint into a pleasure.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vanessa Jacobs is co-founder and CEO of The Restory, the world’s first aftercare platform for fashion. The Restory helps the world’s biggest brands to offer care, repair and restoration services to their customers around the world. It has aftercare partnerships with celebrated stores, such as Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, and with brands, including Farfetch and Manolo Blahnik. It’s a smart and innovative business, going from strength to strength. But how did it all start?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Value Retail founder and chairman Scott Malkin calls in at Monocle’s Zürich HQ for a discussion with editorial director Tyler Brûlé. Picking up a conversation that they began in early 2020, Malkin reflects on retail, property, great brands and the status of luxury – and explains why he remains positive despite the headwinds. Plus: a report from Japan that shows why the primacy of “customer first” is as true for a small Tokyo homeware shop as it is for a global giant in luxury retail.

Inspired by the wilderness on his family’s estate in Argentina, artist Julian Bedel became intrigued by the natural scents of Patagonia and soon found himself concocting fragrances in his kitchen. In 2010 he founded Fueguia, a niche luxury perfume brand that he has since moved to Italy, where he oversees the production and packaging. His perfume collection comprises limited-edition batches made using natural ingredients that evolve over time in the bottle to create distinctive scents.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Clymer is the founder of Hodinkee, which began life as an online watch magazine but is now the leading platform for enthusiasts, collectors, novice buyers and anyone passionate about watch-making. In an industry dominated by heritage brands that are conservative by inclination and generally resistant to market challenges and disruption, Hodinkee has gained remarkable traction in the 14 years since its launch. Inspired by the receipt of his grandfather’s precious watch as a gift a few years earlier, Ben’s journey began in the midst of the financial crisis with a career change from finance to journalism. He shares the origin story of Hodinkee and tells us why, despite the lack of a business plan, it has grown, evolved and seamlessly integrated e-commerce to serve new and vintage watches to its audience, which now reaches the millions every month. Ben explains why he still lives and breathes the brand, even after stepping back from the day-to-day running of what’s become a multi-million-dollar business.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Clymer is the founder of Hodinkee, which began life as an online watch magazine but is now the leading platform for enthusiasts, collectors, novice buyers and anyone passionate about watch-making. In an industry dominated by heritage brands that are conservative by inclination and generally resistant to market challenges and disruption, Hodinkee has gained remarkable traction in the 14 years since its launch. Inspired by the receipt of his grandfather’s precious watch as a gift a few years earlier, Ben’s journey began in the midst of the financial crisis with a career change from finance to journalism. He shares the origin story of Hodinkee and tells us why, despite the lack of a business plan, it has grown, evolved and seamlessly integrated e-commerce to serve new and vintage watches to its audience, which now reaches the millions every month. Ben explains why he still lives and breathes the brand, even after stepping back from the day-to-day running of what’s become a multi-million-dollar business.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Clymer is the founder of Hodinkee, which began life as an online watch magazine but is now the leading platform for enthusiasts, collectors, novice buyers and anyone passionate about watch-making. In an industry dominated by heritage brands that are conservative by inclination and generally resistant to market challenges and disruption, Hodinkee has gained remarkable traction in the 14 years since its launch. Inspired by the receipt of his grandfather’s precious watch as a gift a few years earlier, Ben’s journey began in the midst of the financial crisis with a career change from finance to journalism. He shares the origin story of Hodinkee and tells us why, despite the lack of a business plan, it has grown, evolved and seamlessly integrated e-commerce to serve new and vintage watches to its audience, which now reaches the millions every month. Ben explains why he still lives and breathes the brand, even after stepping back from the day-to-day running of what’s become a multi-million-dollar business.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.