Podcast
Monocle on Design
Everything you need to know about the world of design, from furniture to fashion and craft to architecture. Expect fresh stories, new finds and designers and all the latest news from the world’s most exciting studios.
- Design chart
- #14
- Episodes
- 104
- Releases
- Weekly
- Typical length
- 32 min
- On air since
- 2025
- Latest episode
- 1 week ago
Episodes
104 episodes, newest first
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33 min
Monocle’s new ‘Design Directory’ with Peter Zumthor. Plus: Clara Krzentowski on design fair Pad London
Show notes
Our annual ‘Design Directory’ is on newsstands now. Nic Monisse and Grace Charlton discuss their highlights and why a good design story is always about the bigger picture. Plus: Clara Krzentowski on design fair Pad London.
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14 min
Sense of place
Show notes
What impact can a sense of place have on what we make – and how we live? Join us for a discussion examining how a sense of place can combine with cultural DNA to create everything from distinct neighbourhoods to rugged four-wheel drives.
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24 min
Art and design
Show notes
Live from Frieze London: We’re joined by JLR’s Nick Rolls and Collect’s fair director, TF Chan, to ask where art ends and design begins – and whether that line still matters. We discuss working between the two disciplines, collecting and making, as well as the rising market for functional objects.
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35 min
The future of car design at the Paris Motor Show
Show notes
We tour this year’s Paris Motor Show with Chris Cermak and Chloé Nakao-Pélata. Renault Clio and Alfa Romeo’s chief designers detail the road ahead for mobility. Plus: Why EV design might finally be turning a corner.
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32 min
How to party properly and shop well with Studio Boum and Kartell
Show notes
Grace Charlton speaks with the founders of Studio Boum about design and fashion. Then: Lorenza Luti of pioneering Italian furniture brand Kartell explains why physical retail still reigns supreme.
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40 min
What can architecture do for fashion? Nathan Rich on his design work at The Met
Show notes
We head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to speak with architect Nathan Rich. Then: the architecture of runways at Paris Fashion Week. Plus: how decades of war shape design thinking in Beirut.
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37 min
The architecture of happiness with Omar Gandhi, Alvar Aalto and Louis Kahn
Show notes
Omar Gandhi tells Nic Monisse how a lifelong love of baseball informs the feeling that he strives to create with his practice. Then: Alvar Aalto and Louis Kahn’s design philosophy. Plus: Highlights from Monocle’s new issue.
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29 min
Chaos, risk and design with Louise Liljencrantz and Christopher Dessus
Show notes
In light of Paris Design Week, we explore experimental architecture and industrial furniture. Plus: Grace Charlton joins Nic Monisse to reveal some big news.
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34 min
Design on display: Es Devlin of Homo Faber on how good curation brings objects to life
Show notes
The artistic director of Homo Faber, Es Devlin, discusses her goal of making objects talk to each other. Plus: in light of design events in Paris, London, Venice and Zürich, we discuss what you should look out for and why.
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31 min
Highlights from Monocle’s Quality of Life Conference and Manuel Aires Mateus on intelligent architecture
Show notes
At Monocle’s Quality of Life Conference in Lisbon, we catch up with one of Portugal’s foremost architects, Manuel Aires Mateus. Plus: highlights from the conference at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
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31 min
Objects that change the world for the better with designer Sébastien El Idrissi
Show notes
Is the term “industrial design” frowned upon by design purists? Zürich-based Sébastien El Idrissi thinks so. He joins Nic Monisse to discuss why his goal is positive change at an industrial scale. Plus: what to look forward to at our Quality of Life Conference in Lisbon this year.
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29 min
What can designers learn from the principles of Japanese gardening?
Show notes
Niwaki founder Jake Hobson on why Japanese garden shears demonstrate the key to good design. Plus: Ferrari shocks critics. And: the joy of luxury stationery.
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31 min
A cut above: Allday Goods founder Hugo Worsley on reinventing the kitchen knife
Show notes
Chef-turned-CEO Hugo Worsley tells us why design-lovers are obsessed with Allday Goods’ knives. Plus: Australia’s new census puts design on the map and why your next hotel stay should be the Chesa Grischuna in Klosters.
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28 min
Narrative design and clubbing with Pirajean Lees
Show notes
Clémence Pirajean and James Lees tell us about how narratives are essential to designing luxury interiors well. Plus: cooling off with design-thinking and the architecture of clubs.
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32 min
Linda Boronkay on designing for the soul. Plus: late-night kebabs get a chic makeover
Show notes
Hungarian designer Linda Boronkay on crafting hospitality interiors that ‘nourish the soul’. Then: Nic Monisse and Grace Charlton on luxury kebabs, animism and the object in their house that they would save first.
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29 min
Interior architect Alex Holloway takes inspiration from cinema and online slang
Show notes
Alex Holloway, of interior architecture studio Holloway Li, on drawing inspiration from cinema aesthetics and online slang. Plus: a review of Sicilian architecture and travel etiquette.
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33 min
What separates luxury interiors from the rest?
Show notes
Dorothée Boissier explains Gilles and Boissier’s approach to interior design. Then: Nic Monisse and Grace Charlton give their take on “digital minimalism” and whether or not designers can help us to stay on task.
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34 min
Henry Wilson’s philosophy of designing imperfection and Rolf Fehlbaum on the importance of friendship
Show notes
Australian designer Henry Wilson on why perfection is not something he strives for. Then: Rolf Fehlbaum of Vitra on why fun and friendship make for better work.
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31 min
From house to home: Fernanda Canales, Thuma’s Alec Banks and the importance of ritual with Sophie Lou Jacobsen
Show notes
Mexican architect Fernanda Canales invites us into her modern home. Then: French-American designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen and Thuma’s head of brand, Alec Banks, discuss how ritual and memory shape our relationship with home.
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33 min
What does ‘good taste’ mean in interior design? The view from Tara Bernerd and Dan Rosen
Show notes
UK interior designer Tara Bernerd on how travel has influenced her taste. Then: Design comedian Dan Rosen on why judging others’ interior-design choices can be a good thing. Plus: Paris Fashion Week Men’s and Design Parade.
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