Monocle on Design

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to speak with architect Nathan Rich about merging fashion and design in a new exhibition space. Plus: the architecture of runways at Paris Fashion Week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In light of Paris Design Week, we explore experimental architecture and industrial furniture. Plus: Grace Charlton joins Nic Monisse to reveal some big news. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hear how Studio KO turned one of Paris’s most famous nightclubs into a hotel. Then: making design more sensual with Astraeus Clarke. Plus: Nic and Grace give their takes on The Barack Obama Presidential Center.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We discuss why Denmark’s biggest design event drew record numbers this year, as well as our highlights of the week. Then: how to innovate materially with Jessie French. Plus: combining emotion and logic with Space Copenhagen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A NYCxDesign special featuring designers from the US and Canada. Nic Monisse speaks with Simone Ferkul about human imperfection; Ryan Twardzik about his regional design ethos; and Jared Rusten about how to make chairs rock.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

London-based interior designer Tola Ojuolape discusses the sense of belonging that she strives to achieve with each new project. Then: Venezuela’s Rodolfo Agrella on the importance of “energy”. Plus: café interiors from the new issue of Monocle.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forward-thinking British architect Jayden Ali joins to detail his new galleries at V&A East in London. Then: unpicking Icelandic design stereotypes at DesignMarch 2026. Plus: highlights at this year’s NYCxDesign.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.