Defence dominates the skies as drones take off at the Paris Air Show
“The Choice of Sovereignty”, “Protecting Democracy” and “Ready for the Unknown”. Not a promotional campaign for the US Navy Seals but rather the slogans that were emblazoned on chalets and billboards belonging respectively to Dassault Aviation, Helsing and Airbus at this week’s Paris Air Show. Though only about a third of the 2,400 brands exhibiting this year are from the defence sector, the atmosphere at the show is decidedly militaristic. The fair has been on a hawkish turn since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the recent fraying of security ties between the US and Europe has kicked things up another notch. For anyone in attendance who still doubted that times had well and truly changed for Europe’s defence industry, the tarmac at Le Bourget offered an unequivocal reality check: a giant Airbus A400M Atlas military transport aircraft, all of Thales’s new radar systems (including the Ground Fire 300 that can track up to 1,000 targets simultaneously) and a veritable arsenal of missiles. Despite the presence of these big hitters, drones were the star of the show. Scores of unmanned aircraft were on display, capable of everything from medical deliveries to long-range airstrikes on the battlefield. In an era when, as one high-ranking European military officer told me, “a $100 toy can destroy a $100m plane,” the relationship between warfare and aviation is being reimagined. In the future, expect to see drone swarms deployed around the next generation of fighter jets, ready to serve as projectiles or sacrificial shields.Flag carrier: Airbus wins big at the Paris Air Show but UAVs are front and centre(Image: Paris Air Show)This is not to say that defence fully eclipsed commercial aviation at the Paris show. With Boeing focused on managing the fallout from the crash of a 787-8 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad, long-time rival Airbus came out swinging, with new deals worth $10bn (€8.6bn) to sell 132 planes to Saudi Arabia, as well as Polish and Japanese operators. The Saudi deals, including 25 A350-1000s for Riyadh Air (an airline that has yet to fly), are emblematic of a bullish commercial-flight industry that still expects to enjoy at least 4 per cent growth each year for the foreseeable future – especially in ambitious markets looking for an edge on their regional rivals.“I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar to what has happened in the fashion industry took place in the commercial-aviation space,” one industry insider told me at the Aéroports de Paris chalet. “The market could become dominated by low-cost airlines on one side and premium players on the other, with not much wriggle room in the middle.”Bouvier is Monocle’s Paris bureau chief. For some longer-haul reading, fly over to our take on how Romania’s aviation gamble could reshape the nation’s global standing and the hop-on, hop-off jet service disrupting short-haul flights, via the way Andalusia is providing a clear runway to major players in the aerospace industry.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe
Yerevan’s open doors
BusinessYerevan, ArmeniaApril 30, 20202 MIN 50 SECYerevan’s open doorsWe shine a spotlight on entrepreneurship in Armenia. Yerevan’s boulevards are lined with magnificent Soviet architecture but venture beyond the imperious façades and you’ll find a busy start-up scene and well-funded art centres. Armenia shows how a small nation can benefit from building strong ties to its powerful diaspora.Editor Helena KardováNarrator Robert BoundSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Icebreakers at work
AffairsOulu, FinlandFebruary 25, 20191 MIN 25 SECIcebreakers at workThroughout the long Finnish winter, the country’s ports are kept open by a small but determined fleet of icebreakers. Monocle Films hops on board to see how it’s done.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Gaja: the next generation of winemakers
BusinessItalyMay 14, 20205 MIN 23 SECGaja: the next generation of winemakersFive generations after Giovanni Gaja founded his eponymous winery in the Piedmont town of Barbaresco, the family continues to produce some of Italy’s best vintages. Their uncompromising commitment to quality is helping to maintain one of the world’s finest vintners.Narrator Daniel PintoSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
By focusing on human interaction, Apple proves that there’s more to get excited about than AI
It’s a tumultuous time for the US – and Apple is caught in the eye of the storm. Donald Trump wants Apple to build its iPhones in America, which could lead to their price increasing to more than $3,000 (€2,612). According to CEO Tim Cook, US-imposed tariffs could cost the company $900m (€783m) in the next quarter alone. Meanwhile, the EU is forcing Apple to open up parts of the iPhone to third parties, while there are also legal pressures on its App Store and delays to its own heavily-trailed artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, the mood was calm and serene when Apple opened its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in California on Monday. WWDC is an annual shindig designed to show app developers the company’s software plans for the coming year. Though there were mentions of Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker switched its focus to what it called its “broadest design overhaul ever”. The new software will launch in autumn for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, with a new discreetly opulent look called “liquid glass” that’s inspired by the translucent interface of the company’s headset, the Apple Vision Pro. The camera will be redesigned in a bid to simplify how it works, while travellers will be able to hold their passport on their iPhone for domestic travel. A great deal of thought has also been given to the Phone app. You know, the one after which the device is named, and which does that charming, old-fashioned thing: make and receive calls.For instance, if waiting on hold seems tiresome, the phone can automatically recognise hold music and offer to keep your place in line, mercifully muting the audio until you’re linked to a human agent. When that happens, the phone rings to rejoin you to the call, while telling the other party that you’re on your way. Apple also announced “call screening”, which pre-emptively asks a caller from an unfamiliar number to state their name and reason for calling. The answers are displayed as text on screen and you can decide to answer or ditch the call. Similarly impressive was a live translation feature, which visually and audibly relays what is said between parties using different languages in real time. In a demo, it was clear that the pause between speaking and translation was fast, though I suspect it works best in a quiet environment. Something similar can be done with text messages: received messages appear translated on screen as they arrive and outgoing messages can be translated to suit the recipient’s needs.These capabilities are powered by artificial intelligence (AI). AI is important, Apple suggests, but instead of being a feature in its own right, what’s more important is how the new, clever stuff will be infused across the brand’s phones, tablets, watches and laptops, from now on. Before Monday, Apple looked like a company anxiously dealing with an onslaught of problems. Now it appears confident – even optimistic.Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.
The Monocle Weekender: Asheville edition
Tyler Brûlé, Andrew Tuck and the Monocle team gather for a special weekend event in Asheville, North Carolina.
Full speed ahead
AffairsJune 17, 2009Full speed aheadLater this year, Barack Obama’s transportation secretary Ray LaHood will begin allocating $8 billion to emerging American train systems, with another $5 billion to come over the next five years – the first time ever that the US government has made such an investment. Until this year, the idea that Americans could enjoy European or Japanese-style train service was dismissed as a boutique cause of cosmopolitan columnists and futurist dreamers. Now leaving the country a set of rails equal to its roads will be Obama’s transport legacy. Monocle’s Washington Correspondent Sasha Issenberg travelled with LaHood on European reconnaissance mission.Editor Aleksander SolumSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
The bold business owner: Takeshi Yamanaka
DesignHiroshima, JapanMarch 13, 20204 MIN 49 SECThe bold business owner: Takeshi YamanakaIn 1928 Maruni Wood Industry was born out of a fascination with the masterful carpentry in ancient shrines. Today its furniture is found in the Californian headquarters of Apple as well as airport lounges, galleries and restaurants around the world. We meet the company’s president to talk about the challenges of managing a family-run business.Narrator Joleen GoffinSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Solid foundations: Three firms redefining the future of development
1.The intrepid CEOMeean DyManila, PhilippinesPark Villas in Metro Manila is on course to become one of the Philippines’ most prestigious addresses. The 51-storey tower is being built in Makati, the capital’s salubrious central business district, by developer Ayala Land. With only one unit occupying each floor, the property’s luxury flats (or “villas”) are selling for more than €8.2m each.“This country has never seen an offering like this,” says Meean Dy, Ayala Land’s 54-year-old CEO, speaking to Monocle from her office a short walk from the Park Villas construction site. Dy attended the groundbreaking ceremony last July with a silver shovel in her hand. “We are continuing to test the limits of this market,” she says.The high-end residential market in the Philippines is booming and Ayala Land is leaning into this sector – or, as Dy sees it, returning to its roots. The property firm – a listed former subsidiary of one of the country’s oldest companies, Ayala Corporation – master-planned and developed Makati after the Second World War, before branching out into more affordable homes catering to the country’s growing middle classes.“The premium segment doesn’t rely on mortgages so it is less sensitive to interest rates,” says Dy, who is coming off the back of a “great year” (Ayala Land enjoyed double-digit growth in 2024) and expects more of the same over the next 12 months. Most buyers are Filipino but many of them work overseas. “Filipinos are global citizens,” she says.The company has gone from being a net acquirer of land to averaging 800 hectares of new developments per year, serving consumers’ demands for convenience, sustainability and healthy living. Shopping centres are being overhauled, new office towers opened, hotels launched and residential estates developed.The rapid pace of change might still not be fast enough for Ayala Land’s restless CEO but the long-term fundamentals are in the company’s favour. The Philippines is Southeast Asia’s second-fastest-growing economy, behind Vietnam. Meanwhile, the “business-friendly” government is tapping the private sector to fix the country’s notorious infrastructure problems. “We remain bullish about everything that’s going on here,” says Dy. “We have a young, productive population that will drive consumption and investment.”2.The local developerLarry McGuire,Austin, USALarry McGuire never set out to build a property portfolio. “We just wanted to buy old buildings, not knock them down, and house them with our businesses,” he tells Monocle. But over the years, McGuire has amassed a collection of 24 restaurants, two shops and a hotel across the US with the firm that he co-founded, mml Hospitality. It’s in his home city of Austin where McGuire’s work is having the greatest effect. Last October, mml broke ground on a corner lot called Sixth & Blanco, the first Texas-based project for Swiss architecture practice Herzog & de Meuron.The mixed-use neighbourhood includes a 57-key hotel, 10 apartment buildings, art galleries, a social club, restaurants and retail spots. The design weaves new construction around existing craftsman bungalows while creating public courtyards and passageways. McGuire’s ambition is to turn Sixth & Blanco into Austin’s ultimate high street.Ideas in developmentThe project is impeccably timed. It is taking shape against the backdrop of an extraordinary influx of people into Austin. The city’s growth and evolution are driven by the boom in its technology sector, which is keeping pace after more than 10 years. McGuire is catching that wave with his new development but is also trying to solve a conundrum. “How do we maintain the ‘Austinness’ of a project while doing something of an international design calibre?” he asks.McGuire imagines residents of the affluent Clarksville district dropping by Sixth & Blanco for a pastry at the Swedish Hill Bakery, an mml brand, and rubbing shoulders with overseas visitors staying at the hotel. He hopes that shoppers from across the state will pull up for one-of-a-kind retail offerings too.Austin is increasingly attracting out-of-town developers and this has given McGuire’s work a new sense of purpose. “As a local developer, our job is to maintain the integrity of what makes Austin cool,” he says. “This is still a great place for divey Mexican food even though there’s a Hermès shop. That’s the crux of what the city is going through.”sixthandblanco.comYuta OkaGood Soil Inc, JapanFrom hotels and cafés to a public bath, the projects of developer Yuta Oka and his company, Staple, have helped to rejuvenate areas across Japan facing major challenges such as depopulation. Now he’s joining forces with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank to create Good Soil Inc, which will bring together institutional investment and local stakeholders, and serve as an engine for sustainable development.What does Staple do?We create vibrant, high-density, walkable neighbourhoods. Our ambition is to spark excitement about places while nurturing their culture, nature and economy.Tell us about your tie-up with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.We share the goal of creating ecosystems in which small-scale developments can thrive, mixing living with tourism. We invited Ken Isono, the ceo of renewables company Shizen Energy, to be a board director. Our aim is to integrate development with local energy production.Which is more effective, the public or private sector?Many municipalities in Japan are being forced to scale down services such as social welfare and infrastructure maintenance. Government and local authorities play a crucial role but the private sector has the agility and creativity to fill the gaps.good-soil.inc3.The future-focused familySordo MadalenoMexico City, MexicoSitting in his sleek Mexico City office, Javier Sordo Madaleno Sr explains how the work of his family architecture practice has closely tacked to the fortunes of his country. “My father founded Sordo Madaleno in 1937,” says the principal of both the firm and Soma, one of Mexico’s leading developers. “Then, in the 1960s, he developed this city’s first shopping mall at Plaza Universidad.” The practice flourished during Mexico’s golden era of economic growth, investment and urban development, creating some of the capital’s most important mixed-use environments.The Mexican capital is again booming. In 2023 the city received €10.7bn in foreign direct investment, nearly a third of the record-breaking total that the country secured that year. But the path that the economy took to get to this point hasn’t always been smooth. Sordo Madaleno has thrived through downturns and other hurdles by focusing on high-quality developments in premium locations that are less affected by turbulence in the broader economy. Soma, the development firm that the family founded and took public in 2021, has also allowed it to self-fund projects and get them off the drawing board. “If you are creating real estate, you are thinking about the future,” says Madaleno.Recent projects include the Park Hyatt complex, a 33-storey mixed-use development in the Polanco neighbourhood and the city’s Soho House social club. An expansive residential development in the capital’s fast-evolving Colonia Juarez area is now nearing completion. This expanding portfolio is well positioned to benefit from the capital’s uptick in tourism. “Today, Mexico City is far more dynamic than it was eight years ago,” says Javier Jr, one of Madaleno’s three sons who are partners in the business. “The gastronomy has changed and a lot of foreigners live here.”Communication and marketing director Rosalba RojasTowering achievementSordo Madaleno has long helped to guide Mexico City’s evolution but it is now also setting its sights on overseas expansion. Last year the firm opened a London outpost. “There are opportunities in the UK,” says Fernando, another of Javier’s sons, who heads up the new office. “We are working on projects in continental Europe too.” The dynamism that is drawing affluent new arrivals to Mexico City is piquing interest in Sordo Madaleno’s services in Europe and the Middle East. “People want to bring Mexican culture to other parts of the world,” says Fernando.sordomadaleno.com
Grey skies ahead: How the shadow market for drones is rewriting the future of warfare
Last week’s astonishing remote-controlled attack by Ukraine on five Russian airfields – some of them thousands of kilometres from the frontlines – might have changed warfare forever. Militaries all over the world, once they have finished marvelling at the ingenuity, diligence and bravado required to launch blizzards of drones from trucks driven to their targets by unwitting citizens of the nation with whom you are at war, will fret furiously about what it will mean. How can military installations be defended in a world where they can be hit anywhere, from anywhere, and by weapons that will not alert any radar? Is there really any point in spending billions of dollars on hi-tech aircraft when it might be demolished by cheap, disposable toys armed with munitions that can be partly manufactured with 3D printers? How confident is the commanding officer of any airfield about the benign nature of every single shipping container that might happen to be, at any given moment, within a few hundred kilometres of their control tower?We recently heard from a Monocle reader with inadvertent insight into a specific aspect of this sort of warfare – what might be thought of as a dramatic decentralisation of military procurement. The reader had put a 2021 DJI Mavic 3 drone up for sale on Ricardo, which is essentially Swiss Ebay. He’d been contacted by a Ukrainian who explained that he was sourcing drones for Ukraine’s military and that older models were easier to override for combat purposes. The buyer offered to send a photo of the drone in action once it was repurposed (our contact duly received a photo of a Ukrainian soldier holding a drone which was, if not exactly the same one, a similar model).I contacted the purchaser, who explained that there are small, informal networks of Ukrainians that are crowd-sourcing military materiel all over Europe; the cells are based on pre-war social and professional relationships linking the buyers with serving soldiers. The Swiss connection benefits from the country’s characteristically punctilious restrictions on drone use. “Swiss kids buy drones for fun,” the buyer says, “then realise that they cannot fly everywhere and sell them for half-price.” Eager though the sellers may be, they are duly informed of the use to which their drones will be put. A small number maintain traditional Swiss neutrality and decline but, according to the buyer, “In 99 per cent of cases, the Swiss are very happy to help, and offer discounts and pack bars of chocolate into drone bags. The fact that most Swiss men have served in the military and know how army life works helps a lot.”The necessary funds are privately raised. The buyer reckons that they alone have sent nearly 100 Mavic 3 drones to the Ukrainian army since the war began in 2022. “The drones have a very short life span,” he says, “but it’s still better to send a drone to check whether there are any Russians around the corner than to send a soldier.”But the question – well, a question – now plaguing strategists is where these leaps forward in drone technology might be leading. The weekend before last, I attended the Black Sea Security Forum in Odesa – one of many Ukrainian cities that has been used, over these past three years, as an unwilling and undeserving testing range for drones built by Russia and Iran. Among the people I met was a British military analyst and former soldier who told me that the evolution of drones was now proceeding so rapidly that generations of development were measured not in years or months but weeks: the Turkish-built Bayraktar TB2s, which had inspired folk ballads in the early stages of Ukraine’s resistance in 2022, now seemed like positive antiques. This is not to say that we will not hear more of Bayraktar – just a few weeks ago, the AI-powered Bayraktar TB3 became the first drone capable of completely autonomous liftoff and landing on a short-runway vessel; it can stay in the air for 32 hours and launch supersonic ballistic missiles.The analyst reckoned that in future conflicts, large-scale deployments of infantry would be all but impossible, massed-armour formations would be hopelessly vulnerable, and that mileage in crewed fighter jets would swiftly decrease. He also noted that in the Black Sea lapping at the shore down the street, Russia’s fleet had recently been defeated by a country without a navy. He wondered vaguely whether we were on the verge of outsourcing warfare entirely to machines and androids belting the nuts and bolts out of each other, with every offensive innovation thwarted almost instantly by defensive countermeasure. It’s hard to know whether it sounds dystopian or utopian: what do wars become if people can’t fight them?Andrew Mueller is a contributing editor at Monocle and host of our weekly world affairs podcast,The Foreign Desk.For Monocle’s June issue, we profile 10 European defence disruptors. Clickhereto read more.
Meet the Dubai Airports CEO who isn’t waiting on the world to change
Airports have long suffered from an identity crisis. Are they public infrastructure or luxury malls with departure boards? Should we think of them as civic gateways or as necessary evils to endure while en route to somewhere better? For most travellers, it’s a place associated with queues, poor signage and hours lost to bureaucracy. But Paul Griffiths, the long-serving CEO of Dubai Airports, has a fresh idea – and when he starts to share it, he lights up. Leaning forward in his chair, he tells us about his vision of an airport that doesn’t ask for your passport, make you queue for security or hold you hostage at a baggage carousel. “You just turn up, pass through, drop your bag and walk straight onto your plane or into the lounge,” he tells Monocle, “No friction. No stress.”Griffiths comes across as a Willy Wonka of global aviation, sketching out the blueprint for a kind of golden-ticket experience that few of his peers would dare to even imagine. On one wrist, he wears a sleek fitness tracker; on the other is a chunky, two-tone timepiece that catches the light. It’s an apt pairing of precision and polish – much like the aviation ecosystem that he’s trying to build.Looking up: Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports(Image: Getty Images)“Why are we still sticking paper tags on suitcases?” he asks incredulously. “It’s demeaning. Bags should be manufactured with a unique serial number, with barcodes printed on. You should be able to track your luggage anywhere in the world and it should be delivered directly to you or to the transportation waiting for you outside the terminal. No more carousels. No more waiting around.”This isn’t a mere fantasy. In Dubai, some of it is already happening. Biometric systems now let passengers pass through immigration using facial recognition, without the need for a passport scan. “The technology is here,” says Griffiths. “What’s holding us back isn’t the tools. It’s human hesitation.”All of this might sound evangelical. But in Dubai, where major infrastructure gets approved and built in a fraction of the time that it takes elsewhere, it isn’t just optimism. “When I first arrived in 2007, Emirates had just ordered 80 A380s,” says Griffiths. “Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum [CEO of Emirates Airline] said one thing to me: ‘Do not constrain the growth of aviation.’ So we got to work.”Dubai International’s passenger capacity has grown from 32 million a year to more than 92 million today; it has been the world’s busiest international airport for 11 consecutive years. “We have achieved that with less than half of the staff that we had back then,” adds Griffiths. “We went from 3,600 to 1,700 people. We’ve had to be more productive, more efficient and more collaborative with our partners than almost any other airport.”That ruthless efficiency now feeds into the development of Dubai’s next big leap: the expansion of Al Maktoum International, a new airport expected to eventually handle 260 million passengers a year. On paper, that number sounds almost absurd – it’s larger than the populations of most countries. But Griffiths is already thinking beyond the scale.“We want it to feel small – not like a huge, monolithic terminal,” he says. “I don’t want people to feel that they’re in an airport. I want them to feel as though they’re simply moving.” The plan involves having several smaller, self-contained terminals – “nodes” – linked by high-speed rail. “Think of it as eight perfectly designed mini airports, stitched together. We can use AI to optimise passenger flows. If 100 people on a flight are transferring to another, the system should direct that aircraft to a gate nearby, reducing walking distances.”If Griffiths sounds like a futurist, he’s also a pragmatist. He is frustrated by what he perceives as the inertia plaguing his industry. “So many airports are still being designed around outdated processes,” he says. “Even when they build new infrastructure, it’s wrapped in the same old rules. We used to design buildings and retrofit technology. Now we need to do the opposite: design buildings around the technology that we want.” He points to the dehumanising experience of modern travel: the security shuffle, the repeated document checks, the slow-moving queues. “It’s like we’ve forgotten that customers are human beings,” he says. “The industry has accepted mediocrity. Staff aren’t motivated. Passengers aren’t respected. And most airports, especially in Europe and North America, seem to have given up trying.”That makes Dubai an outlier but Griffiths sees his role as more than just running an efficient operation. He considers Dubai Airports to be a global prototype. “All we can do is lead by example,” he says. “If our ideas are copied by others, that’s fantastic. This isn’t about winning. It’s about improving the experience for travellers everywhere.”The real breakthrough will be in reducing the time that things take. “I’ve never met anyone – apart from a few aviation nerds – who actually wants to spend more time in an airport. People would rather get where they’re going. So why are we still telling people to show up three hours early? That should be a thing of the past.”If Al Maktoum International hits its 2032 target, traffic will start being moved from Dubai International to the new site – a big migration that Griffiths acknowledges will be “an extraordinary logistical challenge”. But he’s confident. “We’ve opened every terminal in Dubai on time and without fuss. We intend to do the same again.” And what becomes of Dubai International, the current crown jewel? “That’s for the government to decide,” he says. “But the development potential is enormous. Think of what Hong Kong did with the old Kai Tak airport. This land could reshape the city.”Griffiths, now approaching 50 years in the aviation industry, isn’t ready to step away just yet. He is still energised by the challenge. “We must stop thinking incrementally,” he says. “If Google, Amazon and Uber reimagined entire industries, why can’t we do the same with airports? After all, the future’s here. We just need to walk through it.”This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe
Ways of seeing: Smart thoughts on Saudi start-ups, the US-China trade war and the contradictions and the case for AI optimism
Scott Youngon…How geopolitics will shape the manner in which AI will change the job market. Amid the uncertainty, there are things that we know and even some reasons to be cautiously optimistic.Technological prognostications often fall prey to what’s called “Amara’s Law”, a phenomenon suggesting that we tend to overestimate a technology’s near-term impact while grossly underestimating its effect over the long run. Artificial intelligence (AI) is having just such a moment, with generative AI rocketing from obscurity to ubiquity in less than a year. But for all of the headlines, our understanding of AI suffers from farsightedness: the future seems clearer the further away it is, while we struggle to see what’s right under our noses.Authors Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb describe this moment as the “between times”, in which we have only begun to understand the technology’s future potential but have not yet seen its widespread adoption. Make no mistake, ChatGPT is only the Ford Model T of AI. It’s the popular, early precursor foreshadowing the discrete and world-changing movement revolution to come.One underestimated fact is how global politics – the decisions being made by governments today – will influence AI’s trajectory; decisions that in turn will determine the future of work and jobs across the world. While some countries are scrambling to secure advantage, others are seeking simply to stymie opponents. At the end of 2023 this is most apparent in the worsening US-China relationship, where critical and emerging technologies are a key battleground. The US-China economic decoupling is in turn upending longstanding assumptions about globalisation and co-operation and giving way to new rules.There are four elements to watch for geopolitical competition when it comes to AI. They are data, computing power, energy and talent – and here’s why they matter.1.Data is the rocket fuel powering AI training – the process by which a model is taught to perceive and analyse information. The more quality data that a model is given, the greater the effectiveness and accuracy of machine learning. However, efforts by governments to keep data “local” will saddle companies with burdensome compliance rules and slow progress.2.Computing power is the ability to process information at scale. AI training depends on the use of the most hi-tech silicon chips. Developments in computing power have been the main driver of AI’s rapid progress over the past decade. The US has temporarily curbed Chinese access to advanced chips and chipmaking equipment, while China has sought workarounds and poured money into domestic r&d.3.Energy is an often-overlooked geopolitical factor, but AI’s future energy requirements will only grow. Computing power is projected to reach 21 per cent of global electricity consumption by 2030 (up from less than 2 per cent in 2018). Training OpenAI’s GPT-3 required a staggering 1,285 mw/h in electricity and emitted more than 550 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which only hints at further questions about AI’s environmental cost.4.Finally, the global AI talent pipeline will establish which countries and companies get ahead. Talent takes investment and time to grow. While the US has the greatest concentration of skilled top AI researchers, China has intensified its talent attraction, retention and training efforts. Today more than 440 Chinese universities offer AI degrees.These four bottlenecks will influence how rapidly AI can scale in future. What’s clear – regardless of which countries get an edge over others or the speed at which it happens – is that a growing percentage of workers will be displaced by AI. Who and how are only just starting to become visible.The Hollywood writers and actors’ strikes offer an early clue for how AI will soon affect jobs.A decade ago, the narrative about the future of work was that automation would replace routine prevailing and administrative roles, leaving humans to focus their energies on more creative and complex tasks. In a 2013 study, Oxford economists Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne estimated that 47 per cent of jobs in the US were at risk from automation, noting that highly skilled jobs were likely to be the least susceptible to disruption.But generative AI’s deftness in tackling the creative industries through high-quality text, image and even video generation has spun that assumption on its head. Generative AI can outperform humans in computer coding and can even predict sophisticated protein structures, the latter of which could only be done previously through experimental deductive techniques. In fact, Frey and Osborne recently acknowledged that lower-skilled workers might stand to disproportionately benefit from generative AI by levelling the playing field. In contrast, highly-skilled incumbents may soon find their advantages – and wages – whittled down, overwhelmed by a tsunami of AI-enabled competition.It isn’t all good news for low-income workers, though. There is already an AI underclass in places such as Kenya, India and the Philippines. In these countries, armies of so-called “data annotators” – workers tasked with supplying algorithms with brutal and graphic content to moderate – are subjected to poor conditions and frequent assaults on their mental health, in exchange for low wages and little support. A recent Pew study also found that one in five US workers have “high exposure” to the effect of AI, whether negative or positive – with female, Asian, college-educated and higher-wage workers all particularly vulnerable.Nevertheless, humans are notoriously resilient and resourceful. We can spy hope in places such as a recent study from MIT economist David Autor, which draws attention to the common-sense observation that 60 per cent of workers today are employed in jobs that didn’t exist 80 years ago. So perhaps it’s a matter of perspective. Rather than focus on the loss of jobs today, we should perhaps focus on new avenues for jobs – ones we have yet to invent or imagine. And if Amara’s Law is anything to go by, we still have a little time to think it through.About the writer:Young is a senior geo-technology analyst with political risk consultancy firm Eurasia Group and a juror for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.Ahmed Al Omranon…Why, even though Saudi Arabia is longing to tempt foreign investment and has cut red tape for start-ups, its powerful public sector is crowding out private business.US tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft dominate the world’s attention and the global economy. But what do they have in common? Among other things, they all began in garages: a founding myth that’s given them a special place in the imagination of would-be entrepreneurs.The Garage in Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia took that precedent literally and decided to build one of its own to help tune up the national economy. The Garage is a co-working space in a revamped car park in Riyadh’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. There are shared office spaces, conference rooms, an events area and even sleeping pods for naps. Launched in 2022, the project was expanded in September 2023 and is an illustration of the country’s desire to wean itself off its dependence on oil revenues by tempting technology start-ups to the country.Seven years ago, Saudi Arabia unveiled its plan to supercharge the economy by limiting the role of the wealthy public sector, letting the private sector lead economic growth. It restructured government departments to attract foreign investment, updated its laws and regulations and sent delegations around the world to entice investors with incentives. Red tape was cut: waits for business visitor visas were shortened to 72 hours. There are reasons to be positive too: neighbours with larger populations, such as Iran and Egypt, are drowning in political and economic turmoil, while the populations of Gulf neighbours including the UAE and Qatar are too small to support growth. Despite its social conservatism, Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s biggest 20 economies and has a young and affluent population. In truth, the slow speed of growth is partly self-inflicted. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has overseen some easing of strict social laws but his anti-corruption clampdown in 2017 and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi the following year have scared some investors away. Foreign direct investment fell 59 per cent in 2022 to €7.5bn, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.While foreign investment has faltered and oil prices bounced, Saudi Arabia chose to lean into its own resources: the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The state’s sovereign wealth fund started more than 70 companies with hundreds of billions of euros in investments, ranging from a science-fiction grade futuristic city called Neom (to be built from scratch in the country’s northwest) to a dairy firm specialising in camel milk, among others.The rise of the sovereign wealth fund, with its expanding list of investments, has raised eyebrows among some investors who say that the fund – and its sizable war chest as a result of transfers from the state treasury – is crowding out the private sector that the country says it is keen to bring in. Officials say that the pif focuses on risky and strategic sectors that private investors have little appetite for. That argument holds water for defence or infrastructure, it’s less convincing when it comes to camel milk.Authorities claim that the overhaul of laws and regulations is working. The Saudi Ministry of Investment says that it issued 4,358 investment licenses in 2022, a 54-per-cent jump on 2021. How many of those licences will turn into sustainable businesses, however, remains unclear.As much as the kingdom yearns for the private sector to take the initiative and lead the economy, the public sector continues to dominate – and while it does, entrepreneurs are at a relative disadvantage. The Garage’s relaunch event in 2023 was a case in point. Images from the opening bash feature far more government officials than venture capitalists or start-up founders. If the kingdom is to become a genuinely competitive place to do business, it needs to strike a better balance in 2024.About the writer:Al Omran is a Saudi journalist. He is a former Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia Journalism School.Joanna Chiuon…The US-China trade war and why American aggression in guarding chip technology is heightening tensions around Taiwan. Is 2024 the moment to tone down the chip chat?Donald Trump referred to the US’s $346bn (€327bn) trade deficit with China in 2016 as “the greatest theft in the history of the world”. Always one to simplify a problem, he went on to blame the Clintons’ support of free trade for enabling China’s meteoric economic rise. This ongoing conflict between the world’s two largest economies, dubbed a “trade war”, began unceremoniously in 2018 with Trump slapping tariffs on $200bn (€189bn) worth of Chinese goods.Semiconductor tech sits at the heart of US-China tensionsI was in Beijing at the time and the mood among the business owners and entrepreneurs was one of nonchalance. China had long served as the world’s factory but leaders were already pushing to transform that economy away from mass manufacturing towards domestic consumption, service and producing higher-end goods. People observed the US backlash against Trump’s actions coolly as prices spiked.Contrary to Trump’s take, many economists think that a country importing more than it exports carries advantages. Cheap manufacturing also means lower prices for global consumers. The trade war meant that American businesses buying from Chinese factories have paid the price and borne the brunt of tariffs. Even today those firms are passing costs on to consumers. Five years later, ordinary people in both countries have lower aggregate incomes as a direct result of the conflict.Joe Biden’s administration continued the hyperbole and characterised the competition as part of a global “battle between democracies and autocracies”. Biden has not only maintained many tariffs on Chinese goods but his administration also has another target in its crosshairs: China’s capacity to produce cutting-edge technology.Semiconductors, the so-called “brains” of modern devices, power everything from cars to smartphones. In August 2022 the US Chips Act came into law to prohibit recipients of federal funding from expanding semiconductor manufacturing in China. Department of Commerce rules also bar US companies from exporting technology and equipment used in producing advanced technology, including microchips, to China. These not only prevent US companies from working with Chinese partners, they also prohibit international companies from using US-made equipment to serve Chinese customers. International firms are now scrambling to put these tough rules into practice.But will any of this halt China’s economic march? Huawei recently debuted a smartphone that uses an advanced seven-nanometer processor. It was the clearest indication so far that China is on its way to building a complete domestic chipmaking ecosystem, even though US analysts had hoped that measures might set back China’s progress by years.Trade wars rely on the image of a battlefield, but they don’t need to be deadly. Sadly, the US position on chips is likely to increase the risk of actual armed conflict in 2024 and beyond. The reason? Taiwan. Beijing claims the island as its own territory and hasn’t ruled out using military force to take it. An increase in missile tests spurred anxieties, especially as Washington is obliged by federal law to see that the island has the means to defend itself. Taiwan has dominated global chip manufacturing for so long that the industry was dubbed the island’s “silicon shield”: a deterrent to conflict, as Taiwanese firms accounted for more than 60 per cent of global chipmaking revenue. Washington’s moves to choke off China’s access to technology have thrown a spanner in the routine flows of people and technology between Taiwan and China. The US might tell a story about its trade war evening up the economic odds but its actions are writing a script that could have an unhappy ending – for peace in East Asia and beyond.About the writer:Chiu is a Vancouver-based journalist and author. Her most recent book,China Unbound: A New World Disorder, is out now.Eliane Glaser on …Self-help culture. It is governed by two contradictory philosophies: that of living our ‘best life’ on the one hand and tempering our expectations with Yogic calm on the other. So which is it?In 2005,The Oprah Magazineissued a book entitledLive Your Best Life. The phrase has since proliferated in popular culture and on social media – from Cardi B’s rap track “Best Life” to self-improvement videos on Tiktok (“How I upgraded my life”; “I am the author of my own life”). The Tiktok hashtag #manifestation has had 46 billion views. Websites flogging “life hacks” and entrepreneurial motivation exhort readers to “Realise your full potential” and “Give your very best in everything you do”. Whole sections of bookshops are dedicated to titles trotting out the same drab sentiment:The Power of Positive Thinking;Life MasteryandAuthentic Happiness. The message sells, too: the “wellness” market is worth $5trn (€4.7trn) worldwide.But another prominent philosophy being sold is one that spins us around 180 degrees. Instead of telling us we can be whoever we want, this doctrine advocates giving up great expectations and learning to sit still. Happiness equals reality minus your expectations, suggests Mo Gawdat, the Egyptian technology entrepreneur who wroteSolve for Happy: Engineer your Path to Joyafter the death of his son. In the best-sellingLove for Imperfect Things, the Buddhist monk Haemin Sunim argues that we should renounce our idealised image of how our life could be and make peace with how it is right now. So how can we make sense of these two competing philosophies?Both movements promise happiness and fulfilment but by rather different paths. Life optimisation comes in part from the 1990s positive psychology movement, led by the American educator Martin Seligman, which in turn grew out of 1950s “humanistic” psychology that emphasised the importance of realising one’s innate potential. In contrast, the origins of the self-acceptance movement are far older. Sixth-century Buddhist monk Sengchan wrote, “True freedom is being without anxiety about imperfection”; the 17th-century samurai and philosopher Miyamoto Musashi advised his followers to “accept everything just the way it is”.The fact that popular life advice pulls us in opposite directions is rarely noted. But crucially it also produces a paralysing dilemma. It’s impossible to visualise or manifest your “best life” unless you have desires and expectations. Yet Buddhist teachings instruct us to stoically silence our wants. We feel we ought to wring constructive value out of every moment but also sit, breathe deeply and meditate. And, of course, there’s the further irony here behind those best-selling books about acceptance: the hard-working scriveners waking up at dawn to write books telling us to do less.Perhaps the biggest battleground for these conflicting approaches is in our long-term romantic relationships. First, we are living longer, so relationships are longer. Yet the temptation to upgrade is multiplied in the messaging as well as the means to do so in a consumer marketplace of dating apps. Is it possible to stick with the same person for decades and still be the best version of yourself? You hunch. You snap. You compromise. What if you find yourself curtailing your “authentic self” for the sake of harmony?We live in a culture that simultaneously demands perfection and orders us to be happy with our idiosyncrasiesOn the other hand, relationship websites and magazine features tend to offer another solution: radical acceptance. The trick is to give up wondering how it would be if your partner were different: less familiar, less annoying. But our culture is more ambivalent. We congratulate couples who hold it together over the long term, for better or worse. Yet it’s also widely held that if a relationship is making you into a person you don’t want to be, then you should leave. So which is it?The push and pull of this cognitive confusion can take its toll. We live in a culture that simultaneously demands perfection and orders us to be happy with our idiosyncrasies (read: imperfections). Not only is there no reward but it appears that forbearance is no longer the moral path, as it can conflict with the new moral injunction to be “true to yourself” (if you’re the kind of person who is lucky enough to both be able to and always know exactly what you want). If you practise radical acceptance you shouldn’t require forbearance in the first place: you should have learnt to love your partner’s little habits by now, no matter how irritating. Sadly, things in the real world are never so neat.Popular culture and psychology have responded to this ambivalence by presenting fantasy scenarios in which it appears possible to have your cake and eat it too. Coaches and feature writers proclaim that you too can have an amazing sex life after 30 years of marriage. The celebrated sex guideEnduring Desireby couples’ therapists Michael Metz and Barry McCarthy points to research suggesting that the best sex happens in partnerships of 15 years or longer. “Plenty of people in long-term relationships have super-hot, wonderfully satisfying sex lives years and years into their relationships,” writes the relationship coach Kelly Gonsalves on her website Mindbodygreen. “In fact, the longer you know each other, the more comfortable you’ll become with exploring new sexual experiences together,” she adds, though she acknowledges that this is not always the case. A recent study of married couples over 40 found that the largest proportion have sex rarely, or not at all.Hollywood has found another way to square the circle. In the three-act structure that governs pretty much every film that you will ever see, the protagonist embarks on a quest or journey before finally returning to their old life – but crucially armed with new insights. In a typical mid-life crisis film, the (male) protagonist fantasises about having an affair with a (young) woman but resists; and at the end his marriage is revitalised. Such narrative sophistry evades rather than resolves the paradox. In a culture torn between the pleasures of hedonism and asceticism, recognising these mixed messages might be the best that we can hope for.About the writer:Glaser is an author and radio producer who has written for theMonocle Companionseries. Her books includeElitism: A Progressive Defence.
The agenda opener: Updates from our correspondents and a Q&A with Hoor al Qasimi
In it togetherTyler Brûlé on why today’s working practices don’t work.How and when did you become the leader you are today? My most valuable lessons came from teachers, managers, clients and colleagues. I feel that I have done a reasonable job as a business owner and hope that there’s some degree of transmission. Among my senior colleagues, there’s a common understanding about how we report, present, pitch and sell. Time together has helped but our organisation’s rhythm has a lot to do with the work environments we were exposed to.In an open office, conversations can be overheard and interventions made. New starters have an audience to help them build confidence and improve presentation. Everyone can share in successes or help to pick up the pieces if a deal fails. In short, you have a more switched-on company. But does such a company still exist?Today, headphones allow colleagues to concentrate but mean that they lose touch with activities around them. Instant messaging makes it easy to type a question rather than walking over to speak in person. The office radio has disappeared as everyone wants their own soundtrack. No one takes a call out in the open.I get the need for keeping things quiet but has the modern office become too hushed? Isn’t it time to increase the volume, celebrate the wins, share in the joke and simply follow along? As we delve into the world of property, it’s important to consider the places that help us to learn, improve and admire the people around us.An extended versionof this piece appeared inThe Monocle Weekend Edition newsletter. Sign up for free at monocle.com/minuteReporting from…Monocle has a network of correspondents in cities around the world. Our brief updates here include news on an unexpected discovery in London, Bangkok’s marijuana U-turn and an arty theme park in LALondonBuried treasuresA London office-led development, the Liberty of Southwark, has amended its construction plans after the discovery of a Roman mausoleum and mosaics. The building will now integrate these findings into its design to preserve a slice of the city’s varied history.BangkokUp in smokeThe sale of marijuana for recreational use was decriminalised in Bangkok just 18 months ago. But now a new law is expected to ban it again. The U-turn could see weed-dispensary shops disappear in a puff of smoke – or quickly rebrand as medical centres.Los AngelesRide of a lifetimeCanadian singer Drake has helped to rescue the Luna Luna “artist amusement park”, which has been in storage for almost 40 years. Last seen in Hamburg in 1987, it includes a carousel by Keith Haring and a ferris wheel by Jean-Michel Basquiat. It’s now open in LA’s Arts District.The interrogatorHoor al QasimiDirector, Sharjah Art FoundationPhoto: Aqib AnwarHoor Al Qasimi is an Emirati art curator, director of the Sharjah Art Foundation and creative director of London-based fashion brand Qasimi. She was recently named as the first non-Japanese director of the Aichi Triennale, which will run its sixth edition in 2025. She tells us about her work, her travel reads and her multilingual listening habits.What have you been working on lately?I’m in Cuba at the moment, curating the third edition of a biennial at Matanzas called Rios Intermitentes, which means “intermittent rivers” in Spanish. It was founded by Cuban artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons. We are preparing to open on 6 April.Coffee, tea or something pressed to go with the headlines?Coffee, non-stop. Double espresso, no sugar.What’s on your magazine stack?I used to read a lot of magazines but these days I travel too much to carry things along with me. Now I tend to rely on my Kindle. I’m doing a lot of research reading, since I’m working on many exhibitions at the same time. For this project I’m readingMatanzas: The Cuba Nobody Knowsby Miguel A Bretos.Any movie recommendations?When I was working on the Lahore Biennial in Pakistan in 2020 I sawManto. It’s about the life of the titular poet during Partition. It’s amazing.A favourite bookshop?There’s a place in Lahore in Pakistan called Pak Tea House, where writers such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Manto went during Partition. On the street next to it are rows of bookshops and every Sunday there’s a second- hand book market. It was very special spending time there finding old publications.Any podcast recommendations?I’m listening to a lot of language podcasts to refresh my languages, mainly SBS radio – French, Japanese, Mandarin and German. I also hosted a podcast calledBiennial Bytesand we have a new one calledSpeaking of Art.In the driving seatPublic transport in London is usually something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Among the exceptions, however, are those rare journeys on the automated Docklands Light Railway (DLR) when a vacant seat behind the windscreen allows you to pretend that you’re driving the train.358Illustration: Hubert Van RieLondon’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, is reportedly considering enhancing this pleasure. As 54 new trains are absorbed into the dlr fleet, the front seats might be fitted with dummy steering wheels, possibly made from cardboard. This suggests that it has been a while since Khan last used any London transport. Any such adornment will need to be made of tougher stuff than cardboard to avoid being destroyed or stolen, to say nothing of the prospect of inciting fights among children – and, indeed, adults – desperate for a go.The initiative also misunderstands the appeal of “driving” the DLR. Whether accompanied by “choo-choo” noises from children or occurring furtively in the heads of adults, it’s a playtime for the imagination – and a delight that would only be diluted by the addition of gimmicky props.Fake woosThough single people often have to deal with intrusive dating questions, these usually come from their family and friends – not their local government. In Tokyo, however, the love lives of residents has become a top priority for city officials, who are alarmed by the declining birth and marriage rate.Rather than focusing on the financial burden of parenthood, demanding work culture or poor maternity protection, the government has created a dating app, which is expected to launch this year. The developers enlisted an existing Japanese dating app, Tapple, to engineer the algorithm behind finding the perfect match.The app follows a string of initiatives to tackle the baby-making problem. The most bizarre so far is AI-generated “girlfriend” Koi Suru AI, also created with the help of Tapple, who mimics the intimacy of a relationship, supposedly to encourage men to try the real thing. Though the idea of government-assisted meet-cutes might be a bit dystopian, let’s hope that Tokyo’s efforts can perhaps provide a road map for other countries with declining birth rates.Heat of the momentIllustration: Hubert Van RieThe sauna is usually thought of as a haven of solemn, silent, sweaty contemplation. Not at the Palac Saturna Rzymskie, a spa in the Polish town of Czeladz. It will be the venue for the second annual Aufguss World Cup Freestyle from 21 to 24 February.Aufguss is a sauna ritual in which the master of ceremonies wafts heat and scent by flailing a towel, often to the accompaniment of music. The World Cup brings a competitive element to bear, awarding points for such elements as “smooth transitions”, “respect for the stove” and “waving techniques”, deducting them for dropping your towel more than three times.It is arguable that the event’s billing (“The Battle of the Gladiators”) rather oversells the risks involved.Howls of derisionFew issues disproportionately inflame electorates like the hunting of wild animals and it seems that it will become an issue ahead of the EU elections in June. In several countries, parties courting the rural vote are keen to make it easier to blast away at wildlife – and wolves in particular. Sweden permitted a wolf hunt earlier this year; Germany, France, the Netherlands and others are contemplating something similar.Thanks to EU protection laws, Europe’s wolves have multiplied and are now helping themselves to tens of thousands of farmyard animals a year. The vulpine cause wasn’t aided last year by whichever wolf attacked a pony belonging to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.Love lettersIllustration: Hubert Van RieThe French bought more than six million romance novels last year: since 2020, sales have almost doubled annually. Though “chick lit” has a long and distinguished history, it has often been dismissed as a second-tier entertainment and given little critical attention. While US author Colleen Hoover dominates the bestseller lists, France is also supporting homegrown talent. The 27-year-old Morgane Moncomble recently dethroned popularbande dessinéeseriesAsterixandGastonfrom the top of the charts, selling 60,000 copies of her latest novel,An Autumn to Forgive You, within three weeks. But romance is in the air in other nations around the world too.1South AfricaIn September 2023, romanceThe Thing with Zolaby Zibu Sithole made waves. The genre often jostles with poetry for the top spots on the country’s charts.2BrazilMore than 16 per cent of the population over the age of 18 – about 25 million people – reportedly bought at least one romance novel in 2023.3HungaryDespite a ban on “inappropriate” books, Hungarian novelist Anita Tomor is topping charts with works such asSugar DaddyandNow We Dream Together.Illustrator:Hubert Van Rie
Transforming Ho Chi Minh City: Infrastructure, investment, and emerging opportunities
It’s morning in Ho Chi Minh City and motorcycles swarm the roads as office workers fill the pavements, drinking hot coffee in the sweltering heat. Amid the everyday mayhem, the first sign that something new is afoot appears in fetching cyan blue. In early 2023 a fleet of electric cabs owned by Vinfast arrived in the country’s commercial centre. For the owner of the Vietnamese automaker, starting a taxi company was a shortcut to getting these vehicles on the road in a country that has historically had low levels of car ownership.Vietnam’s communist government opened the nation to private enterprise in the late 1980s and, after several false dawns, a middle class is at last emerging. Ho Chi Minh City is the southern gateway to this rapidly growing country of about 100 million people: skyscrapers are rising above the shophouses; two-bedroom flats are selling at New York-style prices and Starbucks has established a presence throughout the city. Michelin recently handed out its first stars to restaurants here and the French, who inspiredbánh mìbaguettes in the colonial era, continue to influence food retail. Though business has been bumpier than expected in the past year, one of Southeast Asia’s most enterprising cities is poised for a bumper 2024 and beyond.Australian entrepreneur Darren Chew has had a front-row seat to Ho Chi Minh City’s transformation. Chew, who originally landed here as a tourist on his way to Europe, co-founded furniture business District Eight in 2010. “When we started out, there wasn’t a very big local market,” he says, sitting on a couch inside his company’s maiden showroom. The downtown shop opened in 2022 as a pop-up; a second, larger showroom, studio and event space will open soon. “We are leaning into the Vietnam thing a little more,” adds Chew, who oversaw District Eight’s debut at Salone del Mobile in 2023.Darren ChewThe business is named after the location of its original factory (Ho Chi Minh City is divided into 24 mostly numbered districts). That first building was turned into a school by the local government; the company’s second factory became a residential development. Chew must now drive for an hour to a third site in neighbouring Long An province. The journey takes him past a giant Taiwanese-owned factory that produces footwear for Nike and Adidas. Ho Chi Minh City’s largest employer, Pouyen, has laid off thousands of staff this year in response to sluggish international demand. Chew, meanwhile, has been busy adding space to meet a backlog of US orders. Once complete, District Eight’s third factory will enable the company to double its turnover by the end of 2024.District Eight chairs“Vietnam is a well-established manufacturing hub but the products are usually only made here, not designed here,” says Chew, who wants private-label furniture to generate half of his company’s revenue. During Monocle’s visit, Chinese furniture distributors who saw District Eight at Salone del Mobile and are interested in opening a Shanghai showroom are in Long An. This direction of travel from Vietnam to China – particularly at a time when the business news is full of stories about low-cost manufacturing moving the other way – suggests that Vietnam can be more than a substitute supply chain or a source of cheap labour. Indeed, the country is expected to become a top-10 economy by the end of the decade. Indochina Capital made its name building Vietnam’s top luxury resorts. These days the property investor, which is backed by Japanese construction giant Kajima, is developing two businesses: a hotel brand targeting 70 million domestic travellers and modern factories for European manufacturers with sustainability mandates. “Vietnam needs to define itself,” says Michael Piro, the firm’s COO and co-founder and CEO of Wink Hotels. “Ho Chi Minh City is at an inflection point, somewhere between frontier and big city.”Foreign capital and talent has played a pivotal role in building the new Vietnam. Overseas Vietnamese are also returning to their parents’ homeland, bringing international standards, as well as an eye for design and creature comforts, from pizza to professional sports. But the need to import talent from abroad is declining across industries as a well-educated and hungry domestic workforce rises to the top. District Eight’s Long An factorySeoul focusWashington might be hugging Hanoi tightly right now but it’s Seoul that is spending the most time and money in Vietnam. South Korea is the country’s biggest foreign investor and its financial commitments go well beyond Samsung’s smartphone factories, taking in sectors from insurance and mobility to pharmaceuticals and defence. Hyundai is matching Toyota here, while Shinhan Bank has replaced HSBC as the largest foreign high-street lender.Seoul views Vietnam as a big market without the political baggage of China or Japan and it also shares certain cultural ties and customs with the country. South Korean tourists outnumber arrivals from anywhere else and can reliably be spotted heaving golf clubs through the airport, tacking 18 holes onto a business trip. According to private equity bosses in Ho Chi Minh City, most major South Korean companies have a Vietnam strategy; managers are under pressure to find investments and they tend to have a higher risk tolerance than their Japanese counterparts. Seoul also has hi-tech jobs that the Hanoi government is keen to attract.In September, Joe Biden visited Vietnam and threw his support behind the development of a domestic semiconductor industry. Within weeks, South Korean chip manufacturer Hana Micron announced a $1bn (€950m) investment. But the Vietnamese consumer can be difficult to crack. South Korean food-delivery app Baemin seemed to do everything right when it entered the market, hiring the creative agency Rice Studios to localise its platform. But the company is now winding down its delivery business and pivoting to skincare and make-up. If Baemin’s Lazy Bee beauty products prove a hit, they could spare some blushes back in South Korea.“Many Vietnamese who have studied in other countries are coming home,” says Chris Freund, founder of Mekong Capital, from his office in District One, where the company mostly employs local staff. Freund was an early private equity investor in Vietnam. His firm started out in low-cost manufacturing for export, before it switched to the consumer segment and struck gold with an electronics retailer. Its latest fund is betting on consumer finance and a biotechnology start-up founded by Vietnamese scientists with international degrees. “The market opportunity is great and people here are very open to foreign investment,” he says, looking out at the half-completed towers that make up the city’s skyline.Southeast Asia’s largest steelworks is a two-hour drive east of downtown Ho Chi Minh City, close to Phu My’s deep-water river port. Inside vast factory buildings, coiled sheets of Hoa Sen’s prime hot-dipped galvanised steel await shipment to Antwerp and Leixões in Portugal. Factory bosses expect to be operating at close to capacity by April 2024, a year after production hit bottom. Vietnam’s economy came roaring out of the coronavirus restrictions in 2022, posting 8 per cent growth, before stumbling this year as a result of the global downturn and a domestic political scandal.Tammy Le of Hoa Sen“It’s a bump in the road,” says Tammy Le, deputy chair of Hoa Sen Investments, during a tour. Le’s father founded Hoa Sen in 2001. The publicly listed steel company recently ventured into home improvement, opening more than 100 shops selling toilets and tiles. “There’s so much happening here,” says Le, who was educated in the US and returned home not long after Vietnam’s first McDonald’s opened in 2014. The 28-year-old joined her father earlier this year to lead the company’s diversification into various industries, including healthcare, student accommodation and entertainment. “Vietnam is the new land of opportunity,” she says, echoing the type of boundless optimism that is apparent on the ground but is rarely reflected in the international business headlines.Export volumes might go up and down from one quarter to the next but few business leaders here appear to be basing their long-term decisions on factors such as the number of smartphone units leaving Samsung’s factory outside the capital, Hanoi. Foreign direct investment into Vietnam has continued to climb throughout the downturn and chambers of commerce are having to hire more staff to handle enquiries from their home markets, bolstered by the geopolitical trade winds blowing manufacturing away from China.Central Retail Vietnam’s CEO, Olivier Langlet, at a Go! hypermarketThai company Central employs about 15,000 people in Vietnam, where it is the leader in hypermarkets. Olivier Langlet joined the company as a country CEO from German multinational retail corporation Metro at the height of the pandemic. “We want to double our number of malls to a minimum of 600,” he says, as he outlines plans to invest $1.45bn (€1.3bn) over the next four years. As he shows Monocle around one of Central’s Go! hypermarkets, he speaks excitedly about the market penetration of modern shops – in Vietnam, it is barely into double digits, which is very low compared to, say, Thailand. “We have a very nice road ahead of us to develop the business and our footprint here,” he says.Trolleys at a Go! hypermarketCentral is considered a successful case study but making Vietnam profitable has required flexibility and patience. Langlet’s business outlook for the rest of this decade is very different to how things were when the Thais arrived in 2012 with department stores and franchised fashion brands. Most of the fashion shops have closed and there are now only two department stores. “We might come back to fashion in a couple of years,” he says. Runway boutiqueBoutique staffMany businesses mistimed their market entry – and not just foreigners. Tran Thi Hoai Anh has been a trailblazer for European fashion retail in Vietnam. Starting in 2007, she opened a string of monobrand shops for the likes of Chloé, Loewe and Balenciaga, later replacing them with a multibrand shops and concept store Runway, which continues to grow. “It was too early for lesser-known labels that weren’t at the level of Gucci, Dior, Hermès or Louis Vuitton,” she says. These days, there is plenty of money in Ho Chi Minh City and the lure of Vietnam is likely to increase next year when various free-trade deals come into effect, making it easier for overseas brands to open retail outlets.In the bagStyle on showThe most striking examples of Ho Chi Minh City’s economic rise can be found in property. Englishman Philip Cluer is the COO of developer Refico. He calls the current market “commercially buoyant” and for good reason. Floorspace at The Nexus, a Refico-developed office tower that is expected to open in District One in 2024, has been snapped up by a range of blue-chip foreign businesses that are clearly willing to pay Hong Kong-style rents for a prime spot in what is still a developing country. The residential sector is similarly frothy. The River is Refico’s recently completed residential tower in Thu Thiem, a greenfield area of District Two on the other side of the Saigon River. Only a few apartments remain on the market, despite a two-bed property costing about $500,000 (€475,000). The address is proving popular with South Korean and Japanese tenants, who receive a furnished apartment, fantastic views and use of an outdoor 50-metre pool for an average of $1,700 (€1,610) a month.Luxury living at The RiverThu Thiem is being marketed as Vietnam’s answer to Shanghai’s Pudong, the former rice field that was transformed into a vertiginous financial district opposite the Bund waterfront area. There’s certainly some geographic merit to this sales pitch, along with the towering ambition to back it up. A 333-metre-high Ole Scheeren skyscraper that will be Ho Chi Minh City’s tallest building is among the projects on the drawing board. That should excite anyone who has been to Shanghai.The comparisons to China are apt in more ways than one. At the end of 2022 a Beijing-style anti-corruption drive took down one of the southern city’s most prominent property tycoons. Debt markets froze and private property firms scrambled to shore up their finances, mothballing major developments and offloading assets. Since then, jittery officials have been too nervous to grant new approvals. The extent of the fallout took everyone by surprise, hitting adjacent industries, from mattress sellers to supermarkets. Nor were international firms spared. The Mandarin Oriental Saigon was forced to put on hold plans to open at a prime address owned by the tycoon, who is still languishing in jail.On the roadPeople speak about the scandal in hushed tones, strictly off the record. One common takeaway is the importance of finding a trustworthy local partner. Ultimately, no company should invest in Vietnam believing that Hanoi is fundamentally very different from Beijing, nor should they see Vietnam as a bastion of democracy, free speech or human rights. The one-party system and five-year plans deliver the same pros and cons: stability and predictability but also opaque decision-making, corruption and lack of accountability. Hanoi’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic was straight out of Shanghai’s playbook: workers lived in their factories for months, supermarkets were shuttered and the army delivered groceries. With the poor health of Vietnam’s most powerful leader a matter of public record, another major political earthquake is expected.The effect of placing Ho Chi Minh City on ice for a year has been to create an even bigger property-development pipeline. One executive referred to 2023 as the year of paperwork, implying that when the political frost eventually thaws, companies will be ready to get going. Some cranes and construction vehicles are already moving on the skyline but the biggest ribbon-cutting will arguably happen underground. A Japanese-funded metro is finally ready to begin operating, six years behind schedule. Though one line won’t change the daily commute for everyone, the new public transport infrastructure is a milestone. Shanghai reached this point in the 1990s and Bangkok followed at the end of that decade.Ho Chi Minh City’s first metro line is due to begin operating in 2024In this respect, Vietnam’s largest city is trailing behind its peers by at least 20 years. “What Thailand has now, Vietnam will need: the basics of any developed country,” says Hoa Sen’s Tammy Le. According to the World Bank and IMF, the country’s economy will grow by about 5 or 6 per cent a year in the near term but those numbers are likely to be revised up as Ho Chi Minh City gets back to business. The next decade will bring more luxury apartments and modern shopping centres, as well as a prestigious design school, arenas and a proper conference centre. The longest highway in southern Vietnam will open and a huge international airport will replace the poky Tan Son Nhat – a frequent source of frustration for arrivals, who have to endure its tiresome queues. All of that construction should mean bigger commercial opportunities, a far better lifestyle and plenty more mayhem.
THE MONOCLE BRIEFINGS: Craftsmanship
BusinessJanuary 24, 2012THE MONOCLE BRIEFINGS: CraftsmanshipSome cities come to mind straight away when you think of craft and design, but it’s also true that untapped markets offer opportunities for entrepreneurship. We talk to designers and artisans in Shanghai, Bradford, Winter Park in Florida and Nový Bor in the Czech Republic, who are reclaiming neglected traditions, adding a contemporary twist and attracting a new, global market.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Icebreakers: life on board
AffairsBay of BothniaMarch 7, 20198 MIN 51 SECIcebreakers: life on boardMany seamen see icebreaking as a career pinnacle. We peek into the snug cabins, well-kitted kitchen and memorabilia-filled gym to see what serving on icebreaker ‘Kontio’ is really like. You can also catch up with episode one here.Narrator Andrew MuellerSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Inside Tokyo’s colourful community bus
DesignTokyo, JapanJuly 28, 20225 MINInside Tokyo’s colourful community busAn electric bus service has injected a new playfulness into a borough of Tokyo in need of a revamp. We hop aboard and meet Eiji Mitooka, its creator and Japan’s foremost train designer, who explains why he puts fun at the top of his list when designing public transport. All aboard! Read more in the June issue of the magazine.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Get behind the wheel and fall in love with driving again : The all-new Toyota Land Cruiser 250
It’s rare that the launch of a new vehicle excites enthusiasm beyond the auto industry but when Toyota unveiled its new Land Cruiser 250 last summer, the word on the street was that the Japanese car giant had a classic on its hands. Its boxy lines, stripped-back aesthetic and absence of chrome announced a fresh direction for Toyota’s longest-running vehicle. The chief designer is Yoshito Watanabe, an amiable figure for whom the Land Cruiser holds a strong personal connection. On his desk in Toyota’s under-wraps design lab is a photo of himself as a 10-year-old standing in front of his father’s prize Land Cruiser 60. For a man whose team works on everything from a moon buggy to state-of-the-art mobility vehicles, this was his dream project. Yoshito WatanabeFor Toyota too, the Land Cruiser is rooted deep in its DNA. The story goes back to 1951 when Japan was under US occupation and a call went out to Japanese car makers to produce a domestic equivalent to the Jeep. Toyota’s response was the Toyota Jeep BJ, a no-nonsense vehicle that was the first to make it up (and down) Mount Fuji. By 1954 that original vehicle had been tweaked and renamed the Land Cruiser, and was being exported, first to Pakistan and then to Saudi Arabia.Since then there have been multiple models and myriad variations of the Land Cruiser; more than 11 million have been sold in more than 170 countries. Each iteration has its fans: the 40 series (which started in 1960) and its successor, the 70 (from 1984), are admired for their rugged functionality, while the 60 (1980 to 1990) and its successors pointed the Land Cruiser in more of a lifestyle direction. Its reputation for durability and easy maintenance in tough conditions have taken the Land Cruiser to the furthest corners of the globe. Aid workers have counted on its reliability in the harshest environments; Toyota has even made a special version for the United Nations.And so to the new Land Cruiser 250, which, after much discussion, is a back-to-basics project. “When we were talking about the direction of the design, Akio Toyoda [Toyota’s chairman] told us that we should, ‘Go back to the origins of the Land Cruiser,’” says Watanabe. “There were no specifics as to what the ‘origin’ meant, or what he envisioned exactly, but it got us thinking about the essence of the Land Cruiser. His words were enough to give us the courage to make a major change in direction.”Its spacious interiorThe challenge was to create a vehicle that would keep the core traits of the Land Cruiser, be more environmentally friendly than its predecessors and with a broad enough appeal to sell in dozens of countries to customers with very different needs. “Over the years, there had been an evolution in a more luxurious direction,” says Watanabe. “We decided to strip away the excess so that we could offer the full performance to a wider range of customers.” Watanabe says the no-frills Land Cruiser 40 – the one that marked the transition from police to civilian vehicle – was the “spiritual starting point of this process”.If functionality was essential, so too was recapturing the joy of driving. The sloping angles of modern cars that can make them feel claustrophobic have been replaced by a more upright stance which drivers will love; the bottom of the window frame has also been lowered by 3cm to increase road visibility. The headlights have been pushed towards the middle to minimise damage from debris on rough roads (“wide car fronts are fashionable, but we went in the opposite direction”). The bumper is made up of small parts like a jigsaw puzzle so that it can be repaired without having to junk the whole piece.The inside is refreshingly pared back too. Instead of touch panels, Watanabe opted for proper buttons (“like keys on a piano”), which are easy to access and satisfying to use. The team talked to rally driver Akira Miura to see what works best when drivers are careering over rough terrain and therefore can’t look at the controls. Instead of urban metallics, the earthy colour palette includes a “desert sand” and smoky blue colourways. It took some convincing to persuade top management that the car would be better without Toyota’s triple oval logo but Watanabe got his way: the word “Toyota” appears in its place.The new frame is lighter, the carbon footprint is lower and seat fabric uses thread made from recycled bottles from the Toyota office. There is a new hybrid option (as well as regular versions) and electric power steering – also a first. Watanabe anticipates enthusiasts will want to customise their Land Cruiser. The car can survive the worst conditions but might also be used in smooth urban settings. “It’s like owning a watch that can function on the moon,” he says. “There’s still pride in knowing that the car can do all these things even if you don’t put it to the test.”Watanabe didn’t want to do a retro Land Cruiser. “All the different past designs are so iconic and many of them are still up and running, so there’s no point in just imitating.” His ambition was to create “a modern space that is comfortable even after hours of driving”. Watanabe says that many people were reluctant to make drastic changes to the existing model. We’re glad that he didn’t listen to those voices. The Land Cruiser 250 launches in Japan this spring: please form an orderly queue. Monocle comment: Automotive brands have been reluctant to celebrate the pleasures of driving, creating cars that dampen our enthusiasm for getting behind the wheel. But good design looks set to make a timely return.
Monocle speaks to five of the travel industry’s brightest minds
Carsten SpohrCEO, Lufthansa,MunichAirlines might have taken a battering in the coronavirus pandemic but there’s little doubt that they have bounced back since. With consumer appetite for travel showing little sign of being sated, the recent rebound has proved a boon for the Lufthansa Group. The firm recorded its most profitable summer ever in 2023 and registered operating profits of €1.5bn in the third quarter, during which it carried 38 million passengers. Who better to check in with, then, than Lufthansa’s Frankfurt and Munich-based CEO, Carsten Spohr, who has been at the helm of the aviation giant for almost a decade.Carsten Spohr has been at the helm of Lufthansa for almost a decadeAlongside Germany’s national flag carrier, Spohr helps to oversee the group’s subsidiaries, which include Swiss, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines. But Lufthansa’s aspirations don’t stop there. The announcement of a deal to buy a stake in Italy’s ITA back in May is a clear indication of its ambition to grow. Lufthansa plans to expand ITA’s routes to the Americas and turn around the fortunes of an airline that has struggled to be profitable. Spohr sits down with Tyler Brûlé to discuss the mood and ask what it means to be a European carrier in a global business.How is business?On the demand side, I haven’t seen anything like it in the 30 years I’ve worked in aviation. Across the network and the globe, the demand is very strong. The North Atlantic is probably the strongest right now; my American sales team and my European team fight for seats because we can sell everyone on both sides of the Atlantic. But the supply side is still a huge challenge. We are short of everything: aeroplanes, engines, spare parts for seats, spare parts for engines. Certain areas of the world lack staff. In the US, for example, it’s a lack of pilots and air-traffic controllers. In Europe, our airports are short of people to handle our aircraft on the ground. And these shortages will last some time, at least on the hardware side. We will see huge supply issues for years to come.What makes you optimistic?The approach to mobility, especially international mobility, has changed throughout the pandemic, compared to the flight-shaming discussions before. And that is also because we are doing a lot as an industry to create fewer reasons for flight-shaming, including investing in new technology. The latest aircraft consume up to 30 per cent less fuel and generate up to 30 per cent less CO2 than the aircraft they have replaced.If we think back to two years ago, did anyone expect the kind of resurgence that we’re seeing now?When it comes to planning, we were wrong twice as an industry. In terms of the pandemic, we didn’t expect any crisis of that nature and dimension to ever come around. We took the September 11 attacks as the largest potential impact and more or less kept cash aside to survive another similar situation; heaven forbid it should happen again. And we were far off, obviously. When the pandemic hit, almost all intercontinental airlines had to go to governments for help. And we had [previously] been so proud to brag that we were privatised. But then I found myself in Berlin, asking to please save the company – and this happened around the world. We all survived, one way or another and, in our case, we even paid back what we borrowed very quickly. But then the demand hit us in a dimension that we couldn’t have imagined and we in the industry were all wrong again.As a European carrier, do you have a unique advantage over your competitors?I absolutely believe so. When it comes to those elements of style – blended luxury, cultural diversity and variety – European airlines have a different legacy than our big competitors in the US and new competitors coming from the East. When I give speeches in the US, I always say that in Europe we talk about airtraveland in the US they call it airtransport. And there’s a reason why. We have a different approach to flying in Europe than in the US: there is more focus on making it a premium experience. But l when it comes to premium, big competitors have risen in the East. By the way, one of the many reasons we are about to buy an Italian airline [ITA] is because the Italians are going to add something to the Lufthansa Group in terms of style and taste. When it comes to cars, when it comes to watches, when it comes to handbags, it’s European countries and brands that are world-leading. And I think when it comes to premium travel, Europe is well positioned to be leading too.“We all survived the pandemic, one way or another. But then the demand hit us in a dimension we couldn’t have imagined and we in the industry were all wrong again”From a legislative point of view, what would you like to see happen that would make your job easier?On a very operational level, if you’re looking for routes to Tokyo or to Cape Town, there is lots of zigzagging. There are so many closed airspaces because, unfortunately, war is a fact of life – not just in Ukraine but in other countries also experiencing conflict or unrest. Closing an airspace is usually the first thing that’s done for the sake of safety. So, for example, it’s quite a job now to go to Cape Town. We need flexible ways to deal with such situations. Also, when it comes to the environmental debate, I believe that we need to come to a point where technology replaces ideology. Our political leaders need to understand that technology can provide the answers to the biggest challenges that this planet has ever faced – and we in aviation are excited to be part of those answers.Is there an aircraft that’s missing right now, whether it’s 70 seats or 700?We don’t see investments into new aircraft programmes at the speed we would like. If you look back on the past few decades, innovation in aviation has been amazing. But it’s slowing down. So if anyone wants to set up an aeroplane company, please go ahead. I’ll be your first customer because we need more competition. But it’s probably only China that has the power to bring out a new OEM [original equipment manufacturer] that can compete with Airbus, Boeing and Embraer. What’s missing is a replacement for the 150 to 200-seater – the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. Both aircraft are still being developed but there’s no major technology jump in sight. One day, beyond SAF [sustainable aviation fuel], that might be hydrogen. But we need something in between.Giulia FarinelliCEO, SA Hospitality Group,MilanFarinelli at Sant Ambroeus in Milan, which reopened in 2022 after extensive renovationsGiulia Farinelli is sitting at a corner banquette in Milan’s Sant Ambroeus restaurant and trying to decide whether SA Hospitality Group is Italian or American. “It’s very hard to define,” says the group’s CEO, who is originally from Verona, after pausing to ponder the question. “We sound more American when we’re in Italy and when we’re in the US, we sound more Italian. We try to combine both cultures.”It’s a weekday morning and the venue – one of the group’s most recent acquisitions – is humming in the way that well-run, high-end F&B places tend to be. Just a short walk from the Duomo, Milan’s Sant Ambroeus feels sophisticated, with dark wood panelling, small bas-reliefs showing city crests and grey marble covering the bar. It is populated by a mix of business types, the oddsciura(an elegant, older Milanese lady) and tourists. A diner at a nearby table is tucking into a mound of smoked salmon, while croissants, cakes andmarrons glacéswink from behind a glass counter near the entrance. This combination perfectly encapsulates SA Hospitality Group’s culture of having one foot firmly planted in the US and another in the motherland.SA Hospitality Group was founded in New York in 2003 by business partners Gherardo Guarducci and Dimitri Pauli, both of Italian heritage. The Pauli family was once the owner of Milan’s Sant Ambroeus, where Farinelli is sat today, which was primarily apasticceriaat the time. But when the family emigrated to New York in the 1980s, it sold the spot to focus on expanding“Just a short walk from the Duomo is Sant Ambroeus, a sophisticated space, replete with dark wood panelling, small bas-reliefs that depict Milanese scenes and grey travertine that covers the bar”Sant Ambroeus as a Milan-inspired American brand. The Pauli family opened venues in fashionable places such as Manhattan and the Hamptons, eventually morphing into SA Hospitality Group under the guidance of a new generation. Among other things, the firm revived Sant Ambroeus’s Madison Avenue location, which had shuttered in 2001.When the chance to buy back the original Milan venue came about in 2021, the group jumped at the opportunity to “close the circle”, says Farinelli. Alongside being able to put to bed any confusion over two different Sant Ambroeus brands operating on opposite sides of the pond, it also offered the chance to snag a piece of heritage dating back to 1936 that has quickly become the jewel in the SA Hospitality Group crown. “It was very emotional,” says Farinelli, with a smile, referring to the return to Milan. But the brand had to make it work. “There was a lot of pressure,” she adds.After an extensive renovation led by designer Fabrizio Casiraghi, the restaurant reopened in Milan in November 2022. While it has looked to respect its history, there are also more modern touches. For one, the new iteration serves dinner for the first time. Alongside Milanese staples, the menu includes American steak, a New England lobster roll and American wines. The service is also new-world slick but applies what Farinelli calls “a softness that doesn’t feel too aggressive”.SA Hospitality Group is far from a one-trick pony. Sant Ambroeus has continued to grow, spawning coffee shops and agelateriain New York’s Soho and opening in the West Village, Palm Beach and Aspen, among other places. It has also been joined by Felice, a more relaxed, Tuscan-leaning wine bar. “It has huge potential; it’s like your local neighbourhood restaurant,” says Farinelli. Alongside venues in New York and West Palm Beach, Felice will open in Miami’s Brickell in February. “It’s going to be a big moment for us because it will be our first location in the city,” says Farinelli. “It’s a major market for F&B right now.”For now, most of the company’s portfolio is in the US but it’s clear that it wants to expand into Europe. “We have grown substantially over the past three years, which was quite an ambitious move,” says Farinelli. “And we will continue to grow in the future.” She is a former banker for Goldman Sachs, who joined SA Hospitality Group in 2020, and her residence gives some clues as to where the group might be heading in the future. Formerly based in New York, she’s now a resident of London, where she also lived during her days working in finance. She admits that the group is looking into opening a Sant Ambroeus in the UK capital, as well as Paris. “We’re taking our time in making the decision because we need to be sure about it,” she says. “For us, location is really important and speaks to our brand.”Thanks to the refined sector in which it operates, SA Hospitality Group has proved remarkably robust, despite the unpredictable global economy. Far from taking its foot off the accelerator, it is looking to expand the range of its beautifully packaged food gifts; its biscuit tins were available in Selfridges for the first time in 2023. As part of a five-year plan, it also hopes to increase its restaurant and café presence in the US on the West Coast. So what’s the secret to success? Farinelli might talk up the good design and the quality of the materials at Sant Ambroeus but she also alludes to SA Hospitality Group’s consistency and unwavering reliability – like a friend that never lets you down. “You know the menu, you know what you’ll get in terms of quality – and the manager remembers your name,” says Farinelli. “It’s really about finding a place that is a second home.”Siradej DonavanikVice-president of hotel business development,Dusit International, BangkokDonavanik is helping to steer Dusit International’s ambitious expansionWhen the original Dusit Thani Bangkok hotel opened in 1970, the 23-storey tower was the Thai capital’s tallest building. Chanut Piyaoui, the late founder of hospitality group Dusit International, had long sought to elevate her country’s tourism sector. Fifty years later, with the industry and the surrounding landscape transformed, the group demolished the luxury landmark to make way for an ambitious mixed-use development in partnership with property company Central Pattana. This project features a new hotel, residences, a shopping centre and an office tower. The reborn Dusit Thani Bangkok is expected to open in the summer with 259 rooms and unmatched views of Lumpini Park.“It’s the biggest thing that we have ever been involved in and the most significant,” Siradej Donavanik, Dusit International’s vice-president of hotel business development, tells Monocle. We’re on our way to the Dusit Thani Pattaya hotel in Pattaya City, a popular seaside destination that’s a two-hour drive southeast of the capital. “What our new Bangkok flagship means for the next chapter of the organisation is just as important to us as the commercial aspects,” he says. “This project will set a new standard for us and define what Thai luxury hospitality is all about.”Piyaoui’s family is still Dusit International’s biggest shareholder, with Donavanik representing the third generation involved in running the business. One of the 38-year-old’s earliest memories is of his grandmother taking him to feed the elephant that used to greet guests at her flagship hotel – an indication of how much Bangkok has changed in little more than 30 years. Having joined Dusit International in 2009 after a brief stint as a banker at HSBC, Donavanik found a natural home flying around the world, discovering new sites and signing deals. The group currently has 58 hotels operating under its Dusit Hotels and Resorts banner. Ten new properties opened in 2023 alone, spanning cities from Kyoto and Kathmandu to Nairobi and Athens; the last of these signals the beginning of a push into Europe. A further 60 are in the pipeline. “For a small hotel company, we are very active,” he says. Dusit International’s roster of hospitality brands has also expanded. The first Asai outpost, a mid-scale hotel aimed at younger travellers, opened in Bangkok in 2020. “We wanted to disrupt ourselves,” he says. “Many of our full-service brands have existed for three generations. Legacy is good but it can create an autoimmune system against innovation.”Driving southeast along Motorway No 7, Monocle makes a pit stop at the site of Wonderfruit festival, a tropical version of Glastonbury’s Worthy Farm. Donavanik is the festival director of the colourful arts and culture jamboree; it has since become one of Asia’s most powerful brands in its field, attracting scores of fresh devotees every December. Donavanik, who counts himself among the “wanderers” who regularly attend the annual event, has started taking his young son along during the day. By night, you might spot him with his shirt off, tattoos out, fully immersed in the music.Walking around the site with Donavanik several weeks before paying ticket holders arrive, the mix of bamboo structures, colourful sculptures and scarecrows presents a different dimension to Bangkok’s mass of shopping malls. The setting might also offer a glimpse of the future. “In Thai tourism, we have traditionally talked about sun, sea and sand but we need to develop a deeper way to connect,” he says. “If we want to use the three Ss these days, it should be sustainability, serenity and spirituality.”Asai has taken over boutique camping at Wonderfruit and members of the senior hotel team are inspecting the open-air front desk, restaurant facilities and air-conditioned tents. Donavanik sees opportunities such as this as part of the solution to hospitality’s global talent crunch. The new generation joining the industry wants purpose and the onus is on employers to provide inspiring jobs outside rigid hotel structures. “Our chefs at Asai need to be able to collaborate with their peers from around the world,” says Donavanik, who has a keen interest in modernising hospitality education – another Dusit pillar. “They need to be agile and have the attitude and spirit to come to Wonderfruit and cook on a farm for days for thousands of people.”Over lunch at the Dusit Thani Pattaya, where Donavanik has afternoon meetings with Japanese investors, he is sanguine about automation. A believer in hospitality’s “soft touches”, he expects artificial intelligence to overhaul functions such as revenue management and digital marketing sooner rather than later. But machine learning won’t change the industry’s fundamental principles or keep him up at night. These days, only his ideas do that. “When you can’t sleep, it’s because you haven’t let go,” he says, channelling the teachings that he recently received while training to become a Buddhist monk. “Meditation is the art of living in the present.”Living in the moment also helps him when he is asked awkward questions about succession. Donavanik reports to former technology executive Suphajee Suthumpun, who became the first non-family member to be appointed Dusit’s group CEO in 2016. At the time, Donavanik’s father wanted to step back and the third generation of the family wasn’t ready to lead the listed company, which was seeking to diversify into industries such as food and property development. Eight years later, Donavanik still claims to have no ownership of the position, despite training under some of the best people in the business. “Just because you are part of the family, it doesn’t mean you have the right to be the head of the organisation,” he says, quickly dismissing any suggestion of false humility. “In the future, if someone better comes along, then so be it.”dusit-international.comAlexandra ChampalimaudFounder and president,Champalimaud Design, New YorkPortuguese-born designer Alexandra Champalimaud leads a 50-strong team at her New York studioHaving designed hotel interiors around the globe, Alexandra Champalimaud is an extremely well-versed traveller. Yet she doesn’t understand what the word “holiday” means. “It doesn’t do travel justice,” she says. The Portuguese-born designer, who leads a 50-strong team at the studio she founded in New York’s Financial District, is behind the elegant designs for household hospitality names including Raffles in Singapore, New York’s Plaza Hotel and The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. And while she has also worked on spas, resorts and restaurants from Saudi Arabia to Switzerland, the design project closest to her heart is probably Troutbeck, an inn owned by her son, Anthony, in Amenia, Upstate New York.Regardless of location, Champalimaud is endlessly inspired by crossing the globe. “When you travel and really take in the energy, beauty or ugliness of places, you come away with a story,” she says. And it’s these stories that often prompt her work, be that starting a project from scratch or restoring an old building such as Troutbeck. She talks to Monocle from Manhattan about the secret of good hospitality design and what’s on her agenda for 2024.What inspires you to travel?Culture. It’s important where you spend your time. So travel is not just about going to Paris or London because that’s too superficial. It’s good when you go somewhere and perhaps see an old friend; that fills your soul to the brim. There’s a sort of exchange. Travel needs to do that to people, so that they come away enriched, more sensitive, more aware of others and more in touch with themselves. It also helps them be more creative.“Even the most banal building can be turned into something with a great soul if well applied”Of the projects that you’ve worked on, do you have any favourites?The project we did with my son, Anthony, at Troutbeck is one of the most wonderful ones. But even the most banal building can be turned into something with a great soul, if well applied. For locations, French Canada is very interesting because it has a lot of history. It’s not a terribly well-known place but I found it inspiring – the big granite buildings and beautiful old places. But also Bhutan and parts of China, which I find very moving. All of the places that I’ve been to and have worked in require me to have depth. And the depth is what allows you to be very creative.How much should the design of a building reflect the place you’re working in?Of course it should. But are you going to produce something different because you’ve been so moved that you can come up with your own ideas? Or are you reporting the design on what you see and redoing something? We draw in all the elements of the architecture and what we see, and we reinterpret them. The character and the story should be the same.How do you approach working with old or heritage buildings?As designers, there’s a lot that we can do working with architecture that has been there for a long time. We can change details and scale – but obviously not the height – so we are able to create a different energy and soul. We need to find the attributes. We take our opportunities very seriously and go about figuring out what can be done to transform a basic building into something that has a place and where people are happy. It takes all of us in the team to do it but it’s a little bit of magic. For new buildings, we often work closely with the architect.How do you select projects?It’s always stories. Locations too, of course. Magnificent art and architecture is very enticing; we’ve done many as a result. Curiosity, interest and a sense that I can make a difference are motivators, and hopefully the project can have a positive influence. Every one is quite long, so from the very beginning you must be sure that you’re connecting with your partner. That is the part that we most need to care for. Because if you don’t have a good connection, it’s not going to be a good project. But out of the challenges of a project, it becomes even better.Looking ahead to 2024, which projects are you excited about?Belden House, a bed and breakfast in the UK. The main building is completely built from wood. There’s also an old 19th-century carriage house. We’ll have to adapt the structures because of how they’re built; that’s where all the creativity comes in.What makes good hospitality design?I’m always influenced by small details, as well as life and living. It’s extremely important to understand what makes people feel better, happier and more interested. Why do they want to go to that building? It’s all part of a story.Radha AroraPresident, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts,Los AngelesArora has been at the helm of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts for 13 yearsRadha Arora has been at the helm of Rosewood Hotels&Resorts for 13 years. Today he oversees 33 properties in 21 countries. The hospitality company recently opened a new hotel in Munich and is looking forward to the long-awaited launch of The Chancery Rosewood in London’s former US embassy building, which will be its second property in the city. With more openings in Amsterdam, Doha and Mexico, the company is expanding at an impressive pace. Here, Monocle’s editorial director and chairman, Tyler Brûlé, meets Arora to discuss what’s on the horizon for Rosewood – and what it takes to run a luxury hotel empire.How’s your mood about the hospitality industry at the moment?It’s good. Today the business is settling a little following the bonanza of the “must travel immediately after coronavirus” period. I am an optimistic person and believe that travel will never really let up. It will come in waves in different parts of the world.When you look at a city, neighbourhood or property, whether it’s something that exists already or a potential new build, what’s unique about the Rosewood lens?We have shown that we can reimagine existing properties or institutions, such as old hotels, banks or insurance buildings. That has given us the confidence to say, “OK, we know our narrative.” In other words, we know that we want to create these personable, boutique-style properties that are managed like manor houses. At a Rosewood property, you feel as though you were walking into a home. What we’re doing here is actually controlling the narrative. It’s not in your face and we don’t put logos everywhere. We have realised that this is our niche. Rosewood is a soft, malleable brand. The simplicity and sophistication of the service complement our properties. Our customers want to go to destinations that might not have previously been on their bucket lists. They want to explore these places through our eyes, through our interpretation of these destinations, as well as the properties themselves.You have many new hotels, alongside ones that have been with you for years. How do you maintain a good balance, especially when you’re moving at such an extraordinary speed?Take the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, Rosewood London or Rosewood Beijing: these billboard properties are all more than five years old but they’re going through a constant revival. It’s important for us to use these as our showcases and as platforms for future opportunities. That’s why it’s so crucial that these properties stay current. We are also very deliberate when it comes to finding good partners who are aligned with our thinking. Our managing directors have been handpicked and gone through a thorough interview process to ensure that they will wear Rosewood on their sleeves and hire teams that are there to deliver service from the heart. It’s about leading from the front, giving attention to detail and having a sort of paranoia about ensuring that standards, whether in terms of our products or our people, are met or exceeded at every opportunity. We can be hard on ourselves: at the newer properties, the team’s senior leadership and I are very hands-on. Every aspect of the properties is customised, including the architecture, design, accessories and wardrobe for the team.What do you look for in an owner or partner?It’s vital for us to have a certain kinship because we don’t see what we do as just a matter of planting flags around the globe. We want to be partners with the right people, so we look for entrepreneurs who have a desire to create something new. They must understand the value of having a property that is unique and will be an emblem for them and for us too.“We want to create boutique-style properties that are managed like manor houses. At a Rosewood property, you feel as though you were walking into a home”Any news about your forthcoming properties?As we grow and our footprint increases, the Rosewood name will receive more exposure and bring our customers to different parts of the globe. People are saying that it’s perhaps becoming too hot to go to Italy, for example. So we are looking at other locations, including skiing destinations, and will hopefully create a new wave of travellers to unique places.Here’s the last question. We’ll make it a fun one. If you were a magician and could snap your fingers and build five Rosewood hotels anywhere in the world, where would they be?I want one in Florence, one in Mumbai and a destination in Scandinavia; maybe Norway. There’s also tremendous opportunity for us in South Africa; our clients really want to travel there. Finally, I would love to have another opportunity in the UK. A country hotel, for instance, would be a great addition to our two London properties.
Boutique Norway
BusinessStavanger, NorwaySeptember 30, 20146 MIN 40 SECBoutique NorwayMonocle heads to Norway’s third largest city, Stavanger, to discover how this boom town’s oil reserves are spurring on those entrepreneurs looking to add variety and quality to this once-understated retail scene.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Life at Sea
AffairsAlaska, AlaskaOctober 17, 20132 MIN 6 SECLife at SeaMonocle climbs aboard Alaska’s 50-year-old state-run ferry system. It’s more than just a mode of transport for its users: it acts as a vital link to the rest of the world and an icon of the state’s beautiful solitude.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Iceberg hunters
AffairsDecember 22, 20162 MIN 5 SECIceberg huntersMonocle Films meets the little-known International Ice Patrol that is keeping ships safe as they navigate Atlantic waters.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
The great American road trip is back – but this time it’s on rails
The US secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy, is hitting the road – and he wants you to ride shotgun. The cabinet official recently struck out from the capital in the direction of his native Wisconsin to promote the Great American Road Trip. It’s an initiative that seeks to honour the country’s 250th birthday, which takes place next year, and helpfully coincides with falling petrol prices that the administration credits to president Donald Trump’s “drill baby, drill” fossil-fuel agenda. Duffy wants more US residents to hit the road. But is the nation’s mobility mogul on the right track?The road trip is a time-honoured summer tradition in the US and the catalyst of many great literary works, including Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Jonathan Raban’s Driving Home (my current nightstand reading). Duffy, a former reality-TV star, is perhaps more starry-eyed than most about windshield time. He met his wife while trapped in a motorhome on MTV’s Road Rules in 1998. With nine children, the family is naturally more inclined to opt for road trips due to the sheer economy of scale.All aboard: Amtrak is enjoying record passenger numbersYet the travel plans of the American public are changing. The US’s national rail carrier, Amtrak, facilitated a record 32.8 million trips in 2024 and its long-distance routes saw an 8 per cent year-on-year increase. After decades in the doldrums, Amtrak is on the cusp of an impressive comeback. New routes, such as the Floridian(Chicago-Miami), recently debuted, while the Mardi Gras Service(New Orleans-Mobile) will begin in August. Its sleek Siemens-designed and made-in-California Airo train is also on track for launch next year.While Amtrak’s rail network is a far cry from those found in Europe or Japan, its cross-country routes offer breathtaking scope and scenery, as well as a masterclass in clever branding. Traveling from Chicago to Los Angeles via the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited is roughly three times the length of Europe’s longest train ride. While 65-hour rail journeys are not for everyone, they provide a far more relaxing and picturesque way to experience the US than the monotonous tarmac of the interstate highway system.In a bid to rouse the road-trippers, Duffy highlighted upcoming events such as next year’s 2026 FIFA World Cup and the LA 2028 Summer Olympics as reasons to get behind the wheel. He has the right idea – I look forward to making a family holiday out of a trip to Los Angeles for the Summer Games – but you won’t find me driving the Pacific Coast Highway. As the veteran of five long-distance Amtrak journeys and one weeklong cross-country road trip, I’m booking berths on the Coast Starlight. The West Coast overnighter hugs giant stretches of the California coastline, where the fabled road diverts inland. Duffy is right that the US is great for a long, winding trip but let’s broaden our horizons – there’s a better view from a carriage seat.Scruggs is Monocle’s Seattle correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe
Can an obscure UN agency control the coming scramble for resources on the deepest seabed?
In his sea-facing reception room in downtown Kingston, Jamaica, Michael Lodge is running out of space. As secretary-general of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), Lodge receives diplomatic gifts from all over the world: a commemorative plaque from Mauritius, tapestries from China, Tongan woodcuts. There are so many trinkets that they’ve now filled the shelves and are lining the corridors.It’s not surprising. The organisation Lodge heads up grants contracts to nations to explore and, some day, extract the wealth of precious metals found in the seabed in international waters. It is perhaps the most important multilateral body that almost no one has heard of.Deep-sea mining – exploration at a depth of 200 metres or more – is currently forbidden until a set of regulations for the industry can be agreed on by the 167 member states, and the EU, who send representatives to the ISA. They’ve been at it for 30 years. But in July 2021, tiny island nation Nauru fired the starting gun: it informed members that it would apply for a contract to extract metals from a patch of seabed in the eastern Pacific. This in turn triggered a clause inscribed in the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, which means that negotiations on the rules for deep-sea mining, so as to assess Nauru’s application, must be finalised within two years.The next meeting of ISA member states is in August and the representatives have entrenched differences to unpick; the pressure is on to find agreement by summer 2023. If there’s a glisten on Lodge’s brow, then it’s probably not just the mid-morning sun filtering in between the blinds.“You know, we’re not all coming to Jamaica just to go to the beach and to continue discussing something that will never happen,” says Lodge, a Brit who doesn’t mince his words. “In a way, that clause is doing us a favour; it’s concentrating minds.” One thing that irks the team at the ISA is the line that we know more about the surface of the moon than the deepest parts of the ocean. No doubt the deepest seabeds are among the world’s last great untouched wildernesses, where almost every expedition uncovers new species and new facets of life at extreme depths. But, Lodge and his colleagues say, we know much more about the deep than is commonly thought – and that knowledge is accelerating quicker than ever before.There are vast fields of so-called polymetallic nodules – tightly compacted clumps of copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt, fused over millions of years – that form like cobbles in the seabed. These rare metals are crucial for making the batteries that go into electric cars and smartphones, and have been found at a sunless, otherworldly depth of several kilometres called, rather poetically, the abyssal plains. The majority of the world’s cobalt currently comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is rife with child labour scandals and reports of environmental catastrophe.Marie Bourrel-McKinnon, senior policy officer to the secretary-generalKioshi Mishiro, geographical information systems officer“Consumers were horrified to learn that their Teslas or their iPhones could potentially have had this cobalt in it,” says Corey McLachlan, head of stakeholder engagement at The Metals Company, a Canadian start-up that has partnered with the Nauru government. His company has designed a mollusc-shaped vehicle capable of sucking nodules off the seabed, and touts its method as a less wasteful, less polluting alternative to any mining that happens on land. In September, a union of environmental campaigners demanded a moratorium on future deep-sea mining, noting the Nauru case and arguing that we don’t know anywhere near enough about the ecosystem of the seabed to start hoovering it. The concern is particularly about the plumes of sediment it will kick up. BMW, Google, and Samsung have all added their voices to the call. McLachlan counters that this industry, unlike any other, is being tightly regulated before any activity has ever taken place: “If we’re going to get to a zero- or low-carbon world, it’ll require a significant injection of new metals,” he says.Mining the seabed is expensive – a fact that has stymied the industry in the past. But the growing demand for electric vehicles has the potential to spur a gold rush. The job of the ISA, then, is to prevent a destructive scramble for resources. Founded in 1982, the ISA was modelled on a consensus system like a mini-UN: representatives of 167 countries and the EU gather in Kingston every year (the US never signed up but sends observers) to work out how to manage deep-sea mining outside national jurisdictions, while ensuring that it doesn’t cost us the Earth.Nicole Powell, administrator at the ISAMichael Lodge, secretary-general of the ISA“I don’t report to António Guterres,” says Lodge, as we pass a photograph of him with the current secretary-general of the UN. Indeed, the ISA was established as a wholly autonomous body, mandated under the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, the rules governing the use of all oceans and their resources.“The negotiators [of the convention] had a vision for what was needed so that these minerals do not become a source of war or political instability, at a global scale,” says Marie Bourrel-McKinnon, a French expert on the legalities of the ocean and Lodge’s senior policy advisor. “There was an understanding that if we want to live together, we will need to agree on a regime for deep-sea mining that would one day come alive.”Alison Stone Roofe, permanent representative of Jamaica to the ISATamique Lewis, database assistantThat day may be closer than we think. The ISA’s 50-strong team, representing 20 nationalities in all, are working flat out ahead of the next meeting. Japanese researcher Kioshi Mishiro is just back from seven weeks on a boat in the eastern Pacific, crunching vast amounts of raw data gleaned from the abyss. He enthuses about the importance of the work, “although I did spend the first week totally seasick,” he says with a smile.Ulrich Schwarz-Schampera holds up a two million-year-old shark’s tooth encrusted with precious metals. “You get a completely different view of light down there,” says the German geologist about his deepest 1,500 metre dive. “Especially with the bioluminescence; you see nothing for miles and then – pow! – a creature flashes and disappears into the darkness.”We’re taken around the ISA’s well-thumbed library of ocean law, and its fastidiously-kept records of every meeting in Kingston since 1994. “It’s good that we’re the ones bringing everyone together to get the job done,” says Jamaican administrative assistant Camelia Campbell. Her colleague and compatriot Sheldon Carter agrees. “It gives me a lot of pride that this is the host country,” he says.How the ISA ended up in Kingston goes to the core of its mission. According to Lodge, the UN wanted global institutions outside of the typical diplomatic centres of London, New York and Geneva; Fiji and Malta were also contenders. Even the tropical modernism of the conference hall, purpose-built in 1982 by a Jamaican architect, harks back to an age of confidence, with locally-woven baskets in the ceiling for acoustics and vast windows that allow light to pour in off the Caribbean Sea outside.In the same spirit, the Law of the Sea states that international waters and their mineral wealth belong to no one – it is the “common heritage of mankind”. This means that any seabed spoils must be distributed between all nations; rich and poor, landlocked or maritime.The purpose-built Jamaica Conference CentreISA member states meet annuallyThat principled stance, however, has become a sticking point. Economists at MIT have been trying to work out how the considerable bounty from deep-sea mining could be divvied up fairly. Previous efforts to find an equation have come up with trivial if equitable amounts, or had countries with vast populations, such as India, taking the lion’s share. Another option, says Lodge, is to set up a sovereign wealth fund for the ocean “to generate more scientific knowledge, to fund international exploration and development projects that would assist least-developed countries”.Every application to explore for minerals must include a provision of seabed reserved for developing nations. Many small island states with limited resources, such as Nauru, regard this industry as one they might call their own. “We have actually just now started sponsoring exploration,” says Alison Stone Roofe, Jamaica’s permanent representative to the ISA, who came to the post after being her country’s first ambassador to Brazil. Jamaica has partnered with a UK-Danish firm, Blue Minerals Jamaica Ltd, to explore for nodules in the eastern Pacific; Tonga, Kiribati and the Cook Islands have their own sponsorship deals.“I’m very confident that the next few years will be progressive,” she says, referring to the revved-up pace of negotiations at the ISA. “We don’t want it rushed. It needs to be rule-driven and with regulations that make sense and really contribute to the protection of the marine environment.”It is mandated by the UN Convention of the Law of the SeaModel of a Chinese-designed submarineThe clock is ticking. If negotiations aren’t finalised by next July, then Nauru’s application to begin mining would be considered according to what’s been agreed so far – even if the regulations are still in the draft stage. A number of ISA member states have criticised the fast-tracked talks, while conservationists insist that it’ll rush through rules at the expense of our oceans. Marie Bourrel-McKinnon at the ISA believes that we should have faith in countries’ sense of responsibility. “Trust the governance,” she says. “Trust the fact that multilateralism has been able to save us and protect us for more than 70 years. This is the only way for us as human beings to live together.”Yet this optimism sounds like a throwback to a more collegial age, when the world had more faith in multilateral bodies and the rules-based order, which nowadays seems permanently on its sickbed. If deep-sea mining proves to be workable and lucrative, what is there to stop powerful or belligerent powers from going down to the most obscure parts of the ocean and taking its riches for themselves? Lodge scoffs at the question. “Who is going to do that, knowing that this is contrary to international law – a rogue state, North Korea? It doesn’t make sense.”There may be, in Lodge’s office, a ceremonial plate in cyrillic and a Chinese-made model of a fish-shaped submarine but it’s not too hard to think of a situation in which a country has run roughshod over UN rules.“You need to operate within the regime,” says Lodge. “It’s just such a difficult enterprise to take part in. This needs a high level of investment [and] co-operation.”Perhaps it’s the vastness of scale in which the ISA operates – the great blue beyond all borders – which gives this sense of perspective. As we walk down to Kingston’s waterfront for photographs, Lodge tries to explain one of the great misconceptions about deep-sea mining.“People think it’s working just out here,” he says, pointing to the calm natural harbour in front of Port Royal. “But no.” Lodge pauses, shielding his eyes and gazing into the hazy, choppy horizon. “It’s sailing for eight days – into all that.”
My life as a vending machine
BusinessBangkok, ThailandApril 11, 20242 MIN 32 SECMy life as a vending machineCurrently serving 250,000 drinks a day, Tao Bin has become a staple in Thai malls, hospitals and offices since the brand launched in 2021. The machines boast freshly ground coffee, fizzy lemonades, protein shakes and more. Monocle Films travelled to Bangkok to see them in action.Editor Helena KardováNarrator Tom EdwardsSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Our annual overview of present and future pioneers in commerce, infrastructure and civil society
ÖBB night trainsGood morning, ViennaAustriaHow does dinner overlooking Hamburg’s harbour, followed by a good night’s sleep and then waking up in the majestic Austrian Alps sound? Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) is betting on the affirmative from climate-conscious travellers taking advantage of the night-train revival to comfortably get around Europe without having to fly. Already a night-train pioneer, ÖBB aims to double its overnight passengers by 2030. If it succeeds, more than three million people will use its sleeper services annually, on modern trains that have been designed with privacy in mind, complete with onboard showers.Following on from its new Hamburg to Vienna route via Innsbruck, ÖBB (with German state rail) is bringing back the Paris to Berlin night train after a nine-year absence. Over the next four years, it is also looking to phase in more night services to take you anywhere from Poland’s charming Old Towns to elegant French wineries and azure Croatian coasts. The current night train from Graz and Vienna to Berlin will also soon alight in Prague and Dresden.“We’ve experienced a significant increase in demand in the past few years,” says ÖBB spokesperson Bernhard Rieder. “The sleeper cars are often booked out weeks in advance. There is clearly demand for more night trains in Europe.” Rieder says that a European train trip’s carbon footprint can be 50 per cent smaller than that generated by a flight of the same length. Passengers also love arriving at their destination rested and in comfort.In the middle of Central Europe, Austria is geographically well-positioned to be a night-train hub, which might be why ÖBB chose to keep its after-dark offerings at a time when other national rail companies were axing theirs years ago. “Now other train companies are imitating ÖBB,” says Christian Gratzer of VCÖ, an Austrian think-tank focusing on transport. “Night trains play a very important role in bringing European travel on course to fight climate change. People need to travel but are aware that air travel is particularly harmful to the environment.”The Austrian trend is already evident in other recent European offerings, such as the night service between Berlin and Stockholm run by Sweden’s SJ railway company, and European Sleeper’s route between Berlin and Amsterdam or Brussels. “Austria’s night trains are an example of how a small railway company in a small country can make a difference,” says Gratzer. “Austria isn’t a special case. It can be a role model for other countries to follow.” All aboard!GrabAccelerating growthSoutheast AsiaA green-helmeted motorcyclist weaving through the streets or stopping beside a kerb to pick up a passenger is a typical sight in Southeast Asia’s largest metropolises. By and large, these drivers work for Grab, a Singapore-based technology company that has grown into one of the region’s most prominent multinationals since its founding in Malaysia in 2012 as a taxi-hailing app.Operating in more than 400 cities across eight countries, the platform now offers services ranging from food delivery and shopping to lending and insurance – but ride-hailing has remained a core segment of the business.As it has expanded, Grab has adopted a hyperlocal approach to its transport offerings, according to the firm’s head of mobility, Samir Kumar. To cover the traffic-heavy cities of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, where motorbikes are common, the company launched GrabBike. It’s not unusual, in the business districts of Jakarta, Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City, to see a besuited commuter hop onto the back of a Grab motorbike and strap on the supplied helmet before jetting off with his driver.Meanwhile, on the island of Phuket, where a certain three-wheeled motorised vehicle is a popular mode of transport, Grab introduced GrabTukTuk. And in Singapore, where motorbikes are scarce but poodles and shiba inus are omnipresent, customers can choose the GrabPet option to ensure that they’re hailing a pet-friendly car. “We localise the consumer experience for every country,” says Kumar, who points out that, every month, one in every 20 Southeast Asians uses Grab. “Our goal is to reach even more people in this region,” he says, adding that Grab has a “home advantage” in Southeast Asia that “enables us to solve local problems that might be too small, too niche or too complex for others.”One big regional shift is Grab’s commitment to electric vehicles. The company wants its platform to be carbon neutral by 2040 and has implemented various programmes to move drivers to electric and hybrid vehicles. Though this sounds like an ambitious operation, it’s already underway – green-liveried electric tuk-tuks are now roaming the streets of several Thai towns.Dan EnergyEngineering worksEthiopiaIn Ethiopia, acute unemployment and limited economic opportunities are unfortunate but very real issues faced by the country’s young engineers. Despite these barriers, entrepreneur Daniel Hailu Endale has not given up hope and is determined to change the narrative in Africa, starting with his homeland.Seven years ago, Hailu Endale mortgaged his own home to start a new Addis Ababa venture called Dan Energy Ethiopia. His aim? To bank on technology and engineering as vehicles for change and economic growth as Ethiopia struggles to overcome dependence on external aid, while still needing to attract investment from abroad. As international investors look to Ethiopia, Hailu Endale hopes to equip its young engineers with the skills to improve their own workforces. Largely due to word-of-mouth, Dan Energy is fast becoming a major training hub in Addis Ababa for young people with limited financial resources (over 8,000 so far). They can now access training including a free programme on coding for teenagers.Many of those who pass through Dan Energy’s programmes are presented with opportunities to work with companies providing technological solutions, while some become farmers (a profession often associated with poverty in Africa) and introduce new technologies to improve the agricultural arena, which is of great importance in the region.“We implement efficiency and precision in farming, helping a typical farmer grow more crops, make a profit and use technology to advise their financial interests,” says Hailu Endale. “These are in critical areas such as horticulture, in-house-built agricultural drones and artificial intelligence, among others.”Having grown up with limited economic means, the entrepreneur knows the value of mentorship, education and training – resources that were rarely available when he was young. Dan Energy is entirely self-funded by Hailu Endale, who is also in the business of property and exports. He is committed to helping the less fortunate, including those from conflict-prone areas – such as the Tigray region – whose education has been interrupted due to civil strife.Hailu Endale plans to expand his model across Africa, opening offices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, and with an eye on Johannesburg, South Africa’s commercial hub. There is also a global office in Dubai. Hailu Endale insists that Dan Energy is not a company founded merely to make money but to transform Africa by providing solutions. “There are two dimensions to education: universities give young people a great footing and a wonderful foundation but training provides the practical aspect that is often difficult to attain,” says Hailu Endale. “We fill the gap.”Q&A: Guillaume BardetDivine inspirationFranceGuillaume Bardet’s illustrious career as a designer began with a residency at the Villa Medici in Rome in 1999. Since then, he has taught at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris and collaborated with Hermès on its homeware line, while his work was displayed at Le Corbusier’s Couvent de la Tourette, near Lyon, in 2017. Now he has been selected, in line with La Commission Nationale du Patrimoine et de l’Architecture, to create the five main elements of liturgical furnishings for the new interiors of Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral following the extensive damage caused by a fire in April 2019. To breathe new life into the historic space, Bardet is designing a baptistery, ambo (lectern), altar, tabernacle and cathedra (bishop’s chair), all beautifully articulated in bronze.Given the perennial element of this commission, what forms and aesthetics inspired you to honour that longevity?When you’re in a cathedral like Notre-Dame, which is more than 800 years old, you’re obliged to embrace the past, the present and the future. You’re also expected to work in three temporalities. The forms are about removing everything that isn’t necessary and arriving at, not archetypes, but forms we know. That we all have in mind.What references inspired you?I love going into churches. I’m the son of a historian; it feels normal for me to visit a chapel or a cathedral, including when I’m travelling. I have an encyclopedic understanding of the formal liturgical furnishings. So I used that for the proposal. The pieces have individual usages and symbolisms but there’s also a sense of ensemble – all the works had to be cohesive. The pieces have to speak very evidently to Catholics but they also have to speak to the millions of non-Christians who visit Notre-Dame. It’s less about religious belief than belief in humanity in its smallness and its grandeur; the human drama.For a sculptor and designer, what is the link between art and the object? How does the spiritual dimension add to it?The spiritual element comes more from the gaze of others. But to work, I need silence and solitude. I’m in a village in the region of Drôme in southeast France. I have a very beautiful atelier in which to create – it’s a closed space outside time. To live like that, away from the city, generates ideas, projects and forms that aren’t produced in a place that is agitated.Do you remember your first visit to Notre-Dame?When I was really young and living in Normandy, I went with my grandmother, who was Parisian. Then, Notre-Dame was part of my landscape of the city. I didn’t often go inside because it was always so busy, but I always saw it. But now I will always remember my visit to Notre-Dame in January 2023 among all the scaffolding. That will stay with me for the rest of my life.Minus ChairWood for the treeNorwayCan furniture optimise carbon storage? That’s what Oslo-based Thomas Jenkins asked himself when he introduced the concept of furniture as carbon storage. With his business partner, Sverre Uhnger, Jenkins collaborated with Norwegian furniture company Minus to launch the Minus Chair.Bastian Achard Minus Chair Blue“We wanted to create something that could be kept at its highest value for as long as possible,” says Jenkins. “This means that it must be easy to repair – and durable, both physically and emotionally, by establishing an attachment between furniture and the consumer.” Trees absorb carbon as they grow, until they reach their capacity and begin to naturally deteriorate, releasing any captured carbon back into the atmosphere. When timber is felled at the optimum point of a tree’s growth cycle, the wood will then store the carbon for the rest of its life – providing that the furniture it forms doesn’t end up on the waste heap. The Minus Chair is pared-back, stackable and manufactured in Norway from local pine that can be given a colourful linseed-oil finish in deep blue or black. Prices start at NOK6,295 (€530).Though making furniture requires energy consumption during production, Jenkins is hopeful that the Minus Chair will pioneer a new environmental method by harvesting wood in its carbon-capture prime.Friend-shoringTrusted sourcesGlobalWhere do you get your cobalt? If you’re a battery manufacturer keen to power the next generation of electric vehicles, you’ll want to know exactly where to source this critical mineral. In the coming years, Western companies producing clean-energy products such as batteries and solar panels will look to their political allies for the provenance of these core ingredients, in a process that’s referred to as “friend-shoring” supply chains.The term was first coined by US secretary of the treasury, Janet Yellen, in a speech in 2022. The concept is relatively simple. “Friend-shoring is moving supply chains to jurisdictions that do not pose an imminent national security threat,” says Emily Benson, director of the Washington-based Project on Trade and Technology at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.The US even codified friend-shoring into national policy in Joe Biden’s 2022 climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act. Later that year, the then UK foreign secretary Liz Truss proposed a “network of liberty” in trade relations, while EU countries including Germany have since embraced friend-shoring.Global supplies of cobalt, for example, mostly come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and China. These are two countries that Western powers would prefer not to rely on but sourcing alternatives is no simple matter. According to a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace study, by 2030, Western demand for cobalt will outstrip the supply from democratically aligned countries by nearly 10 to one. The figures are worse for graphite and tellurium.Now is the time for countries to put the hard work of friend-shoring into practice. “Having laid the philosophical argument for friend-shoring, we need to start thinking about where to move the supply chains,” says Benson. That shift will create new opportunities for a number of middle-income countries, though they will need to make some changes in turn. Brazil, for example, has the advantages of natural resources and a large industrial base but must commit to tax reform to facilitate foreign investment. Bolivia has ample mineral reserves but the landlocked country needs to secure port space.Meanwhile, more advanced economies hope to reap the gains of hi-tech friend-shoring for products such as semiconductors. The US technology and automotive industry will increasingly source such items from Japan, South Korea and the EU in addition to old stalwarts like Taiwan. These countries are astute about how strong bilateral relations can boost domestic economies.“They are making the case that they have a very close security relationship with the US,” says Benson. “They can argue that they represent a safe space to move hi-tech production to.”Buzzwords for 2024?Indig-nation:A country teeing off about issues that are either imaginary or no one cares about, in order to get itself on the news.Noluwdc:Pronounced “No-lew-duck”. This acronym of the chant beloved by fans of Millwall football club – “No One Likes Us, We Don’t Care” – is a diplomatic positioning that’s heavy on belligerence and persecution complex, light on inward reflection.Lemur:A country that might seem like it would be an adorable adornment to any supranational bloc – EU, Nato – but which reveals itself once inside as an unruly troublemaker.KofolaEven better than the real thing?Czechia“To me, Kofola tastes like cola with mild herbal notes and a hint of spice,” says Veronika Polyakova from her perch at Bohemia House, a north London bar that serves Czech drinks and food.Kofola is a survivor of the soft-power battles waged during the Cold War. In 1959, in a bid to find an alternative to Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the Czechoslovak Research Institute of Medicinal Plants in Prague developed a homegrown cola.“To me, Kofola tastes like cola with mild herbal notes and a hint of spice.”“Czechs’ love for Kofola is a blend of nostalgia and taste,” says Polyakova, assistant manager at Bohemia House, which serves Kofola on tap. The beverage is still sold across Czechia (and to the Czech diaspora) and is one of the few soft drinks that have withstood the encroachment of Western brands. As it didn’t try to imitate Coca-Cola too closely, it was able to compete when trade opened up after the fall of the Soviet Union. And since then the brand has prospered. “We have grown from a small Czech company into one of the largest producers of soft drinks in Central and Eastern Europe,” says Kofola Group CEO Jannis Samaras. The brand is now helping nearby countries nurture their own soft drinks. “In addition to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we are developing traditional brands in Slovenia and Croatia,” says Samaras.Back at Bohemia House, Polyakova pulls a pint of the deep brown, aromatic drink. “Czechs choose Kofola for its connection to their heritage and the sense of comfort it brings,” she says.Private dog parksBarks and recreationUSAIn August 2023 the US Chamber of Commerce published an article on its website about the economic significance of the pet humanisation trend. “A growing number of Americans think of their dog or cat as a member of the family,” the article notes. Naturally, these pets need exercise, which requires space. While many public parks in the US have dog runs where they can be safely let off their leash, these taxpayer-funded amenities aren’t enough for an increasing number of dog owners.The market has found a solution: private dog parks are expanding across the US. The most advanced are in large cities, where a scarcity of green space is combined with a concentration of high-income dog owners.In New York, the bar for luxury dog runs is set by the Soho Grand Dog Park, part of the Soho Grand Hotel in Lower Manhattan. “Each area has different ‘discovery moments’ for the dogs to engage and play,” says Briana Stanley, Vice-President and Creative Director at GrandLife Hotels. “There are big boulders to jump on, a dog bath to cool off in during summer, and circular benches to run around.”The dog park was originally intended for hotel guests travelling with pets but was opened to residents due to popular demand. It can be enjoyed by non-guests for a $1,700 (€1,600) annual fee.Meanwhile, on the West Coast, DOG PPL bills itself as “Los Angeles’s first canine social club”. The park has specially engineered grass, obstacles and hydro play stations for the dogs, as well as sustainably sourced coffee and wellness shots for the humans. All this for $120 (€113) a month, provided that all dogs are up to date on vaccinations and, dauntingly, can “pass a social”.How to move a riverChanging the channelCanadaSnaking across Toronto’s once-industrial eastern skyline are the swooping silhouettes of four sleek new bridges. Designed by UK-based practices Entuitive, Grimshaw and Schlaich Bergermann Partner, and assembled in Nova Scotia on Canada’s Atlantic coast, they are, for the time being, the most visible fixtures of one of the largest urban-development projects in North America: the regeneration of Toronto’s port lands.Once work is complete, the area will include 29 hectares of public parkland, 13 hectares of habitat for wildlife, new roads, bus routes and housing for up to 25,000 people. Its centrepiece will be the riverbed spanned by the new bridges. The area is currently dry but construction is nearing completion on one of the most ambitious renaturalisation projects ever undertaken in a city of Toronto’s size: the rerouting of the mouth of the Don river, one of the city’s major natural waterways.“We’re taking the river from something that’s artificial and isn’t really functioning as a healthy ecological system, and putting it back, as close as we can, to its natural condition – to allow it to do what it naturally wants to do,” says Mira Shenker, director of communications and public engagement at Waterfront Toronto, the tri-government body that’s undertaking the redevelopment of the port lands.The lower Don river, which runs south from Toronto’s network of ravines into Lake Ontario, was for decades the way that industries dotted along its banks – abattoirs, tanneries and distilleries – flushed away their waste. To that end, it was rerouted from its natural course to enhance its function as a channel for industrial effluent into the lake. By 1969 the river had become so polluted that some organisations declared it dead.Decades later, Waterfront Toronto’s project is allowing populations of bald eagle and mink to return to stretches of the river’s renaturalised banks. Eventually residents will be able to boat, paddle and fish in the water. “What has been created is a natural way for the river to move and to carry floodwater, and to stop it from running off into the surrounding neighbourhoods,” says Shenker.Constructing natural flood protection infrastructure of such complexity has not been attempted before, she says, and other cities prone to harsh or unpredictable weather will closely watch what happens in 2024, when the river’s renaturalised course is flooded and the Don, once again, finds its flow.Alexandre Sap, RuptureSales of the unexpectedFranceWhen we meet Alexandre Sap, founder of independent retail venture Rupture, he’s in his emporium in Hôtel Lutetia on Paris’s Rive Gauche. Inside this cabinet of curiosities, Sap can often be found playing Serge Gainsbourg records or hosting book launches and art exhibitions.Rupture’s Parisian outpost follows shops in Tangier, Venice and Marseille, along with the original café-cum-vinyl-shop on Rue du Vertbois. For 2024, Sap has set his sights on opening in Athens. “I started Rupture in my forties out of a need for reinvention,” he says. “Now I want to see if I can contribute to society through beauty.”Sap is noticing a fatigue with big chains that offer what is already popular or online marketplaces that cater to algorithms. He hopes that people who visit his shops will find books that they have never heard of. His hybrid approach to business also pivots around his marketing agency, Méditerranée, which creates cultural bridges between the cities that Rupture operates in. “It’s too easy to fall back on the same people and projects,” he says. “So that’s my forecast for 2024: new discoveries in chic places.”Q&A: Tosin OshinowoBuilt-in solutionsLagosTosin Oshinowo is a Lagos-based architect and designer whose work spans commercial projects, such as the first Adidas flagship in West Africa, to rebuilding a community destroyed by Boko Haram. Here she shares her thoughts on designing for different purposes and championing solutions from the Global South as curator of the most recent Sharjah Architecture Triennial.Tosin OshinowoWhat initial conversations do you have when approaching a new project?It’s about evoking an experience. When you’re working on a private home, for example, there is a lot of input from the client. It’s a delicate balance as an architect between pushing your agenda (in terms of the spaces that you want to create) and meeting your clients’ needs. As a practice, we’re very particular about a lot of natural light and the need for privacy and security. In Nigeria, security is a very big concern for a lot of people. It’s also very important to read what clients tell you they want but also what they don’t tell you. Architects can end up being like psychologists.Your clients span a range of socio-demographic groups. How did you approach the commission of building a new community for people displaced by Boko Haram?By always thinking about the end user and understanding people in a cultural context. I’m from Lagos, which is in the south of the country and predominantly Christian. This project is in Borno in the northeast of the country, which is predominantly Muslim. The ethnic group there is Kanuri, I’m Yoruba. I spent a lot of time speaking with people, visiting the city and understanding the Kanuri culture. I asked the chief what colour he wanted the buildings to be, which he thought was an odd question because these people have been displaced for more than 10 years and they just want a roof. But he mentioned Abuja brown, a colour that can be seen on traditional walls in the area. We decided that we would incorporate it in whatever way we could. By experimenting with mixing cement and local soil, we were able to recreate this very quickly, in a modern style.What were your priorities as curator of the latest Sharjah Architecture Triennale?To celebrate the innovative design and architecture solutions that exist within the Global South – and make sure to bring them to the foreground. We already have solutions that could be used to address some of our most challenging problems to do with climate change. If we think about the way that we use our resources and work within the limitations of what is available, we could address where we find ourselves today.KenoteqNew kid on the blocksUKThe construction industry accounts for 40 per cent of carbon emissions in the UK but Scottish start-up Kenoteq, which makes what it believes to be the world’s most sustainable brick, is intent on changing that. Co-created by Brazil-born engineer Gabriela Medero, the K-Briq is made mainly from construction and demolition waste, doesn’t need to be fired at high temperature, can be recycled multiple times and is sold at a comparable cost to a traditional clay model. Additionally, most of the bricks used for construction in Scotland are imported, so Kenoteq’s local production also cuts emissions.Though Medero is still waiting for British building certification before the factory can be cranked up to full capacity, the K-Briq can already be spotted in restaurants around Edinburgh.It is likely to be used more widely once the certification is approved – but most people won’t be able to tell. “Normally when people hold the K-Briq, they look at me and say, ‘But it’s just a brick!’” says Medero. “It’s just what I wanted. It took a lot of science and technology to make it look, behave and sound like a brick – and that’s the magic.”Yves Béhar’s Telo TruckPowering aheadUSAWhen Jason Marks and Forrest North, co-founders of new California-based electric-vehicle manufacturer Telo, set their sights on reinterpreting the classic US pick-up truck, they tapped Swiss designer Yves Béhar (pictured, on right, with Marks and North) to give it a distinctive look that could match the vehicle’s technical credentials. “I used to design cars when I was in school at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena,” says Béhar, who founded multidisciplinary design studio Fuseproject. “To do that now and present it to the world, without replicating the same shape and functionality of what already exists, is very exciting.”The result is a compact four-door truck that retails for $50,000 (€47,000) and measures just over 380cm in length – the same as a three-door Mini Cooper. The interior is roomy enough to fit five passengers and the truck bed can be expanded into the back seat through a modular mid-partition. The EV is currently available for pre-order, with plans to deliver the first models to customers in 2025 and upscale production in 2026. Manufacturing will take place in the US.The vehicle has been designed with functionality in mind, and Telo and Béhar hope to appeal to urban and suburban drivers looking to go electric – and maybe even those not intending to. “Many of our pre-orders for the Telo truck came from Texas, believe it or not,” says Béhar. Not exactly the traditional heartland of anti-oil sentiment.The long, sloping front-end of the Telo gives it a distinctive visual calling card while the battery packs are tightly stacked and embedded within the chassis for a roomier crew cab. Its range clocks in at more than 560km with a 500hp engine, with top speeds of 200km/h and the ability to go from zero to 100km in four seconds. It has a 20-minute charging speed that takes the battery from 20 per cent capacity to 80 per cent.“Telo developed a unique, high-density way to assemble batteries to gain room,” says Béhar. “The design is informed by functionality but my priority is always to create a strong identity. From there, the design is based on the unique car layout and our ability to break from existing platforms as a third-generation EV company.”The Telo truck also meets a need for smaller pick-up trucks from city dwellers who want to negotiate smaller roads and garages. “The crazy statistic is that light-duty trucks represent 10 per cent of all carbon emissions in the US,” says Béhar. “So there’s a strategic opportunity to make a difference by introducing an electric version of one of the best-selling vehicle types in the US. This is when design can accelerate the adoption of new ideas.”Rádio NoveloSocial networkBrazilBrazil loves its soap operas but recently the country has found itself gripped by a new kind of narrative format: audio. It is now the world’s third-largest consumer of podcasts, while listener numbers across many platforms are on the rise.Leading the charge is Rádio Novelo. Founded in Rio de Janeiro in 2019, the production company is the country’s largest producer of narrative podcasts. In only four years, it has produced deep dives into such subjects as former president Jair Bolsonaro’s rise to power, the murder of a socialite in the 1970s (see panel) and Brazil’s flawed judicial system – all stories that provide insight into the nature and fabric of Brazilian society.According to the Rádio Novelo team, these investigations serve a social purpose. “I don’t considerPraia dos Ossosto be a true-crime story,” says company president Branca Vianna. “Everybody knows what happened. But what we were interested in was society’s reaction to the murder: how the press reacted, how the judicial system and the feminist movement reacted. We wanted to look into the country’s relationship with prisons and so on.”Rádio Novelo has regularly produced audio content forRevisita Piauímagazine (Brazil’s answer toThe New Yorker), cultural project Japan House São Paulo and the Igarapé think-tank but is now concentrating on its own content. “Little by little, we are leaving that model behind to focus on our own podcasts, which we see as our core competency,” says Vianna.Telling stories in a creative, unexpected way will always be Rádio Novelo’s main priority. According to Vianna, this is also what enabled her start-up to grow so quickly. “What we really want for the future is to consolidate ourselves in the industry,” she says. “We’re still a really young business.” Looking ahead, Vianna’s strategy is less about quantity and more about quality. “It’s not really about growth,” she says. “Nobody here wants to triple the number of podcasts we make or double the amount of staff. All we want is to help our team to stay creative so that we can continue producing what we think is important; what we think will enrich conversation and debate here in Brazil.”Rádio Novelo’s top podcastsRádio Novelo ApresentaEvery Thursday, this series highlights little-known stories from across Brazil.Praia dos OssosThis podcast has racked up more than four million downloads since it was released in 2020. It follows the story of Ângela Diniz, a socialite who was murdered at her beach house in the 1970s and how society began to view the crime’s (later convicted) suspect, her boyfriend Doca Street, as the victim.Tempo QuenteAt one point, Brazil seemed as though it would become a leading voice on climate issues. This podcast, released in 2022, explains why and how, over the years, this stopped being the case.
Inside Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s first luxury icebreaker cruise experience
Sailing through frozen seas and breaking through thick layers of ice is no easy feat: it demands not only an experienced captain but also a dedicated team. This is something that the crew ofLe Commandant Charcot,the world’s first luxury ice-breaking cruise ship, knows and understands well. Commissioned by French cruise company Ponant and unveiled in 2020,Le Commandant Charcotcan sail 270 passengers to faraway locations, such as Greenland or the North Pole. It can even undertake a semi-circumnavigation of Antarctica, cruising from New Zealand to the bottom of Argentina in 30 days.Unlike most commercial exploration cruise ships, which have to stop upon reaching ice, the sight of frozen water often only marks the beginning of a trip forLe Commandant Charcot. “Guiding a 150-metre-long vessel powered by 45,500 horsepower through dense ice, combatting the fierce katabatic winds [which flow downhill] from the Antarctic and battling 15-metre-high waves requires extreme precision and patience,” the ship’s captain, Stanislas Devorsine, tells monocle.Others working on the ship have their own set of challenges. Hotel manager Jean-Lou Rodot-Dufayet, for example, must ensure that bad weather doesn’t damage the 123 cabins and suites on board. Meanwhile, the culinary team, trained by chef Alain Ducasse, serves exquisite menus daily, even when land – and fresh produce – is nowhere to be seen. Lastly, the ship’s technical crew keeps machinery running in freezing conditions. “They’ve trained at some of the world’s foremost seafaring institutions,” says Devorsine.Each member of the crew can set up an ice survival camp, made specifically forLe Commandant Charcot. This camp, deployable on both water and land, is equipped with shelters and polar survival suits. Additionally, the team has conducted emergency simulations in collaboration with the Arctic Nations’ Search and Rescue (SAR). These drills, Devorsine says, were highly successful. “So much so that the SAR teams are now keen on adopting some of our innovations, such as the polar suits.”Stanislas Devorsine (bottom right)CaptainA graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure Maritime in Le Havre, Stanislas “Stan” Devorsine’s maritime journey began early. As a young mariner, he participated in global sailing competitions, always venturing towards the world’s remote polar regions. Before joiningLe Commandant Charcot’s crew, he captained the French icebreakerL’Astrolabefor a decade, which carried supplies and researchers between Hobart, Tasmania and the Dumont d’Urville research station in Antarctica.From left, to the back, to right in the above image:1.Marc SenatShip doctor“Being at sea for up to a month means that we need a medic who is both calm and flexible.”2.Donnel QuiocsonBosun“Supervises and assigns all maintenance tasks, given by the staff captain, to deck personnel.”3.MariliaOlioExpedition guide“With the ocean and weather conditions changing every hour, her job is often unpredictable.”4.Jennifer RouxAssistant expedition leader “The expedition team has to work closely with the bridge and hotel teams to make explorations and landings possible.” 5.Izaac MainvilleAircraft engineer“We need the helicopter to scout the area before a landing, so having good heli technicians on board is a must.”6.Olivier MabilleHelicopter pilot“With almost two decades of experience in the French navy, Olivier is the best heli pilot to have on board.”7.Jerrieboy RabaccaHeli and firefighter assistant“Performs helicopter operations in a secure way, even when the weather conditions are very unstable.”8.Jeffrey ZamoraFirefighter pro“The ship needs skilled firefighters like Zamora, who also are always on stand by during helicopter operations.”9.Benjamin MathiouExecutive chef“Creates five-course menus while navigating 15-metre waves in the Antarctic Ocean, which requires a special kind of culinary talent.”10.Liza Lario Second pastry chef “Having freshly baked bread, exquisite pastry and desserts is a real treat when we’re away for weeks.”11.Jean-Lou Rodot-DufayetHotel director“A hotel integrated into a hi-tech ice-breaker needs a hotel director who keeps a cool head even in the most remote corners of the world.”12.Lana MadeiroBar manager“From a very early morning cappuccino to an extremely late digestif, Lana serves every guest with a smile.”13.Jenely CapuzCabin stewardess“From staff quarters to the owner’s suite, Jenely’s housekeeping team keeps every cabin spiffy clean.”14.Alexandra GarciaFront desk manager“The person who takes care of every guest request, even when we are sailing under difficult conditions.”15.FlorianTaburiauxCruise director“Acts as the bridge between passengers and crew, ensuring that every voyage goes smoothly.” 16.Julie CotarMaitre d’“Managing a fine-dining restaurant three times a day on board an ice-breaker is no easy feat.”17.Albane BosettiDeck officer“Coming from the national marine corps in France, Albane is an essential member of the captain’s team.”18.Camille ReisembergSommelier“From serving Chateau Margaux to our VIP guests to stocking up on local wine when we’re docked, she pulls everything off withpanache.”19.Hugues DecamusChief engineer“When temperatures are as low as minus 35c, you need experts to ensure that the engines run smoothly.”20.Robin LefebreStaff captain“As second command on the ship, Robin is an excellent ice pilot and even went withLe Commandant Charcotto the North Pole.”
Blatt Chaya
BusinessLebanonAugust 17, 2010Blatt ChayaLebanese retiree Edgard Chaya got into the tile-making trade by chance, after stumbling upon a suitcase belonging to a great uncle. Inside, Chaya discovered a set of curious metal shapes and moulds – castings to make traditional cement floor tiles. Monocle spent time in Beirut to watch how this small family firm has brought the art of ciment coloré back into fashion.Editor Aleksander SolumSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Helsinki market-hall revival
BusinessNovember 9, 20235 MIN 37 SECHelsinki market-hall revivalTo celebrate our inaugural Retail Awards, we head to a newly renovated food hall in Helsinki. From cheese and smoked fish to fresh pastries and locally grown vegetables, the Hakaniemi Market Hall is the perfect place to stock up on supplies – and to linger in cosy restaurants. Join us as we tour its splendid aisles.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Hackney Revival
BusinessWilton Way, London, United KingdomOctober 3, 20138 MIN 9 SECHackney RevivalMonocle’s editor in chief, Tyler Brûlé, ventured to Wilton Way – a small thoroughfare in east London’s Hackney, to get a read on the ingredients that underpin a community.Editor Jonah JamesSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
The future of Japanese craftsmanship
DesignHiroshima, JapanMarch 13, 20202 MIN 32 SECThe future of Japanese craftsmanshipTo celebrate our book about Japan, we are presenting a film series that dives into the intriguing ecosystem that has preserved Japanese traditional skills over centuries. Meet the people who are future-proofing the age-old know-how.Narrator Tom EdwardsSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Brasimba beer
BusinessKatangaNovember 23, 2009Brasimba beerFor the past eight decades, the Brasimba brewery has provided a rare slice of normality to the people of the DR Congo, a country that has endured a long history of conflict and unrest. Monocle’s Steve Bloomfield visits the Lubumbashi-based company, whose flagship product, Simba beer, is drunk throughout central Africa.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Media on the move
BusinessMarch 16, 20216 MIN 41 SECMedia on the moveWe visit two bold companies finding canny ways to pivot their product for changing audiences. Transhelvetica, a Swiss magazine, and Spiritland, a London-based hospitality and audio venture, are each shaping the media landscape for the better.Editor Agathe TrouetteNarrator Nic MonisseSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
The Monocle Book of Entrepreneurs
BusinessOctober 6, 20211 MIN 31 SECThe Monocle Book of EntrepreneursOur new book includes canny case studies of 100 businesses that succeeded, ideas on where to base your business and advice from more than 50 industry experts on everything from finding funding to scaling up. Order your copy at The Monocle Shop.Narrator Molly PriceSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Coffee and avocados? As heat rises, Sicily turns to tropical produce
BusinessSicilyJanuary 26, 20235 MIN 42 SECCoffee and avocados? As heat rises, Sicily turns to tropical produceClimate change is prompting fruit farmers to diversify and coffee roasters to start considering areas beyond the so-called bean belt to source their raw material. In Sicily, Morettino, a forward-looking family-run roastery, has already started growing coffee plants in Palermo, creating an espresso that is truly made in Italy. To discover more surprising business opportunities, subscribe to Monocle magazine today.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Gildo Zegna
BusinessLondonDecember 21, 2009Gildo ZegnaEditor-in-chief Tyler Brûlé welcomes Gildo Zegna, CEO of supreme Italian menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna, to the Monocle HQ in London to discuss the brand’s centenary in 2010 and its longer-term future.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Mater: designed to last
BusinessCopenhagen, DenmarkMarch 31, 20203 MIN 40 SECMater: designed to lastLong before environmentalism became a popular concern, Henrik Marstrand created Mater, a Danish furniture company that prides itself on timeless pieces with sustainability at the core. Marstrand’s entrepreneurial spirit and faith in the circular economy is changing perceptions of good design.Narrator Saul TaylorSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Inside the airship industry
BusinessFriedrichshafen, GermanyNovember 1, 20215 MIN 40 SECInside the airship industryAirships, once tipped to be the future of flight, are now largely used as costly billboards that drift across cities or over major sporting events. We travelled to Friedrichshafen in Germany to take a peek inside one of the world’s few commercial operations and explore this niche area of aviation. Read more on the story in the November issue of Monocle magazine. SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Gallic Revivals
BusinessParis, FranceFebruary 13, 20147 MIN 8 SECGallic RevivalsRevamping forgotten brands is a growing trend in France, where entrepreneurs are tapping into pre-existing DNA and ready-made heritage. Monocle meets the brains behind some of these French revivals.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Eataly
BusinessTurinOctober 19, 2007Eataly“Buy, taste and learn about the best foods all under the same roof.” That’s the slogan of Oscar Farinetti’s super-market Eataly, which opened earlier this year in Turin. Housed in a former vermouth factory, Eataly offers the finest artisanal produce from Italian suppliers, all selected with the assistance of Slow Food Italia and accompanied by lovingly compiled details of its provenance and production. You can even learn how to cook the dishes on offer in the numerous on-site cafés and bars. Monocle sent Ivan Carvalho to sample the fior di latte.Editor Aleksander SolumNarrator Ivan CarvalhoSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
My life as a minibus
BusinessMadridJuly 11, 20192 MIN 12 SECMy life as a minibusWe hop aboard the M1 in Madrid to see how the nifty Wolta Rampini offers a helping hand to those who need it most: residents in the steep, historic borough of Lavapies.Narrator Tom EdwardsSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
The business agenda: A course correction for Berlin Brandenburg Airport and rethinking men’s skincare
Aviation: GermanyBetter late than neverFor years, the safest conversation starter in Germany’s capital has been to commiserate about Berlin Brandenburg Airport. There’s plenty to talk about: you can kick off by mentioning the hour-long security queues, ease into lamenting the shoddy public-transport connections and the illogical signage, and then spend the rest of the time marvelling at the epic quagmire that led the airport to start operating 9 years behind schedule. Aletta von Massenbach (pictured) took on one of the least enviable jobs in town when she stepped in as the airport’s CEO in 2021, a year after its opening. “If you didn’t have a clue how to make it better, it would have been overwhelming,” she says from a boxy conference room overlooking Terminal 1. “We had a plan.”The efforts of Von Massenbach, who has experience managing many airports around the world (and is the first woman to lead a major one in Germany), are gradually becoming tangible to travellers. In an official ceremony in October, the federal police relinquished its responsibility for operating security control and the lanes are being redesigned and updated with state-of-the-art X-ray machines. While Berlin lags behind hubs such as Munich and Frankfurt, new flight routes are being added to the schedule at a fast clip.Another urgent task has been to boost staff morale. “Normally, people are very proud to say they work in aviation,” says Von Massenbach. “Our employees didn’t even dare say where they were working.”But no amount of management wizardry is likely to quench the criticism of Berliners. Many nostalgists are happy to wax on for hours about Tegel, the city’s decommissioned 1970s airport and view its replacement as an avatar for everything that is going wrong in the country. “It was for far too long a not very good example of Germany’s capability to manage big projects,” says Von Massenbach. “I don’t take it personally.” The CEO’s phlegmatic attitude appears to have paid off. After years of failure, things at Brandenburg seem to finally be looking up.The EntrepreneursLaura Kramer on: Rethinking men’s skincareNew year brings with it personal-transformation resolutions, with renewed gym memberships and promises to cut down on apéro topping the list. But health doesn’t stop at losing kilos; the biggest organ of the body is often overlooked. Dutch founder Gregor Jaspers is on a mission to change that with The Grey, his luxury men’s skincare line that he launched in 2018.The idea came on a work trip to Milan Fashion Week when Jaspers realised that there was a gap in the market for a compact men’s skincare line, which matched his need for efficient products that would fit into his small suitcase. “I was a buyer for a department store in the Netherlands and travelling extensively. I looked at my cluttered wash bag filled with women’s, unisex and men’s products, some packed in golden jars with massive lids and only 50ml of eye cream in them.” He realised that there wasn’t a tailored solution for men who wanted high-performance products without the frills. “I felt neglected and ignored as a male consumer.”This sparked his desire to create a line blending the efficacy of luxury skincare with simplicity and convenience for a straightforward routine. “I asked the developers at the laboratory to make a single product containing all of the different moisturisers I’m using for the day, night and eyes. That became our three-in-one face cream and it’s an absolute best seller, a pillar of the brand.”Today, The Grey offers products featuring botanical and active ingredients, with formulas that quickly absorb into the skin and don’t adhere to facial hair. “We get messages from clients who have skin issues so we developed the Comfort+ cream especially for them. And we get the most emotional emails from guys whose skin we fixed. So that’s why we do it.”It’s since expanded offerings from men’s grooming products to an SPF cream that took three years to develop, supplements and teas that promise to nurture skin from the inside out. “Men should take care of themselves in every aspect of their life,” says Jaspers. “And I think telling that story all over the world is what makes me eager to go to the office every morning.” thegreymensskincare.comTo hear more from inspiring business folk, tune into our weekly radio show, ‘The Entrepreneurs’, at monocle.com/radioAviation: USATwo of a kindThe largest passenger air carriers in two of the more remote corners of the US are planning to merge in a landmark deal announced in December. Alaska Airlines, which was founded in Anchorage in 1932 and is headquartered in Seattle, intends to buy Hawaiian Holdings, the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, for $1.9bn (€1.76bn).The importance of each airline runs deep in their respective states, given that the regions have been more reliant on air travel than the rest of continental US – the only way to navigate the Hawaiian archipelago before the airline’s launch in 1929 was via steamship. The deal, therefore, feels like a good fit. Alaska Airlines is the fifth-largest carrier in the US and this is an opportunity for it to expand its reach beyond routes along the North American west coast, as well as across Alaska’s remoter regions. The combined carrier will grow Alaska Airlines’ fleet to 365 aircraft and will transform Honolulu into a major air hub, thanks to Hawaiian Airlines’ connections with both the US west coast and the Asia-Pacific region, including its longstanding routes to cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Auckland and Sydney.If the deal is greenlit by US regulators, who are expected to rule on whether the deal aligns with US monopoly regulations in the first quarter of 2024, it will create a major new competitor in US aviation, which has recovered robustly from the turbulence caused by the pandemic.Importantly, however, Alaska’s proposed acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings will see each airline retain its individuality and branding, meaning that the two legacy airlines will continue to fly the flag for their respective regions, much like they have done for close to a century.Hospitality: GlobalQ&AMark WillisCEO, FairmontFew international hotel brands can match the often castle-like properties of Fairmont, which first flung open its doors in San Francisco in 1907. CEO Mark Willis tells Monocle about Fairmont’s extensive expansion plans and explains why, shortly after taking up his post, he moved its global HQ from Paris to Dubai.You moved Fairmont’s global HQ to Dubai. Why?Globally, Dubai is a very central location. We have hotels all over the world; we have owners all over the world who we need to interact with in person. We have about 30 hotels opening in the next 36 months. It’s a great hub do that from. We’re also able to recruit great talent here. Where will Fairmont’s newer outposts open in the next three years? We’ve been careful with where and how we grow the brand. Among the portfolio that’s due to open are Geneva and Prague, which are full renovations, and an amazing new 500-room hotel in Bangkok. We have an opportunity to grow in new locations – Miami and Las Vegas in the US; Paris and Berlin in Europe; and Phuket, Kuala Lumpur, Bali and other destinations in the Middle East. What is one aspect of the hotel sector where you see opportunities for growth? We are actively looking at how to retain the best members of our teams and how people can work in different ways to make the roles stimulating and to offer opportunities to grow. It’s a wonderful industry. We need to encourage younger team members to come in and work within it.fairmont.comArchitecture: JapanHistory reimaginedFed up with seeing old homes being demolished in Japan, Tomohiro Fujii, a Central Saint Martins graduate, decided to take action. Together with consultant Shori Fuji, he set up Kessaku (“masterpiece” in Japanese), a company that aims to protect historic houses by offering shared ownership.Fujii’s idea is to offer people the chance to buy a stake in a property from as little as ¥1,000 (€6.40); depending on the amount they put in, co-owners would then be able to stay a certain number of days per year. The properties will be everything from a traditional Japanese house to an architect-designed home from the 1970s and Kessaku will take care of management and maintenance. “There are plenty of people like us who want to look after old buildings but don’t have the time or the resources to take one on by themselves,” he says.The first property on offer is a wooden house in Nagano from the 1930s (pictured) that belonged to a lacquer craftsman. With nobody to inherit it, there was a danger of it falling into disrepair. “It’s a beautiful house,” says Fujii. “We want to restore it and make it comfortable.” Many owners find that registering a building as a historic property is more trouble than demolition. In Tokyo, where land is more highly valued than buildings, the problem is acute and old houses are disappearing fast. Fujii says that tourism is helping as visitors are keen to stay in historic homes. “There’s a change towards valuing older buildings and we would like Kessaku to be part of that transition.” kessaku.casa
Brand Lexus
BusinessJapanOctober 3, 2007Brand LexusRewind to 1980 and the idea of a Japanese luxury car brand would have been unthinkable. Today, Toyota’s Lexus division has become a dominant force in the US luxury market and wants to do the same in Europe. Monocle’s Editor-in-chief reckons they need to start exploiting their Japanese roots to make this happen.Editor Aleksander SolumSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Sailing into the future: How wind power is revolutionising cargo shipping
If it takes a long time to turn a cargo ship around, try getting the entire shipping industry to change course – to a cleaner future. Having spent 200 years burning the dirtiest combustibles, some ship owners are discovering that the most promising technology for their industry is one abandoned years ago: the abundant, free fuel called wind. That’s why cargo decks are sprouting all manner of breeze catchers, each an ungainly prototype, competing to see which is best at augmenting grubby engine power with wind-assisted propulsion.While these eye-catching experiments make headlines and win investment, a smaller fleet of wind-powered pioneers is sometimes overlooked. These heritage wooden schooners and newly designed sailing ships have formed a loose global alliance that’s attracting venture capital and enjoying a told-you-so moment. The maritime industry has agreed to quit carbon by 2050 but this vintage fleet is proving that, for some cargo, emissions-free shipping is available now. It might seem that the giant cargo carriers revisiting sail power and their tiny brethren who never deserted tides and trade winds sit in opposite camps. But differences aside, their combined efforts are shaking up an industry that has long been resistant to change.It took the hottest summer in history for the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) to finally commit to quitting carbon “by or around 2050”. While the finish line remains maddeningly vague, the starting gun has fired. Few sounds are sweeter to John Cooper, veteran of both McLaren Formula 1 and the Americas Cup. Now ceo of maritime innovator bar Technologies, he’s confident that ocean carriers will be transformed by sail power. Or at least, by the sail his team is designing: Windwings.These giant steel and glass-composite contraptions can be raised to provide propulsion, lowered in a storm and manoeuvred according to the direction of the wind. ThePyxis Ocean, a bulk carrier, was the first ship retrofitted with this new technology. Owned by Mitsubishi Corporation and chartered by agricultural powerhouse Cargill, thePyxis Oceanemerged from its dry dock in Shanghai with two huge Windwings lashed to its deck. Though they might not be pretty, these sails do look like they mean business.We catch up with Cooper during his early morning drive to bar’s Portsmouth HQ. He’s cautious of making too many promises about Windwings’ performance. Don’t expect headlines, he says, like: “Technology provider stuns the world with their own figures.” What he does claim, however, is that his sails “have substantially more thrust than anybody out there”.ThePyxis Oceanhas already completed its first voyages – from China to Singapore, then on to Brazil and Poland – with Cooper commissioning independent experts to publicly report on its emission reductions. “No other wind-propulsion company has ever done that,” he says. “And I’ll tell you why: because they’re not making the savings that they claim. We will be dominant in this market.”Bottles being hand labeled, certifying them delivered by sailBut market domination won’t come without a fight. Along with competing rigid-wing designs entering the fray, a dizzying variety of novel wind-propulsion ideas are taking shape. While cleaner fuels will also contribute to greener sailing, the surest way to reach the IMO target – and minimise looming carbon taxes – is to find the best wind solution. As a result, a parade of varied sails is dotting the horizon.Bosun Eilish Turnbull and deckhand Markus Rapponen furl the headsailsTyre-maker Michelin is developing – what else? – inflatable sails. A couple of its Wing Sail Mobility models already help to propel the 12,000-tonne carrierMN Pelicanbetween the UK and Spain. Modelled after aircraft wings, the retractable sails allow for navigation in ports and under bridges, and are in sea trials to assess savings. Not to be outdone, French designer Airseas looked to kite surfing for inspiration. It wants to help pull cargo ships by using flying sails, which would be attached with cables to the bow. Transatlantic tests are under way.Meanwhile, Norway’s Hurtigruten is designing an eco cruise ship. Sketches show a classic floating hotel: bulging prow, gleaming decks and three massive smokestacks amidships. But instead of smoke pouring from the chimneys, giant sails pop out, covered in solar panels.Whichever design wins out, the reward might be substantial. Out of about 60,000 carriers worldwide, few are currently using wind-assisted propulsion. But according to non-profit International Windship Association, that number could skyrocket to one in every six ships by this decade’s end. Yet even if this very optimistic forecast is achieved, it will still be a far cry from – and 20 long years until – the IMO’s emissions target is met. This is where the smaller wooden ships are making a mark as successful examples of zero-carbon mobility that the mainstream industry has pledged to meet.The same week that thePyxis Oceanset off for Europe, another sail-powered pioneer, theTres Hombres, docked in Copenhagen. The ship’s arrival stopped traffic as, one after another, the city’s famous bridges opened to let it pass. Like thePyxis, this ship is a remarkable sight, having crossed the Atlantic on a breeze, laden with food bound for Europe. But that’s where the similarities end. While the huge Pyxis is cautiously attempting its first deliveries under sail, the smallerTres Hombreshas completed hundreds. And though bar’s experimental wings do reduce fuel use,Tres Hombresmakes the 9,000km trip without a fuel tank. After all, it’s an 80-year-old wooden boat carrying cargo the traditional way: by wind alone.TheTres Hombresis not the only boat demonstrating how solutions from an earlier maritime age can benefit our present one. From schoonerApollonianavigating the Hudson River in New York toSail Cargo Londonplying the Thames, and from France to Fiji, a growing number of entrepreneurs are putting sail heritage back to work.It’s a rich history for Netherlands-based Fairtransport. Now in its 17th year, the company is profitable and expanding at pace. “At the beginning, we were laughed at,” says CEO Sabine Fox. “Now everyone is trying to copy us.” And it’s easy to see why. With demand increasing for climate-friendly ways to convey cargo and passengers, Fairtransport has seen its fortunes rise, even during the pandemic, various global conflicts and other ill winds. Though Fox grew up near the sea, she never expected to make it her future, training instead for a career in law. By chance, her first job was at Rostock’s Hanse Sail maritime festival. She hasn’t looked back since. At another harbour fair, she picked up a flyer from three friends – the “tres hombres” of their flagship’s name – seeking partners to find a ship and revive sailed cargo.The boat that they found was a wrecked Second World War-era German minesweeper, destined for the scrap heap. Instead, they gave it a new lease of life as a champion of zero-carbon trade. Starting with just one vessel, Fairtransport is now a shipping agent for three more. Imports include organic cocoa, coffee, rum and other delicacies from the Americas. With a crew of 15,Tres Hombresalso transports salt from France, olive oil from Portugal, honey from Spain and wine from all three. “Our customers have grown with us,” says Fox, mentioning several, such as Switzerland’s Atinkana Kaffee and Chocolatemakers from the Netherlands. “As they get bigger, we’re able to put more cargo on more ships, including new ones we’re developing.”Asked about the new vessels and clients, Sabine demurs. “I am a little hesitant to name them because so many new shippers want our customers,” she says. “Sail cargo is definitely growing. There’s enough for everybody if we’re not all importing the same goods to the same people.” However, she is able to reveal that Fairtransport is expanding into Sweden and increasing deliveries to Denmark.And it’s here in Copenhagen that wine merchants Rosforth&Rosforth welcomed theTres Hombresfor its third visit this year. The ship docked just past Knippelsbro bridge, which is in the heart of the Danish capital. As masts creaked and canvas stirred, the snug brigantine was thronged by locals, snapping selfies with this vision from their city’s past. Some passers-by even volunteered to help unload its 20,000 bottles of Loire Valley vintages. The boxes were then stacked on freight bicycles, which ferried them off to the city’s restaurants.As customer demand grows, the company is helping to fill the holds of similar ships in France and Germany. Those boats are also busy with their own clients. As word spreads about truly climate-friendly transport, all sorts of requests flow in. One is from artist Olafur Eliasson’s studio in Berlin, reserving space for artwork bound for Manhattan.Captain Arthur Petrie (on right) and crew hoist cargoWhile these green journeys need no fuel, they do require plenty of elbow grease. To provide it, the ships welcome passengers who pay for the privilege of being trainees and stevedores while travelling the world carbon-free. Some of these paying guests find ship life so appealing that they stay on as paid crew, with one even becoming captain. Those who sail theTres Hombresall the way to Martinique might end up doing the frog kick, swimming with barrels of rum from tropical beaches to the side of the ship. These long winter journeys are so popular, berths sell out more than a year in advance.For those who might prefer getting their Caribbean liquor faster, Fox suggests a visit to the German Rum Festival. At this annual Berlin conclave, the world’s finest spirits are blind-tested by experts. “There has been no year we entered whenTres Hombresrum did not win a medal,” says Fox. “Last time, it was a gold and two bronzes.” The secret? Months spent under sail. Deep in the holds of traditional ships, rum inside wooden barrels gently moves with the waves, deepening, maturing and interacting with tannins in the oak staves.These vintage rum runners might soon be joined by a modern steel incarnation of the classic clipper ship, launched by France’s TransOceanic Wind Transport (TOWT). “What we’re creating here is a new generation of 21st-century vessels, inspired by the heritage of sail propulsion,” says CEO Guillaume Le Grand.Seeing the advantages of both a zero-carbon fleet and mainstream carriers, TOWT hopes to create a niche somewhere in between. “We’re cherry-picking technologies from all the sectors: fishing, regatta, cargo,” says Le Grand. “Our boats, which are 90 per cent sail-powered, are using carbon masts and will be the sons and daughters of the old ships.”Anemos– which is Greek for “wind” – will be the first TOWT ship, one of two set to launch in 2024. Aiming for a maiden voyage in April,Anemosis designed to have more freight capacity and passenger berths than theTres Hombres, but only half the crew. TOWT also hopes for shorter crossing times thanks to mechanised sails. “We’ve got tremendous commercial traction at the moment,” says Le Grand, pointing to their ability to negotiate long-term contracts. “We’re telling customers that one hop across the Atlantic for greenwashing PR is not what we do. If you want to load your cargo on board, you’ll have to sign a contract that commits you to several crossings.” So far, TOWT has firm cargo commitments from wine and spirits seller Pernod Ricard and other leading French brands.Bosun Eilish TurnbullFormer deckhand Thore Holsen, stevedore for a dayThis is still a period of experimentation, development and investment for both sectors: the sail-only fleet and its giant cargo cousins. And there are opportunities for co-operation. One example is the crucial last mile of carbon-free delivery. Many mega-freighters can only squeeze into huge container terminals. Agile smaller craft can meet them dockside, cross-load cargo, then navigate it to downtown Hamburg, Amsterdam, London and countless other harbours.Wind-assisted propulsion might also lead these different fleets to sail the same routes. Standard cargo ships, using engine power alone, could sometimes ignore breezes when mapping a journey. But as they adopt hi-tech sails to reduce emissions, that calculus will change. According to Cooper, it might even prove economical for sail-assisted carriers to stop going back and forth across the Atlantic. Instead, it could be smarter to sail continuously around the globe, following the trade winds. In that scenario, the heritage cargo fleet – along with racing teams and other open-ocean mariners – will have valuable experience to share about optimising routes and logistics for wind. So like sharks and remora fish, the massive cargo carriers and small sailing vessels might find ways to assist each other as maritime commerce goes green.Sete of Rosforth&RosforthShip’s cook and scribe Giulia BaccosiBut what has been most important to both fleets is that vintage ships are proving themselves powerful ambassadors for wind-powered transport. They’re building global awareness and a loyal customer base, which is willing to pay the sometimes higher cost of transitioning to clean ocean shipping.Whether the two sectors choose to compete, co-operate or ignore each other, one thing is clearly on the horizon: more sails. Lots of them – steel ones bolted to giant carriers and canvas flapping on ships such as theTres Hombres, returning the richness of slow-sailed coffee, cocoa and rum to Denmark’s capital.But for Danes, the most exciting taste these ships are delivering might be something else. By reviving dockside flavours and accents, clamour and commerce, visitors such as theTres Hombresare also bringing back the original meaning of the name Copenhagen: Merchants’ Harbour.
Urban growth: Solitair tree nursery
BusinessLoenhout, BelgiumJune 26, 20155 MIN 34 SECUrban growth: Solitair tree nurseryCities are often seen as the flipside of nature: synthetic, sleek and sometimes impersonal. For places that pine after being greener, the Solitair tree nursery provides a blueprint. Monocle travelled to the nursery in Belgium to discover the value of investing in the future.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Inside Sweden’s electric flight school
BusinessSkelleftea, SwedenSeptember 14, 20225 MIN 19 SECInside Sweden’s electric flight schoolA new electric flight school in Sweden is inspiring a future of emission-free aviation. Monocle takes to the sky, tries out the first fully electric plane to be approved for use in Europe and hears how Skellefteå has become a hotbed of green start-ups. Read more in the June issue of the magazine.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Icebreakers: rescue know-how
AffairsBay of BothniaFebruary 28, 201910 MIN 26 SECIcebreakers: rescue know-howFinland has obvious natural advantages that have helped it become an icebreaking powerhouse but the country’s dominance in the field is startling. We travel to the Bay of Bothnia to bear witness to the beginning of the icebreaking season. You can also watch episode two here.Narrator Andrew MuellerSubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
Inside Portugal’s tinned-fish industry
BusinessPorto, PortugalMay 18, 20233 MIN 58 SECInside Portugal’s tinned-fish industryTinned sardines are an icon of Portugal. We visit a family-run shop and one of the country’s last artisanal canneries to discover why sardines are cherished by the Portuguese, how the industry started back with Napoleon and what is driving the revival of canned fish. Discover more from the country with Portugal: The Monocle Handbook.SubscribeEmailiTunesYouTube
The Chiefs 2022
Monocle’s unique global gathering for the sharpest minds in business.
How Greeland aims to unlock new economic opportunities with a smart airport expansion
Descending over the Greenland ice sheet, en route to Kangerlussuaq, the Air Greenland captain points out Navigator’s Rock straight ahead. It was a landmark used by Second World War pilots based here to confirm that they were on the correct course. As the ice sheet comes to an end, we fly low and close to the mountains before making a series of right turns over the Sondrestrom Fjord as we prepare to land. There are a handful of buildings dotted around the long runway; beyond them sits the empty Arctic landscape stretching for as far as the eye can see. Ilulissat and Disko BayIt is one of Greenland’s many quirks that the largest airfields, with the most reliable weather, were built by the American military during the Second World War when strategic locations for missions rather than proximity to centres of population were the priority. So this one wide-body A330 that Air Greenland owns, referred to by most simply as “the Airbus”, flies daily from Copenhagen into Kangerlussuaq, with its lengthy runway, before turning straight back around again. This is also pretty much the only regular connection to the outside world. Most passengers connect onward aboard the small Dash-8 planes that can land on shorter strips. It makes air travel (and cargo deliveries) inefficient and expensive.But the experience of landing on a transatlantic flight in the middle of nowhere might only have a few years left to run. Greenland is in the midst of an ambitious construction project to expand runways and renew the airports in at least two of its busiest towns, including the capital, Nuuk. When this project is completed in 2024, Air Greenland, and anyone else who cares to enter, will be able to fly directly from its population centres to Europe, North America and beyond.Icefjord Centre, IlulissatThis will have ramifications far beyond increasing tourism – though that is a goal. It stands to diversify trade, bring investment and, in symbolic and tangible ways, broaden Greenland’s horizons beyond Denmark, whose kingdom it is part of. “This is really the key for the next step in developing Greenland,” says Aviaaja Karlshøj Knudsen, executive project director at Kalaallit Airports, which is tasked with building and operating the new terminals in Nuuk and Ilulissat. “We have a real opportunity here. The world’s eyes are on us. And we should think that everything you want to make happen here, you can.” Still, says Knudsen, this won’t mean dozens of new air routes overnight. “It takes time to build up these things; you don’t just fill up an airplane like this,” she says with a snap of her fingers. “There’s a lot of interest in Greenland but in reality it would be a success for us even if we got just one new operator in.” The airports project made its way into international headlines briefly in 2018, when Denmark swooped in to offer cheap funding for their construction after it appeared that China might be on track to win the tender. The Americans, who still operate the Thule military base in the north of the country, also made clear that Chinese infrastructure in Greenland would be a no-go.Now the project is well underway. When it’s finished, the runway in Nuuk will be 2,200 metres long and capable of handling larger aircraft such as the a330. A similar project on a smaller scale is underway in Ilulissat, the main tourist town in Greenland, which is known for the dramatic icebergs that float along its coast all year. There are also plans to build a third new airport in the southern town of Qaqortoq, currently accessible only by scheduled helicopter or ferry, if the government can agree on an acceptable price.Jacob Nitter Sørensen, CEO of Air Greenland, says that they can’t wait to get started on growing the flag carrier’s reach. We meet Sørensen at the airline’s HQ at Nuuk Airport. The plan is to join him onboard a company helicopter to visit some of the mining operations they support – one of the variety of missions the airline undertakes in addition to scheduled flying. Sørensen hopes to have a direct route to North America by 2025. Charter flights from the US and Canada do occasionally come in but a regular service has never been feasible. Sørensen thinks that will change, though he acknowledges that there’s work to do. “Getting more aircraft is the easy part,” he says. “The difficult part is establishing a new market because the market is basically non-existent today.”Helicopter preparing to ‘sling’ rocks at the Greenland Anorthosite Mining drill siteSørensen says that the airline is in discussions with airport authorities in cities such as New York, Washington and Toronto. There is also an agreement with Canadian North to look into the feasibility of service to Iqaluit, a town in Canada that’s just a two-hour flight away from Nuuk. “The Scandinavian market has matured, so growth will have to come from other markets,” says Sørensen. “That will help Greenland diversify and bring more money into our economy. The proceeds will go straight into Greenlandic society and its economy. That’s what we’re working for every day.”Nuuk these days already has the feel of a boom town, even without a major influx from abroad. Construction cranes abound in this small city that sits on a headland at the edge of a large fjord system. Dozens of new apartment buildings dot the rocky outcrops. And the colourful wooden homes flecked along the hillsides overlooking the sea, framed by the Sermitsiaq mountain towering behind, are enough to make one start dreaming up excuses to decamp here. It’s only September and already the aurora is shining bright green every night; there’s freshly caught seafood; the otherworldly fjords are just minutes away from town; and everybody owns a little boat. There is a rawness and a sense of possibility here because it’s so lightly developed – something that’s hard to find in most of the world.Fishing is by far the main industry in Greenland, accounting for more than 90 per cent of exports in 2019. And the Greenlandic government would very much like to shift this single industry dependency. Among the more promising sectors, tourism and mining stand out. Tourism is the low-hanging fruit, with the least politically challenging ramifications – before the pandemic Greenland had about 100,000 visitors a year, half of them cruise passengers. Those working in tourism in Greenland think that the demand is there if travelling becomes easier. They feel they have an opportunity to build a better tourism industry, avoiding pitfalls that others met; Iceland often comes up as a case study.“It’s a unique opportunity to be a part of developing tourism almost from scratch and in times where we’re rethinking tourism in the world,” says Hjörtur Smarason, the new CEO of Visit Greenland, who is Icelandic. He says that they are focused on growing in a measured way and making clear that Greenland would never want to be a mass-tourism destination even if that did become possible.Deputy commander Dan B TermansenConstruction underway at Nuuk AirportBut it’s not as easy as opening the new airports and letting the world in. For starters there is a shortage of hotels. Staying in one of Greenland’s towns tends to involve overpriced, low-quality inns; mid-range hotels can easily run to €300 a night. This is changing with the arrival of upscale spots such as Ilimanaq Lodge to the south of Ilulissat and a new eco-hotel being built by Air Greenland in the ice fjord outside Nuuk. But the pace will need to quicken significantly if the goal really is to create a tourism boom here.“To put it into context, one extra flight a day with a full plane would mean a 100 per cent increase in tourism,” says Smarason. “So what’s important is that we manage to spread out the growth. We need to build a strong brand for Greenland that attracts the people we want and maybe keeps others out. What we want to avoid with the new airports is suddenly getting a bunch of cheap flights and people arriving without plans. That won’t work in Greenland.” Then there’s mining. Among a number of prized resources, Greenland is thought to hold vast quantities of rare earth minerals that are in demand for hi-tech devices and battery production. This could be lucrative, of course, but a push for more extraction poses difficult questions for the left-leaning government in Nuuk that recently took power. Premier Múte Bourup Egede and his Inuit Ataqatigiit party came in on a platform that included cancelling a mining contract held by an Australian company (with minority Chinese backing) to explore a mountain thought to contain massive reserves of rare earth minerals and uranium. Greenland also recently declared that it would stop exploring for oil and gas, citing the environmental costs. There is strong backing for this, sitting as Greenland does at one of the frontlines of climate change (scientists have said that in 2019 the Greenland ice sheet lost about one million tonnes of ice a minute – and the pace has probably quickened). But more mining is still being discussed.Ice abounds in Disko BayIcefjord Centre, Ilulissat“We are onboard and we are open about that issue,” says Naaja Nathanielsen, minister of a rather eclectic line-up of responsibilities, including housing, infrastructure, minerals and gender equality. In her corner office in one of the newer towers in Nuuk, partly occupied by the government, she comes across as confident and optimistic. “The extraction industry could possibly be seen as some sort of opposite to the tourism industry but Greenland needs to have both in order to exist. And I find that they can coexist nicely.”“Public consultation to determine, ‘Are we willing to have mines in this area? How does it fit into the story of our nature?’ We need to have those debates early on.” On our helicopter flight south out of Nuuk it takes just a few minutes before the dramatic landscape dominates the view below. One fjord leads to another and one glacier leads to the next; the water a variety of shades from deep blue to powder green. We land at a small base camp set up by a company called Greenland Anorthosite Mining. It’s just a handful of workers, a cook and a couple of Air Greenland helicopter pilots who are based here to fly big bags of rock and equipment up and down the valley, linking the drilling site with the base station just a few minutes away by plane. The site is headed up by geologist Anders Lie, a co-owner of the company. Lie is a Dane who’s been working in Greenland since 1991 and he looks every bit the part of the weather-worn Danish mountain man, complete with lumberjack-style flannel shirt, as he sits and sips a coffee in the small mess tent. This is still just a prospecting venture. Lie says that there are significant deposits of the mineral, anorthosite, which has a variety of specialist applications, such as building high-end fibreglass. It can be complicated and difficult working in Greenland but Lie says that it’s worth it. “It’s untapped, the last frontier,” he says. “You could go to Africa but the problem is that the mining industry is focused on the security of your licence. In Africa you never know what government you will have next year or what war will break out here or there. Greenland, this is the western world. It’s just next door. You have regulations, you have laws. And you have a population that’s eager to see something happen.” We hop back into the chopper to take a look at the drilling site with Lie, who cracks jokes with the pilot as he directs us around a massive rock face to a suitable landing spot. Lie says that there are strict environmental regulations in place as well as structures designed to ensure that the value generated by mining stays in Greenland, meaning mining no longer has to be a dirty word. “It’s a remote place so in the past nobody would have cared,” says Lie. “Nowadays you have to consider that there are people living in settlements just 25 miles away. Of course when you’re mining, you’re hurting nature but it’s possible to do it in a sensible way, doing no more harm than is needed.”We say our goodbyes and get back onboard the helicopter to fly another 10 minutes south to a ruby mine. The riches of this land are on display here. Not only the boxes full of deep reddish-purple rocks being plucked from the machines in a seemingly endless stream but also what might just be the finest dining set-up you could hope to find in a mine’s cafeteria. On the menu today is snow crab, whale-skin bacon, smoked salmon and reindeer cold cuts.Greenland Anorthosite Mining’s base campA Joint Arctic Command ship in Nuuk’s harbourFilm-maker Aka HansenJoint Arctic Command logoThis year is the 300th anniversary of Danish-Norwegian settler Hans Egede’s arrival in Greenland and on first impression it would appear that he remains an important figure. The capital’s main hotel is named after him and a towering statue of the missionary stands in the older part of town. But authorities decided not to celebrate the anniversary because Egede’s brand of colonialism is not currently popular in Greenland. Someone recently threw red paint on the statue and tagged it with the word “decolonise”. Then again, Egede’s statue has been beheaded in the past, so the paint job seemed mild. A recent referendum, however, revealed that a majority do support keeping the statue in place – a clue to how complicated the old colonial relationship with Denmark is. Even as Greenland now holds a fair degree of autonomy and even runs its own government, the Danish relationship is woven through just about every aspect of life.Aka Hansen is a young film-maker from Nuuk who has been one of the more active pro-independence voices here in recent years. She says that when she was quoted suggesting that the statue of Hans Egede be thrown in the ocean, it got her disinvited from severalkaffemikevents, the Greenlandic tradition of opening one’s home to anyone and everyone when there’s something to celebrate. “There has been a passive politics in how to gain independence,” says Hansen. “The time is actually now to become independent. That would be good for the nation. But I don’t think there has been much of a long-term plan for that.” Now, though, the government is looking at more active ways to develop a self-sustaining economy – and the majority of the Inatsisartut (Greenland’s Parliament) have stated a desire for independence. This has not escaped Denmark’s attention, says Hansen. “They’re trying to keep the bond with Greenland as much as possible, so they’ve become softer, saying ‘I want to include you’ and ‘Tell me more’. Just what happens when the wife comes to the husband and says I want a divorce, and the husband starts to think, ‘OK, what can I do to keep this marriage?'”Joint Arctic CommandGreenland’s government has taken on responsibility for many aspects of life and policy but Denmark remains in charge of defence. Looking after the country’s security is a special contingent of Danish defence known as the Joint Arctic Command, which also looks after the Faroe Islands and much of the sea in between. It has about 300 people in Greenland at any given time – two thirds of them are usually at sea. The Command is tasked with protecting the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark and conducting search and rescue missions. It’s a specialised unit with extensive Arctic experience and a fleet to match, including covert ships with heated superstructures. Denmark committed €200m to upgrade its equipment including coastal radios, drones and satellite surveillance, as well as radar in the Faroe Islands, covering a blind spot where aircraft can currently fly undetected.“In the Arctic, there are challenges with communication; logistics are difficult,” says Deputy commander Dan B Termansen. “We’re near Canada, Alaska, Russia and Norway. And we’re seeing more interest in learning how to operate in the area between Iceland, the UK and Greenland, just like we saw in the cold war.”Denmark sends about €525m to Greenland every year, a figure that accounts for about two thirds of the national budget. It oversees the island’s defence and security, ensures its territorial sovereignty and inspects fisheries, among a number of other things. Many Greenlanders have entirely Danish-sounding names; they and their parents went to Danish schools; nearly everyone speaks both Danish and Greenlandic.Bin full of rubies prior to processingMountains to the south of NuukThese days it’s not just about Denmark. Russia has been building Arctic air bases not far away. China is eager for a way in. The US has been making overtures as well in the form of a new consulate in Nuuk that opened just last year. It caused some consternation in Denmark when the US pledged $12m (€10.3m) in financial assistance to Greenland. Who could forget when Donald Trump stated that he’d like to buy the place? While the comment was characteristically indelicate, there’s real interest from the world’s powers to hold sway in Arctic territories as they become more strategically important. And, as the ice melts, the geopolitical jockeying in the region will only get louder. But, as Nathanielsen says, what else is new? “Greenland has been of interest to the superpowers for many years, so for us it’s not a new thing,” she says. “We have great relations with the US, China and Russia. We are not naive but we have a good position as it is right now.”Drilling-rig operatorCommunications equipment outside the Joint Arctic Command HQAt the very least, it seems that the right debates are being had – and with a handful of new airports on the way, a range of possibilities is opening up. For a place facing so many difficult questions – from the economy to the climate to its relationship with the outside world and what that says about its identity – Greenland’s future looks remarkably bright.