Tyler Brûlé's international brand (actually just a magazine at the moment), the dandyish-sounding
Monocle (grandly subtitled 'briefing on global affairs, business, culture & design') launched yesterday. I picked up a copy at the decidedly unglamorous WHSmith in Victoria Station and flicked through a copy during the 1 o'clock news, expecting more briefings on homme's underwear than geopolitics.
Nice and thick (which is what you expect for a fiver) and, unless it flops (as a segment on R4's Today show predicted), a neat decimalized 10 issues a year, it exudes design thought (nay, obsession). The cover shot of a Japanese military pilot brings back the old Face magazine's 1980s
fascination with Japan, but also happily blends style (TB seems obsessed with Japanese design) and a contemporary topic that's a bit off the radar, but will soon be bleeping loudly. (Think North Korea). And it's not as obvious as China.
But back to the design: an almost square small folio size, matte paper, a good contents page, 'serious' serif font. And full of interesting stuff. The ability to make the reader feel smug (as though they're really a global jetsetter, with several Bauhaus pads dotted around the globe) is undeniable. Get spotted reading one, and you'll look a complete poseur, mind.
I loved the review of
Barter Books ('The British Library of secondhand bookshops' -
The New Statesman - I'm tempted to comment but won't) in the, ahem,
'Well Stacked' section. More book reviews needed though - and where is the 'virtual' world in all of this.
And the photo-essay on Les Chaux-de-Fonds reminded me of my time in
Besançon. The fun section on Porter bags owed a bit to Flickr's '
what's in my bag' group and - yes - revealed the expected Zimmerli briefs.
Finally, Monocle is cycle-friendly, easily stashed in an S-Bag, and with lots of plugs for Skeppshult bikes.
Only complaint - needs some sort of built in ribbon as a bookmark.
