September was a monumental month for Mon0cle magazine — the British-based style, design, culture and politics bible headed by Tyler Brûlé. Just a few weeks back, Editor-in-Chief Brûlé sold a 20 percent interest in Monocle to Japanese media behemoth Nikkei Inc. in a deal that valued his baby at some $115 million.
And more recently, Monocle just released its second stand-alone book, “The Monocle Guide to Good Business” (above). Filled with detail-rich reporting, the hardcover features entrepreneurial ideas, case studies of successful businesses and Monocle’s great design.
As he embarks on a peripatetic autumn, Brûlé spoke with us about good design, wise investments and his native Canada.
The design icon — living or dead — who’s most inspired me has to be the late Danish architect and furniture designer Mogens Koch, who is best known for his 1930s-era chairs and bookcases. He launched a thousand shelving imitators still keeping us organized.
One brand that offers great products for small-scale living is Muji. I particularly love their furniture pieces by industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa and would love to see them bring their entire Japanese range to the US and sell it properly.
Portland, Ore., is an American city that really gets it right — with the ideal scale, strong small enterprise and good wines. Another US city working well is Honolulu, which manages to be both American while still keeping one foot in Asia.
When it comes to quality of life, New York has a few key improvements to make: Chief among them is high-speed, nonstop rail links to its main airports. It also needs good public schools, better public housing and great places to swim for free in its parks and harbor — clean it all up and follow Copenhagen’s lead.
One of the things the US can learn from Canada is the wisdom of investing in good infrastructure — because infrastructure is key. Canada is way ahead when it comes to investing in roads, public rail and airports.
Cities need to find a way to balance creativity with affordability — and places like Tapei, Lisbon, Torino and especially Berlin are managing to get it right. Because there comes a point when cities simply become too much of a drain on people’s cash reserves and they up having to live elsewhere.
If I had $5 million to invest right now, I would consider purchasing property in either Northern Italy, Tokyo, Lisbon or perhaps some of the finer neighborhoods in Athens.