ANTIQUES OR VINTAGE PRODUCTS SHOW CRAFTSMENSHIP AND ATTENTION TO DESIGN
MONOCLE A BRIEFING ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS, BUSINESS, CULTURE & DESIGN
Why is it that we still find old things desirable? In our MONOCLE EDITS this month we have a look at some vintage and antique for sale
issue 56 . volume 06 JULY/AUGUST 2012
A AFFAIRS The simple roundabout isnt all that simple
BUSINESS Does enforcing a uniform in the work place create grey B areas? CULTURE Not eating what you C want when going to a resurant is a shame
D DESIGN Are young designers loosing touch?
E EDITS Our antique/vintage product page
Things for sale
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On the edits page you will find lots of vintage goodies for sale like printing blocks, old film projectors, cameras, and sowing machine
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The next best thing? Are Qr codes really that great?
Food glorious food Say no to restraint in restaurants
CONTENTS
July/ August 2012
024.............. Contributors The writers and photographers who made this
issue.
027-032....... The Edition MONOCLE’S world: charting our photographers’ and
correspondents’ global progress for this issue.
024.............. Opener Make the route from A to B not just smoother but also
more enjoyable. Our editor in chief charts a new journey.
A 039-045...... ColombiaThe writers and photographers who made this
issue.
047.............. Europe MONOCLE’S world: charting our photographers’ and
correspondents’ global progress for this issue.
048.............. Asia Make the route from A to B not just smoother but also
more enjoyable. Our editor in chief charts a new journey.
039-045...... ColombiaThe writers and photographers who made this
issue.
047.............. Europe MONOCLE’S world: charting our photographers’ and
correspondents’ global progress for this issue.
048.............. Asia Make the route from A to B not just smoother but also
more enjoyable. Our editor in chief charts a new journey.
039-045...... ColombiaThe writers and photographers who made this
issue.
047.............. Europe MONOCLE’S world: charting our photographers’ and
correspondents’ global progress for this issue.
048.............. Asia Make the route from A to B not just smoother but also
more enjoyable. Our editor in chief charts a new journey.
039-045...... ColombiaThe writers and photographers who made this
issue.
047.............. Europe MONOCLE’S world: charting our photographers’ and
correspondents’ global progress for this issue.
048.............. Asia Make the route from A to B not just smoother but also
PHOTOGRAPHER: Kyleigh Bezuidenhout
more enjoyable. Our editor in chief charts a new journey.
B 039-045...... ColombiaThe writers and photographers who made this
issue.
047.............. Europe MONOCLE’S world: charting our photographers’ and
correspondents’ global progress for this issue.
048.............. Asia Make the route from A to B not just smoother but also
more enjoyable. Our editor in chief charts a new journey.
ISSUE
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EDITORIAL
Kyleigh Bezuidenohout
Magazine -- Plan and execute 8 double page spreads for Monocle Magazine. The 16 Pager magazine includes 1 Final Cover all of which is selfgenerated content & imagery in line with the Monocle Demographic and based on the same grid system and typographic treatment -- Use your own photography and illustrations that matches the existing content.
The Project for this module required me to create a sixteen page Monocle Magazine, it had to reflect the way Monocle Magazine looks buy creating a working grid system,matching their typography and imagery I started off by copying the Monocle layout directly to get the feel of the text sizes and layout, once done, I developed a grid system that included nine columns across and nine down each with a 4mm margin, once the grid was in place I started designing my own version of Monocle. The illustrations developed through Looking at reference of cartoonish vector art Simplistic
“childlike� look that Monocle has in many of their illustrations, so I created cartoon characters, everyone in the same style but with something unique to that character, the only two illustrations that differ completely is the QR diagram, and the Stockholm double page illustration which was traced from photographs I found off the internet, although the illustrations differ I maintained the same colour palette through out, the colour palette actually developed through taking an existing Monocle illustration, dragging it into Photoshop, then pixelating it to get to a few basic colours that work together,
A REPORT
Cell phones
CAN YOU GET BY WITHOUT YOUR PHONE? Global
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WRITER:
Andrew Tuck
Sherry Turkle psychologist and professor at MIT Sherry Turkle has written a book, Alone Together, that looks at how technology is changing the ways we relate to each other and create our inner lives. Much of the book investigates the impact on children but she also details how adults use their phones and technology to create false closeness and by default, an aching distance. In a recent piece in the New York Times, Turkle explained how technology allowed us to disengage at will, helped us to avoid conversation when things got too uncomfortable or just dull. Her piece ended, “I spend the summers at a cottage on Cape Cod, and for decades I walked the same dunes that Thoreau once walked. Not too long ago, people walked with their heads up, looking at the water, the sky, the sand and
at one another, talking. Now they often walk with their heads down, typing. Even when they are with friends, partners, children, everyone is on their own devices.” It’s a vision we have all been part of, unfortunately. I’d like to change; well, I think I would. A couple of people close to me have tried interventions but I have beaten off their sect-crushing ways. Yet I watch people on trains unable to look up and see the passing mountains
or the friends at dinner who are there it seems to keep sending messages to Facebook acquaintances, or the lovers who miss the flicker in their partner’s eyes and I see a bit of me. It’s not very pretty. However, if you have managed to stay focused for the past 500 words, congratulations, you are a rare and special person. Indeed one of a dying breed. “What’s that? What did that guy just say? What’s a lying weed?”
Children can’t concentrate these days. Children? It’s the adults who are the problem. If someone sits and listens to you tell a story for more than 10 minutes without checking the email on their BlackBerry or quickly replying to that text from Aunt Maud on their iPhone, it can only mean one thing – they were recently robbed of their telephonic hardware. You could be detailing the most revealing or tragic story or even be telling your best friend that you’ve got a cancerous lump and the best you can hope for is a “Sorry, I missed that, you say you have a bad humour?” Our modern inability to focus has been well-documented but what’s most intriguing is that it’s not age-related. I should know, I am that man.Now, I am at a company where we are kind of on call most of the time and in a way that I am very happy about – correspondent in trouble? I’d like to know. Tokyo office needs a response? Sure, I’m there. But I am also the person who finds their BlackBerry an itch that just needs to be scratched. I look before I go to sleep. If I wake up in the night and see it flashing its little red light I’ll be tempted to see what’s occurring. Tempted?
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A REPORT
Roundabout
02 Going around in circles The roundabout preface A roundabout way of doing something is a term that is always used pejoratively – shorthand for time wasted and a more direct route not followed. WRITER:
Tom Edwards
But such a turn of phrase fails to give credit to one of the great infrastructure elements of the modern world. The humble roundabout may be a mere item of traffic furniture but it serves a critical function, especially in our cities and across busy road networks. But what I had failed to appreciate until recently is what the roundabout really says about us. Here in London we are blessed with some of the most impressive gyratory systems you’ll find anywhere on the planet. Negotiating the notoriously busy Hyde Park Corner on a bicycle at the weekend I was struck by the nuances and cooperation that it takes to tackle a big roundabout effectively.
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Negotiating the notoriously busy Hyde Park Corner on a bicycle at the weekend I was struck by the nuances and cooperation that it takes to tackle a big roundabout effectively. Buses, cars, bikes and even the odd member of the household cavalry were all being kept on the move as a result. There is a more expansive worldview necessary, perhaps, to engage with the ebb and flow of these islands in our streets. And maybe that’s why some of our friends overseas are slightly more suspicious of roundabouts. The traffic light-controlled intersections favoured in America for example are absolute – it’s tough easing a path through a stop sign. Some might say that suits the no-nonsense US mindset – you know where you stand when red means stop and green means go.
C CULTURE
Briefing
CELEBRATY CHEFS SHOULD STAY IN THE KITCHEN Global These days, standing behind a kitchen counter is the best way to reach fame. Who wants to be a rock star when you can be a chef? Why workout for a movie when you can reach celebrity status by growing a gut? “The spatula is the new guitar,” said a comment I recently read on a food blog. And it is. What Julia Child started back in the 1960s with cooking shows in a modest kitchen set has now turned into a multimillion dollar entertainment business that has led to primetime shows like MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen and Iron Chef, not to mention Mrs Child’s own Hollywood adaptation, Julie & Julia. There are whole TV channels – the Food Network in the US, Canal Gourmet in Latin America – that are dedicated to running back-to-back clips of non-stop chopped, baked, fried and sizzled amusement. It’s no wonder then that today parents prefer to send their young kids to cookie-making courses
courses rather than piano lessons and young graduates are no longer told off when they decide to pursue a career in restaurants. More and more culinary schools and academies are popping up around the world to join the established ranks of le Cordon Bleu, the Culinary Institute of America or the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne. According to the Career Education Corporation in the US – a company that manages 17 culinary academies in the country – there’s been an increase of more than 46 per cent in enrollments since 2008. This is the generation that wants to see the well-groomed chef posing as judge in a food competition, the chatty cook smirking at the camera, the buff baker flexing his muscles while working the dough. Long gone are the days of tired chefs smoking cigarettes in back alleys, wiping the sweat off their faces with stained and greasy aprons.—(SR)
Restaurants are no place for restraint
London
Drinks at a smart hotel after work. Two glasses of something chilled. And two bowls: one piled high with fat green olives, the other teeming with something roasted and nutty. After a few sips I want both and go in for the olives. My guest, woman with less fat on her body than a gazelle, touches neither. Not wanting to look greedy, I leave them alone too. After 30 minutes an aproned waiter switches the bowls for fresh ones – despite them only being one olive down on their original haul. Breakfast at one of those London restaurants where trade is brisk even at 8am. This time I have been invited along to talk about a new publishing venture. I order – eggs, scrambled, and, yes, toast, And coffee? Of course. My host slides the menu to one side and says, “just an orange juice”.Dinner with friends. It’s pudding time. The first person demures, “I’d better not”. And then it’s a cascading dominoes effect.—(AT)
Restaurants become less places to eat and more amphitheatres for gladiatorial battles of calorific denial. No wonder some – serious – business books suggest that you eat before you go to a key lunch so that you don’t look greedy and certainly never risk getting spinach tooth. Alcohol is particularly tricky. When your lunchtime date asks if you’d like a glass you have to be cautious it’s not a trick question. You say, yes, and they reveal a long history of alcoholism (it’s happened to me more than once). I tend to press on but the message is clear – you have a job where you don’t have to be as sharp as your dining companion – or is that “opponent”? Even the bread basket promises both tasty temptations and carbohydrate remorse. I recently tore off a piece of something perfectly plump and just out of an oven and one of the people at my table gasped. And a real gasp. “Do you eat bread?” he wondered. ISSUE 56—
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D
REPORT
Design
01 Freeze – put your logos where I can see them! London
DESIGN SHOULD SPEAK FOR ITSELF Global WRITER Hugo Macdonald
Today’s young designers are impressively versed in the art of branding across many different forms of media. Whilst in Milan recently for the annual Salone Internazionale del Mobile furniture fair, the stands dedicated to graduates and students were populated as much by new products as they were by videos, animations, cartoons, illustrations, graphics and sophisticated branding to promote them. Designing a chair is only half the story for a student these days – designing the message and story that comes with it is seemingly as important a part of the process. I’ve returned with a small forest of printed material, a library of CDs and USB sticks. And going through it in an attempt to file it all I’m struck by how obscuring it is of the designs it’s all intended to promote. I have a 32-page manga comic devised around a single chair but I can’t remember what the chair looks like. I have a rather cheesy fashion magazine promoting a love story around a toilet. It’s not even tongue in cheek. Sophisticated branding is of course brilliant. But I’m a little worried it’s getting out of control as far as young designers are concerned. Does a table really need a book and a short film to explain why it’s good design? The notion of good design is that it should speak for itself. It’s not just that there’s a lot of material to wade through that’s the problem, it’s that young designers feel it’s necessary – and enough – to sell their design.
A middle-aged man in official-looking clothing marches down the street. He’s determined, on a mission. He spots his target, a group of unassuming teenage tourists from Seoul. He approaches, gives a stern talk with a furrowed brow and sends them off (sans jumpers with a sporty swoop). A lesson learned, a rule enforced, a code maintained. By now you’ve heard of the Olympic “brand police” – that hardened and roving unit of nearly 300 officers trained and licensed to kill (the spirit of) gamesgoers in London. They’ll be making the rounds on the high streets and at the events themselves – all to make sure competitors of big name sponsors don’t get eyeballs or airtime. They’ll scan the crowds for groups wearing contraband logos, or for companies touting official phrases without approval. At the risk of comparing product placement with religious freedom, I can’t help but be reminded of those famously joy-killing chaps in Saudi Arabia: the mutaween – an Orwellian outfit if there ever was one. Members of the mutaween (or the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) surf the Kingdom’s urban hotspots in search of Shariah non-compliant dress and behaviour. WRITER Daniel Giacopelli
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D
REPORT
Design
02 Car
New concepts should be useful Global WRITER Hugo Macdonald
I hope I’m not alone in having a childish, churlish, fairly instant dislike of anything designated “the next big thing”. I don’t like to have my social and consumer habits dictated to me by a merry band of self-appointed forecasters. And it seems that sticking a “next big thing” label on anything is one of the best ways to ensure said person or trend never takes off. More often than not, hyped “next big things” are to be found, decades later languishing in a pile of dead concepts. Take my old pager, the idea of phoning an operator to enter a string of numbers and a message, for it to then be sent to a friend who had to use their phone to respond, seems charming and archaic. And mad, frankly. One current “next big thing” that I would happily see consigned to the dustbin of history is the QR code – those mangled black and white squares that are everywhere. Returning from Heathrow this week I had a terrifying awakening not unlike a scene in a sci-fi horror film. Leaving from the plane I noticed a QR code on an advert and then another, and another and another. On my short journey across London I counted thousands. Blinking, blank, meaningless codes staring down at me, promising more information if only I’d point my phone in their direction.
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The next day, fuelled by intrigue, I tried it. Standing at my train station I pointed the camera of my BlackBerry at a QR code on a fairly innocuous deodorant advertisement. Nothing happened. I felt a bit foolish. Being the technical Luddite that I am, I hadn’t downloaded the software needed for the magic to happen. Who knew? Who on Earth does this? Has anyone outside the testing lab or ad boardroom ever successfully accessed the information that lies within? They are, of course, exceptionally clever little things. The genius offspring of the barcode and the automotive industry – Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota to be precise. Their original function was to track parts and cars on their journey through the production line.
It didn’t take long for the advertising industry to get in on the action. The idea was simple – slap a QR code on your advertisement and anyone with a smartphone and a measure of curiosity could be transported instantly to a website that told you everything you’d want to know and more. The idea might be simple to a boardroom of ad and marketing execs – but did nobody stop to question if it might be a tiny bit ridiculous? An advert is about selling an idea instantly, cleverly, mesmerisingly through an image and a message. Who has time to stand in front of an advert, fiddle around with a smartphone and then read reams. The whole concept is a complete anathema to what the advertising industry stands for. I hate them. Please don’t get sucked into this “next big thing”.
www.car.com
04 Whats the difference? London Soon we may not be able to discern the differences between the products of Apple, Samsung, Sony and the rest. And taking away price and production line ethics, it will predictably be design and content that determine whether we can perceive the value in a device. Fortunately for Apple they excel at both of these things, which is worrying for the competition. However if any tech giant’s next product only has invisible features, then even their most pious fans may be questioning their desire to acquire.—(HM)
03 Technological advances increasingly hard to see London I am not a particularly pious person. And religious education always struck me as an odd subject to include on the national curriculum. Schooling atheist teenagers must be an unrewarding job. Perhaps because it was such futile task that the lessons often veered into philosophy and ethics. Something must have stuck, though, as I recently recalled a particular lesson in which we discussed the philosophical puzzle “if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”. Apple, I noticed recently, had made a similar metaphysical announcement in introducing their iPad 2 screen. The new technology apparently featured “pixels so small your eye cannot see them”. Does the tree make a sound and, if the pixel is too small to see, can I see it? The tree puzzle is about perception – how do we truly know if something exists if we cannot see or hear it.
How much sharper can the picture get and how mega or micro does a pixel have to be? Frankly, who’s counting pixels
Of course, the tree does make a sound – and the effect of the too-small-tosee pixels is noticeable in the improved sharpness of the picture. But how much sharper can the picture get and how mega or micro does a pixel have to be? Frankly, who’s counting pixels these days anyway? Megabytes, megapixels, high-def… these have become meaningless
bullet points on the packaging of all gadgets. The real puzzle for technology is: if we have reached a point where improvements are unnoticeable, how do you convince your consumers to buy your product? And if innovation is innocuous, why bother striving to improve it? If we can’t see or notice it, do we want it?—(HM) ISSUE 56—
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E EDITS
Vintage 13 11 10
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Vintage for life
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Global
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Antiques The origin of collecting objects might not be detectable, but the history of particular items being collected is. Books have been collected and cataloged for centuries. Vintage collectibles, however, are a recent phenomenon that began to appear during the middle of the 19th century and is directly linked to the Industrial Revolution. Through new manufacturing practices, society began to have the capability to produce items in large quantities. In turn, they also had more leisure time and income and developed into a consumer culture that began to collect whatever appealed to them most. It wasn’t until World War II that collectibles and the hobby of collecting began to grow
Dating an item is necessary to identify something as vintage. The dating process may be as simple as finding a maker’s (manufacturer or artist) mark and year stamped on the item. Items that are not stamped with a date might need further research. Locating a maker’s mark and tracking down the year through the manufacturer or a historical record of the manufacturer or by identifying the manufacturing process, a particular design theme or material used and verifying its history are techniques used to date a collectible.
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01) Film canisters with film inside.02)Elpress printing tray with selection of letter blocks.03)1970 ELMO film projector, including casing.04) Slide film projector.05)Revenue.S handy cam with original casing.06)Minolta camera with a 38mm lens.07)Necchi sowing maching.08) Miranda camera with 50mm lens.09)Cannon handy cam.10)Three Posso film canisters)Vivitar 230mm lens with casing.12)Soligar 450mm lens with casing.13)Individual Elpress letter blocks
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City Hall: The City of Stockholm is governed from the City Hall. Around 200 politicians and civil servants have their offices here. The Mayor of Stockholm is Mr Sten Nordin. The City’s political organisation also comprises eight governing Vice Mayors who are full-time politicians and appointed by the City Council.
Old Town: (Gamla Stan) is the Stockholm’s original city centre and consists of Stadsholmen island and the islets of Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen and Strömsborg. The Old Town dates from the 13th century but most buildings are from the 17- and 1800s. It’s a glorious labyrinth of charming cobbled streets, alleyways, faded mustard and rust coloured town houses and meeting squares reflecting north German architecture
Chokladkoppen: Cozy little café at idyllic Stortorget Square, not far from the Royal Palace in the medieval Old Town. Exquisite sandwiches and pastries, and in summer a popular alfresco section.
Riddarholmen also is part of Stockholm’s historic center. Riddarholmskyrkan is a well-known silhouette of Stockholm .
Storkyrkan:
The Royal Palace: With 608 rooms, the Stockholm Royal Palace is the biggest palace in the world still used by a head of state - King Carl XVI Gustav.
situated on the highest plateau of Gamla stan. Storkyrkan counts its history from the time of Birger Jarl in the 1300th Centuary.
C REPORT
Johnnesburg/Pretoria
01
THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE Moyos preface If you are looking for a great African experience look no futher than Joburg city with Moyos resturant/ tourist attraction! WRITER Kyleigh Bezuidenhout
PHOTOGRAPHER Kyleigh Bezuidenhout
moyo is the realisation of one man’s passion for all things African - from art and design to music, cuisine and crafts. In 1998, Jason Lurie started moyo as a small 120-seater restaurant in Norwood, Johannesburg, serving exceptional African cuisine amidst soulful vibes. Today, live African music and sophisticated African dining are the benchmarks of the seven evocative moyo establishments. In 2002, stylish moyo Melrose Arch rose from its granite bedrock to five enchanting levels offering diverse fine-dining experiences to privileged guestsThen the winelands of the Western Cape called our name, and magical moyo Stellenbosch emerged - surrounded by ancient oak trees. On Spier Wine Estate, moyo treats guests to a supreme African-inspired buffet, All these diverse moyo venues embody the modern, vibrant soul of Africa through evocative cuisine and inspired entertainment - but also through moyo Retail, which offers shoppers handcrafted jewelry and classic keepsakes from Africa. The full moyo experience can now also be enjoyed away from the seven venues, through moyo Functions, while unique children’s parties are created through moyo Kids.
02 The gift shop
Not only a great place to eat From quirky lampshades to custom-made couches, and intricate mosaic dining tables, plus moyo live music CDs and hand chosen African artifacts, it’s all available at moyo Retail’s six outlets. Importantly, moyo supports both creativity and job creation, so suppliers and pieces are carefully chosen to reflect Africa’s vivid imagination.
01 Barn 52
A quaint restaurant in Pretoria preface This elegant,place is a perfect fit for its location in Irene. A view from the outside area, you see the dairy farm and spacious hills leading to Cornwall Hill WRITER
Kyleigh Bezuidenhout
PHOTOGRAPHER Kyleigh Bezuidenhout
Barn 52 in the Southdowns shopping centre in Irene is a diner-style restaurant. It’s the kind of place – especially with the expansive views, where you take a book and a friend who wants to hang out, enjoy drinks and a slow meal which should take you through a Sunday morning… In winter there’s a cosy fire and the upstairs section has a totally different feel with sassy interiors. The bathrooms are contemporary chic and the bar is well stocked and a strong design feature lantur. This is the perfect venue to enjoy a unique cocktail on the terrace, while enjoying an awesome view over Pretoria. Peter, the owner, took a Tribeca franchise there in about 2007, but Tribeca never really works as a franchise. Peter could now stamp his own mark on the theme, menu and layout of a really remarkable eatery. Once inside all that was forgotten as we cosied up to a table right by the fireplace, which was burning bright.
The thing that strikes you first is the retro-chic decor, from the floral wallpaper, to the old skool Coke fridge that looks like an ice-cream freezer at the local garage. The fireplace brings a cozyness to the place and the staff are friendly and unpretentious, The wine list is unique and filled with the brands, but also with some unknown gems that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. The winelist is stuck on an empty wine bottle that sits on the table, with the cocktail menu pasted on the other side.
The thing that strikes you first is the retro-chic decor, from the floral wallpaper, to the old school Coke fridge
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