Films — Design

Hosted every other year, the Venice Architecture Biennale invites some of the most conceptual thinkers from around the world to flex their creative muscles to interpret a set theme. This year's curator was Cincinnati Art Museum director Aaron Betsky and his topic of choice "Out There - Architecture Beyond Building". In the first of two films Sarah Balmond reports on the laboratory of ideas in the Arsenale exhibition grounds.

For the past three decades Japanese fashion brand Tomorrowland has successfully navigated a fiercely competitive and highly sophisticated retail market. Under the helm of Hiroyuki Sasaki it made its name and built its reputation on an ability to modify the western trends of Paris and Milan to the Japanese body shape and taste. Tom Morris reports on the culture of Tomorrowland and its inspired collaboration with Jean Paul Knott in Paris.

Danish Architects Hvidt & Mølgaard have created a state-of-the-art, energy efficient headquarters for Energinet.dk. Thomas Morris reports on a workplace of the future.

This year's Salone Internazionale del Mobile defied the credit crunch with an optimistic mood and a record number of visitors. Sarah Balmond reports on how emerging designers and established brands are responding to turbulent times.

A decade ago it was rare to see a pair of Tokyo teenage boys out shopping in kimonos. But attitudes to national identity are starting to change. Genbei Yamaguchi's new collection for United Arrows is targeting this shift in mood.

The world will be focused on Beijing this August and, if all goes to the Communist Party's plan, we will be overawed by the glittering lights and maximalist construction of a building boom whose bill runs into tens of billions of yuan.  Monocle's Asia Bureau Chief Fiona Wilson visited the city to find out if this is nation-branding folly on a gargantuan scale, or the starting pistol of the Chinese century.

Albam, a British fashion start-up, is keeping costs down without turning to factories in China for help. Founded by entrepreneurial fashion outsiders James Shaw and Alastair Rae, the duo's first shop is a breezy, airy space that shows their collection of menswear and accessories.

Tokyo Designer's Week has become an annual fixture in the creative calendar, with the city literally taken over by exhibitions, events and parties. Monocle explores the shops and galleries of Aoyama, Harajuku and Shibuya to report on the art, the design and, of course, the impossibly fashionable Tokyo crowd.

The Royal Cafe in Copenhagen has given birth to a new culinary phenomenon: Smushi - traditional Danish smørrebrød with a contemporary sushi twist. The idea was created by "gastronaut" Rud Christiansen, who talks to Monocle about the concept that has Asia's retail groups lining up to get a piece of the action.

Architects Takaharu and Yui Tezuka joined forces with Kashiwa Sato, one of Toyko's most respected creative directors, to build and brand, a novel kind of kindergarten in Tachikawa, a suburban area of Tokyo. Monocle's Asia Bureau Chief Fiona Wilson reports on the Roof House concept.

The Arcana Hotel is a new favourite for Tokyoites in search of weekend retreats. Located on the Izu Peninsula, this old ryokan has been refurbished with the help of Osaka furniture design company Graf. Monocle's Asia Bureau Chief Fiona Wilson reports on the design philosophy.

Monocle believes that the measure of a city is more about everyday wonders - pavements, well-designed schools, punctual transport - rather than one-off grand projects. Here's our list of the top 25 urban elements that make a city.

In part two of our Milan Design Diary from the Salone del Mobile, Monocle focuses on the Finnish firm Artek, talking to managing director Mirkku Kullberg and creative director Tom Dixon. We also explore the Artek pavilion, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban.

Milan's Salone del Mobile ranks as the world's biggest industrial design event. This year we dispatched a team of editors to deliver a series of reports in both print and video. For background, see our preview of the event in the May issue of Monocle magazine. In part one of our video report, editor-in-chief Tyler BrûlBrûlé offers the highlights from the fair.

In Monocle issue 02, we featured Los Angeles-based architect Andrea Lenardin Madden. The Austrian modernist might have seemed an odd choice as the design force behind the fast-expanding Sprinkles cupcake empire, yet as Monocle examines her collaboration with Sprinkles in more depth, we find that Lenardin Madden's influence even extends to the cakes.