Monocle 24: The Entrepreneurs

Jonathan Levine is the co-founder and CEO of Master & Dynamic, a New York-based company that makes high-end headphones and audio accessories. Levine talks about the early days of the company, its many collaborations and why it is important to be a contrarian at times.

Peter Cahill is the founder of Voysis, an Irish start-up that has developed an intelligent personal assistant to rival the likes of Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. Cahill tells us about his journey and why being independent is an advantage in the market.

Melody Adams and partner Nemanja Borjanovic were working in the City before a trip to San Sebastián inspired them to quit and open a restaurant. Serving traditional Basque cuisine, Donostia was launched in 2012 in London's Marylebone; just three years later their second restaurant, Lurra, opened its doors on the same street. So how, with no previous experience, do you become a success in one of the world's toughest industries?

Marc Popper is the co-founder of Italian-inspired espresso bar and restaurant Café Paradiso in Geneva. In this episode he tells us how his previous work in branding helped him conceptualise the Paradiso and how he partnered with his previous clients to open it.

Alex Wolpert is the founder of the East London Liquor Company, a distillery located in a former glue factory in Bow Wharf. Founded in 2013 with the intention of reviving east London’s lost legacy of distilling, the company now produces around 15,000 bottles a month. Wolpert explains how the brand is able to produce affordable spirits in the costly capital.

Founded in 2013, Bather was the product of an incorrectly packed suitcase sent to Croatia that led Kyle Kaminsky to realise that there was a gap in the market for affordable high-quality men’s swimwear. He decided to start his own brand of colourful trunks made locally in his native Canada, catering primarily to a North American market. Here Kyle tells us the story behind Bather.

James Leay is part of the team behind Make Shift, a social enterprise that designs, builds and manages new public destinations that house independent businesses. Make Shift has been behind successful revitalisations of London spaces such as Pop Brixton and the new Peckham Levels. Here Leay tells us about the business model and his plans for the future.

In this special edition of ‘The Entrepreneurs’, we look back at 2017 with six of the bravest and boldest entrepreneurs in everything from technology and design to media and fashion to find out what lies behind their success. The episode includes conversations with Miguel McKelvey from WeWork, Mark Adams from Vitsoe, Serena Guen from Suitcase, Gavin Eddy from The Frome Independent, Whitney Wolfe from Bumble and David Hieatt of Hiut Denim.

Mark Cass opened Cass Art, a shop offering top-quality art material in 1984. Since then the brand has grown and it now has over 10 locations across the UK. Mark tells us the story of a company that wants to fill towns with artists and explains how getting to know his customers has changed the direction of the brand.

We talk about how to get the most out of the holiday season. We go to meet Erwin Perzy III of Original Viennese Snow Globes, the first snow-globe maker in the world; Chantal Coady, the founder of Rococo Chocolates in London and Johanna Weiste, who runs a traditional Finnish Christmas decoration business.

Natasha Arselan launched online auction house AucArt in December 2017. The platform supports emerging talent by offering art directly from the studios of final-year students and early career artists. By cutting the overhead costs of the gallery, AucArt can sell works at a lower price point and give a higher percentage of the sale back to the artist. In this episode, Arselan tells us about how her passion for discovering new art guided the enterprise and how she hopes to disrupt the art world.

Jack Bensimon is the founder and president of Canada’s largest independent advertising agency, Bensimon Byrne. Founded in 1993 by Bensimon and longtime friend Peter Byrne, the agency has been responsible for some of the most memorable ads in Canadian history. The Toronto-based agency is one of few in the world to ever buy itself back from a multinational holding company. Here Bensimon tells us the story of the company, the ideas behind some of its major campaigns and why independence is so important to them.

Alastair Rae and James Shaw founded independent menswear label Albam in 2006. The brand, which focuses on utilitarian and versatile design combined with a high-quality craftsmanship, quickly found its niche between the high street and high fashion. In this episode, Alastair Rae reflects on the brand 11 years on.

Kirsty Whyte and Paul Tanner had more than 25 years of experience in the design world, working in Habitat and Made.com, before deciding to start their own business. In 2015 they launched the minimalist vintage inspired watch brand, Freedom To Exist as a side project to their day-jobs. This week they tell us how they manage their time between both jobs, what they have learned along the way and the secrets to working with your partner.

A former officer in the Danish army reserve, Hedvig Alexander founded Far and Wide Collective in 2013 with the goal of opening North American markets to artisans in developing countries.