How do you make people think it’s fun to dress up in rubber? That’s the challenge facing a diving industry fed up with its image as a sport for middle-aged holiday-makers in the Maldives. At Boot 2011 they seem to have the…
Singer Nana Mouskouri is now retired but her songs remain inseparable from Greek culture. She’s a staunch nationalist, having lived through Greece’s transition to a democracy, and is determined that her proud country will…
In this issue, for our World Cup series, we visit Puma, the sports brand that has become most associated with African football. As the competition heads to the continent, will Puma be the PR victor?
Presidents take his calls and children in 128 countries hang on his every word. But Magnus Scheving, creator of the TV show ‘LazyTown’, is also a reluctant national icon (to be blunt, he thinks he may have outgrown his…
Slovenian hero Martin Strel has swum solo the entire lengths of the Danube, Mississippi, Yangtze and Amazon, winning Guinness World Records for the first three. He’s become the chunky embodiment of Slovenia: plucky, brave…
As skyscrapers are built ever higher, and architecture becomes more complex, there is a demand for elevator systems that can move thousands of people in minutes. A leading manufacturer, Schindler, is investing in double…
Turkey’s aviation market is growing faster than China’s, and Turkish Airlines is helping turn Istanbul into a hub that could soon rival Dubai. CEO Temel Kotil explains how traditional Turkish hospitality has been key to his…
The Eklund family has made the world’s most desirable vinyl flooring for over half a century. But now their seasonal collections are winning praise from the worlds of fashion, architecture and design. *Monocle* meets Swe…
There’s no shame coming second, particularly when phase two of your new metro is about to go live, your airport is a joy, you can bike safely through the city and you have so many stunning residents.
In our regular series on the world’s more obscure yet inspirational trade fairs, Monocle despatched a team to Rimini to cover Sigep, one of the biggest ice cream trade conventions in the world.
Modern warfare is not simply divided between conventional and nuclear, guerrilla or acts of terrorism. It’s a complicated mix of all these and more. But what to buy to defend yourself? Every two years, defence firms gather…
Everyone from parents to President Putin is attacking the vending and amusement machine industry. As the key players gathered in Europe to launch a counter attack, we were there to see if all their cherries would come up…
