My first go at blogging is a quickie about Monocle. Monocle is a mag about global affairs, business, culture & design – that most importantly covered the bike I did for Caillou http://www.monoclemagazine.com/webprogrammes/Quality-of-Life-Index/Caillou-tandem-Rhode-Island/. The Founder, Editor in Chief & Chairman is Tyler Brûlé, a friendly Canadian born wunder-editor & über-cosmopolite famed for founding neo-modernist Wallpaper* mag & as a columnist for the FT. He has been an important advocate for Copenhagen City as a brand & on a more personal note he has been very kind to me especially by being a supporter of & showcasing my Biomega bicycle named after the same city, Copenhagen.
Monocle is a recommendable & highly entertaining magazine for design driven globetrotters seeking credentials within economics & global affairs & other slightly non-hedonistic subjects. I do pick it up now & then to be let in on where to get the best cup of cortado in Almaty & for this entertainment value . However there is a little aberdabei that keeps itching & I wish the editorial guys would take note. Each time the subject has been one that I had a little more knowledge of than average (not much more & not often) the article has been too superficial & not sharp enough to my liking. One such article was about the bicycle industry. No comments were made on the issue of brands being eroded by the value of the branded aftermarket parts on the bike, how the value chain of brands is being depleted by outsourcing R&D to Chinese OEM makers & by outsourcing marketing to local repair shops. Or of the lack of TQM (of the major players only Giant has really enforced the Toyota method). Or how bicycle brands with an incremental sports marketing approach focus on adding complexity rather than refining simple essential products defined by lifestyles. Etc.
Another article, this one about the Copenhagen airport, failed to spot the main way in which CPH airport is technically differentiated to any other airport: The rampsnake revolutionized ground handling & created new conveyor technology that reduced arduous working conditions & speeded up aircraft turn around. It was a total rethink of aircraft loading to the benefit of both carriers & handlers. With the 3B-Cart System the same design team, CPH Design www.cphdesign.com, also improved working conditions for ground handlers & speeded up aircraft turn-around by tackling integrating solution to baggage handling improving workflow, reducing manpower & eliminating physical lifting.
I had long forgotten about the unbearable lightness of Monocle when I picked up the November 08 issue’s end point observation. It recommend that the new American president (i.e. Obama) should, when in office A, revise the election process, B, redesign the interior of the Oval Offices (& do some licensing deals on it’s furniture), C, revise the etiquette of language usage in speeches, & D, improve the railway infrastructure by introducing European style fast trains. Although, I would love to redesign the Oval Offices & I do agree that fast trains can & should cut down CO2 emissions caused by air traffic, I have a hard time seeing the urgency & priority of these issues. I just do not think that it makes sense for a mag that defines itself partly as a global affairs & business mag to be writing such conclusions during perhaps this century’s most catastrophic financial crisis, the world’s ever most blatantly severe environmental crisis & in the midst of two sad & draining American wars of historic proportions. It might be ironi on their part & me not getting it, but anyway, I would rather recommend resorting to other sources when it comes to these matters e.g. check out http://www.poptech.org/juanenriquez/ regarding the financial crisis in the US or my friend Saul regarding the urgency of reducing CO2 emissions: http://www.poptech.org/blog/index.php/2008/10/23/saul-griffith-100-watts-per-always/
