Everyone is talking about the pocket store Monocle has opened in Manhattan’s West Village with its carefully (and, thus far, sparsely) edited selection of goods. The best offering is Monocle Mediterraneo, its 64-page broadsheet jam-packed with essays on topics “serious and saucy” pertaining to the Mediterranean. Issue 01, appearing in June, was such a huge success that they are now putting issue 02, a winter version, to bed.
Tyler Brule, the “Admiral of the Fleet” of contributors, never ceases to surprise with equal measures of whimsy and grit. The genesis for the paper? “A completely sun, water, tanning oil and sweat-friendly print media product” was the brief. And after struggling unsuccessfully all summer to read my ipad in the sunshine, what a relief to have something fun and informative that I can actually see.