“Inspired by Melbourne. For the global citizens.
We live in a golden era of creativity and craftsmanship. In this collaboration, we explore a product inspired by the affluential publishing house: Monocle. The London based publishing house speaks to the globally-minded audience of readers hungry for opportunities and experiences beyond their own borders. We’re excited to share a product which combines the essence of local craftsmanship with a focus on organisation towards a global scale.
Flinders Street Station Melbourne - Photo by Martin Maras
Inspired by Monocle Magazine
“Monocle is one of the most successful magazines to be developed within the past decade. Armed with an unmistakable sense of aesthetics and journalistic tenacity, it’s team, led by editor-in-chief Tyler Brûlé has created an intelligent publication that continually inspires a global readership who are interested in everything from diplomacy to design.” - Monocle
Monocle Shop Tokyo - Photo by Hans Suhartanto
Monocle is a globe-trotting lifestyle print magazine, founded in 2007 by Tyler Brûlé, a Canadian entrepreneur, Financial Times columnist, and founder of Wallpaper magazine. Monocle’s titles range from popular travel-books to guides on drinking and dining, cosy homes, good business and more. Each magazine exudes a sense of awe and luxury - consistently present throughout their website and retail presence.
Degraves Street Melbourne - Photo by Martin Maras
Inspired by Melbourne
“Melbourne is a city with picture-perfect terrace houses, an enviable cache of cultural hotspots, and more sleek speciality coffee shops then you can shake a bag of finely ground beans at.” - Monocle
Those familiar with Melbourne are well versed in experiencing its renowned reputation for coffee, arts, and liveability - first hand. We drew inspiration from the eclectic cityscape and injected a subtle note of Monocle’s confidence. The result? An amalgamation of locally designed/sourced materials with the culture Melbourne exudes and the character Monocle emanates.
Brighton Beach Melbourne - Photo by Martin Maras
We carefully selected locally sourced Kangaroo leather native to Australia as a focus for the collaboration. Olive became the colour of choice as we drew influence from fashion influenced by the era of an influential British & American military presence.
Read on for more info on the production.
Brunswick Street Fitzroy - Photo by Martin Maras
Exclusively for Monocle, ridiculously Melbourne.
Monocle’s mantra is: “Think globally, act locally.” And so we did. The result is an Australian designed and made, locally sourced and produced Key Organiser.
For this collaboration: We designed, crafted, and assembled Australian made leathers into a one-of-a-kind Key Organiser, inspired by Monocle, for Monocle.
Isaac Francis in his workshop in Brunswick Victoria
Measuring the thickness of each hide. Due to the nature of the hardware, the leather had to meet very particular thickness requirements.
Applying glue to the PVC stiffening layer. This material is used to give the leather some structure.
The vegetable-tanned Kangaroo was procured from a tannery local to Sydney - a city surrounded by water and beautiful beaches. Issac Francis, founder of IEFrancis (local Melbourne design studio based in Brunswick, Victoria) delicately handcrafted each Key Organiser band from scratch. His craftsmanship and attention to detail are unparalleled. See the images for yourself.
Holding a blank, ready to be embossed and then sewn.
After cutting each one out, Isaac inspect each one closely to make sure there aren’t any problems.
Each one was sewn with a bonded nylon thread. This thread is amazing as it’s super strong.
This is finishing the edges again. Each one had one coat, was left to dry, and then had another coat applied. This results in a nice thick layer.
Features:
- Vegetable-tanned full-grain Kangaroo leather.
- Monocle Monogram.
- Handcrafted in Melbourne, leather sourced from Sydney, Australia.
- Includes the nifty Multi-tool and 32GB USB drive.
- A timeless, confident shade of olive green partnered with black stainless steel hardware.
An exclusive collaboration with the global magazine, Monocle. Extremely limited to 50 units and exclusively sold through Monocle retail stores and online at www.monocle.com/shop only.
For the global citizen.
