Issues

Inside Canyon’s quest to revolutionise city cycling with high-performance e-bikes

“This is a do-everything bike,” says Arthur Janzen, Canyon’s global category director for urban and recreation, suitably dressed for a ride in shorts and a T-shirt. “No matter where you go, the bike supports you.” We’re on a two-wheeled tour of the bike brand’s global HQ in Koblenz. In the hills above us is German wine country and the sun is shining as we ride down a path next to the Rhine, testing the bike that Janzen is referring to, the Pathlite:On SUV, as well as the Roadlite:On CF. These are two of the latest e-bikes in this category.

Canyon, with its huge number of pedal and e-bikes – from road to mountain – on offer via its website, is clearly ambitious. It’s determined to be at the forefront of a bicycle industry that’s continuing to develop at almost the same lick as the automotive trade.

The Roadlite has wireless gear changing, lights integrated with its battery and a motor by Porsche-owned company Fazua. The Pathlite, a trekking bike with fat tyres, comes with the option of abs (the anti-lock braking system pioneered by car designers) to stop from you going over the handlebars, as well as a belt-drive system that lets the rider change gears with a twist of the right handlebar rather than a click shift. Both offer graded levels of pedal assist – and cost several thousand euros.

The company’s new HQ – a collection of box-shaped, black-and-white buildings comprising offices, a showroom and an e-bike centre – opened last year. When Monocle meets the company’s CEO, Nicolas de Ros Wallace, he is sitting in a Vitra armchair in an office filled with high-performance bikes and cycling paraphernalia. De Ros Wallace, who has Spanish, Italian and British roots, is sporting one of the brand’s black T-shirts and, though we’re assured that dressing in company kit isn’t compulsory, most people here are embracing the look. De Ros Wallace came onboard in 2021, after leadership roles at Zara and, most recently, Nike, where he oversaw the Jordan segment from the sportswear behemoth’s European base in the Netherlands. He still commutes to Canyon from Utrecht.

De Ros Wallace says that urban bikes represent about 5 per cent of global sales, something that he wants to increase. “One of our strategic pillars is urban mobility,” he says. “But it doesn’t have to come by bringing down performance. It has to come by pulling up urban mobility.” He is determined to bring a design-forward, technology-filled approach to city biking, an area that he thinks offers big opportunities for growth as metropolises reassess their transport infrastructure.

Canyon, which employs nearly 1,700 people worldwide, including at a hub in Amsterdam, isn’t aiming to be the next Specialized or Giant Bicycles. In fact, being the biggest bike company in the world isn’t part of its game plan. “Others play that role,” says De Ros Wallace. “Our ambition is to be the most innovative and inspiring.” The brand is banking on differentiation to stand out from the pack as it looks to tweak its catalogue. Part of the plan, being an e-commerce player, is striving to provide the best customer service and extending the ways in which consumers can interact with the brand. This has been done through investment in an app and a forthcoming membership scheme. Canyon’s physical presence is also being extended with the growth of its Canyon Factory Service (CFS) centres – essentially repair workshops – that are currently operating in towns including Rotselaar in Belgium and Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Munich’s CFS is slated to open in early 2025.

Founded as a bicycle retailer called Radsport Arnold in the 1990s by brothers Roman and Franc Arnold, the company moved into manufacturing and by 2002 had renamed itself Canyon. Franc is no longer involved, while Roman sold a majority stake to Belgium-based investor Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) in 2020, retaining equity in the company as well as chairmanship of the board. Despite its desire to push into cities, Canyon’s brand DNA still draws on its sporty beginnings, with a focus on high performance, and there remains a strong link to athletes. This is something that Monocle sees while touring the showroom, where bikes used by cyclists including Dutch superstar Mathieu van der Poel are on display next to floor-to-ceiling windows. More than 50 riders were on Canyon bikes at the Paris Olympics and the company sponsors some 270 athletes, as well as having several high-profile ambassadors, including US basketball player LeBron James.

The link to sporting excellence is clearly aimed at making Canyon both inspirational and aspirational. “We build the best bikes for the pros but we also want to trickle down,” says Sven Reutter, a Canyon product manager, as we visit the Innovation Lab, part of the brand’s R&D centre, which features a soldering station and a set of small 3D printers. 

The R&D is just one part of the Koblenz-based design and engineering machine. Canyon is keen to point out its state-of-the-art facilities, including a test lab where such things as frame stiffness are tested and gizmos including a 3D optical scanning arm are deployed to ensure that frames have been made correctly. There’s also a destructive test lab – which sounds more fun than it looks – where Canyon ensures that new bikes can stand the test of time before going into production.

A short drive from the HQ, Monocle visits a big factory facility where the bulk of Canyon’s higher-end bikes are assembled. Hundreds of parts are needed to put the bikes together and these come from around the world, from Portugal to Taiwan. The factory, where a flashing green light indicates that work is about to begin on a line of bikes awaiting stages such as gear wiring or motor attachment, can produce up to 400 bicycles a day before they are boxed and shipped. So are there any plans to manufacture outside Germany? “For us, local for local is the ideal: Europe for Europe; Asia for Asia; the US for the US,” says De Ros Wallace. “It’s the ideal but not the reality because much of the industry is in Taiwan.” Still, there are plans to open a warehouse in Asia to make logistics more efficient.

Canyon hopes to forge ahead, despite the industry looking a lot flatter than it did during the pandemic, when everyone seemed to want to hop on two wheels and get fit. Sights are set on growing the current sales of €741m to more than €1bn by 2025, with plenty of opportunity to increase market share in the US, where the company has a southern Californian outpost, as well as southern Europe and Asia. Canyon is also aiming to extend its clothing line and move into accessories such as shoes and helmets. “We’re investing heavily in talent,” says De Ros Wallace, who owns five bikes – all of them Canyons, of course. “We are the right size to manoeuvre.”

How Austria’s ÖAMTC evolved from a motorists’ club to a life-saving air-rescue network

It’s a warm July afternoon and the rotor blades of a canary-yellow Airbus H135 helicopter are turning lazily on the roof of the ÖAMTC headquarters in eastern Vienna. In the near distance, the radar atop the city’s international airport’s air-traffic-control tower seems to mirror their movement. Then, suddenly, as if the wind has just picked up with furious haste, the blades whizz into action, propelling the helicopter up into the clear blue sky, leaving a burst of downwash in its wake.

The ÖAMTC (Der Österreichische Automobil, Motorrad und Touringclub) was founded in 1946 as an automobile and motorcycle club serving the burgeoning numbers of Austrian car owners. For decades it mostly provided breakdown cover but, in recent years, as a future without internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles has become ever more likely, the ÖAMTC has undergone a reinvention. Today it is a one-stop shop for all things mobility. It still provides its members with roadside assistance but is also branching out into, among other things, travel and tourism. Its glassy, ufo-like headquarters in the Austrian capital, which opened in 2017, is meant to symbolise this transition. Perhaps most radically for a motorists’ association, today there are many cyclists among the ÖAMTC’s 2.5 million members who can take advantage of roadside bicycle assistance delivered by mechanics who ride around on electric bikes. On the car side of things, meanwhile, increasing numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) are being serviced, meaning that technicians must be as well versed in the battery-powered as in the ICE.

Launched in 1983, the association’s air rescue service, which provides medevac assistance across Austria, was the precursor to this diversification. The ÖAMTC has 21 air bases across the country, with a 31-strong fleet of Airbus H135s. The upkeep of these €7m aircraft is financed partly through ÖAMTC membership fees and partly through government funding and insurance contributions. Though the ÖAMTC is an NGO, it works closely with state and regional authorities, a common practice in Austria and Germany, where clubs and associations (known as Vereine) frequently perform critical state-adjacent duties.

Co-ordinating the ÖAMTC’s air-rescue operations is CEO Marco Trefanitz, a cool-as-a-cucumber former telecommunications executive, who doesn’t bat an eyelid or raise his voice when the helicopter whisks into action. “The whole system is organised by the state, which runs the dispatch centres in the nine provinces of Austria and sends calls through to us,” says Trefanitz as he invites Monocle to sit down in the rescue team’s helipad-side rest area, which features an array of dumbbells and exercise machines. There is an adjacent kitchen and storage room, as well as a command centre dominated by a large monitor streaming live footage from around the country, alongside real-time weather maps. Long-haired and open-shirted, Trefanitz, who assumed his position in 2012, doesn’t look like the typical Austrian CEO. There’s a bit more pressure in his new job than in his previous one but he insists that it is far more rewarding. “The work here is not about me or shareholder value. Everything we do at the ÖAMTC is about how we can improve to better help our members and our patients.”

About five minutes after rushing off, the H135 returns. “Storno,” mouths Captain Robert Gallmayer as he climbs out of the cockpit: “cancelled”. False alarms are routine. About 10 per cent of calls are made as a precaution rather than a necessity, says Gallmayer after the rotors have died down and it’s possible to talk normally again. Often, he is already airborne while the call is still in progress; sometimes, the operator might conclude that ground vehicles are sufficient for the job, which means flying back to base to refuel and await another call. Gallmayer, lead pilot among 13 at the Vienna base (there are 71 across the entire ÖAMTC), has already flown two missions today, a normal number for this time of year as hundreds of thousands of Austrians begin their summer holidays. Both Gallmayer’s earlier missions involved dropping divers into the Danube in search of missing swimmers; one was pulled out alive, while the other sadly could not be found. 

Another common call requires retrieving someone who has had a stroke or heart attack from a mountainside or forest track. Indeed, car accidents or breakdowns are in the minority, with helicopters only called to the scene when the injured need to be rushed to hospital. During the summer, there are usually about five or six missions a day, and the feedback section of the ÖAMTC air rescue’s website gives heartening indication of how successful these predominately are. Pride of place among the comments and photos is given to a child’s drawing of those famous yellow helicopters. Below it reads, simply, “Thank you for saving us.”

Reaching for the sky

About three minutes ago, Monocle took off from downtown Brisbane. There’s an empty seat to our left and two more behind us. The cabin is suspended beneath the wings of a pilotless electric aircraft, whose silver propellers hum away. “Wave if you feel woozy,” says a disembodied voice. But airsickness won’t be a problem, not least because we’re sitting in a chair on an airfield in Hampshire, England, wearing a VR headset. The voice belongs to an employee of Wisk, the California-based Boeing subsidiary that built the pilotless air-taxi model in the middle of the tent.

It’s quite a ride. The air taxi would offer a quick, scenic alternative to a tedious 30-minute car journey. And, if all goes according to plan, it might be a transfer option for visitors to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. But will people be willing to fly in a vehicle without a human being at the controls? “It’s like a driverless car,” says Wisk’s Carrie Bennett, who has clearly encountered this reservation before. “It’s fascinating at first but then you forget about it because everything just works. And you don’t have to worry about a child chasing a ball across the street.”

The Farnborough Air Show is huge. It has more than 500 exhibitors and some 35,000 people visit over its five days. This year’s iteration is quite quiet in terms of big orders for commercial jets, though that’s possibly a reflection of an industry still searching for its level in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. At the last Farnborough before the virus struck, in 2018, a record 1,464 orders were placed with the two biggest manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing. In 2022, that figure was 441. This year, it’s 256. Manufacturers are also beset by supply-chain difficulties, which are off-putting for potential buyers. Airbus has an order backlog of 8,585 aircraft; at current rates of production, that represents more than a 10-year wait. (Nevertheless, it’s demonstrating the A321XLR, an extra-long-haul variant of its single-aisle workhorse, which Iberia hopes to start flying this year.)

Among those making purchases, Qatar Airways has made a particular effort, to the extent that the entrance to Farnborough’s main exhibition hall resembles one of its tonier Business Class lounges, complete with a string duet and a Diptyque scent dispensary (the airline has confirmed an extension of its Boeing 777-9 order from 40 to 60). A physical presence is, however, no guarantee of sales. Brazilian manufacturer Embraer has parked on Farnborough’s aprons a handsome black and turquoise E190F cargo jet but has announced no new commercial deals (Embraer has, however, sold six A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft to Paraguay’s air force).

If there’s one thing that demonstrates just how far the Farnborough Air Show has come since it was first staged in 1948, it is its focus on clean and renewable energy. Representatives of the aviation industry seem determined to stress that the environment has no stauncher allies. Suspend your cynicism, however, and you’ll see that there’s a lot going on in this realm. The hoardings of ZeroAvia boast of the UK-US firm’s inclusion on lists of top green-technology companies. Rudolf Coertze, its head of research and development, explains that the firm is working towards having its zero-emission hydrogen-electric powertrains adapted to small passenger aircraft the size of a Cessna Caravan or a Dornier 228. And he says that it won’t stop there. “There is no reason why this wouldn’t ultimately work with a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 – and that could be coming by 2035. It would remove a large fraction of emissions caused by aircraft.”

Small aircraft will serve as pioneers in this regard. The Cassio is French start-up Voltaero’s rear-propeller electric-hybrid aircraft. There are high hopes for the plane and Global Sky has reserved 15 of them during the show (232 were pre-ordered before the end of Farnborough). Jean Botti, Voltaero’s CEO and a former chief technical officer at Airbus, is an enthusiastic salesman. He sits us in the pilots’ seats and explains how the airframe can be adapted to carry passengers, post or cargo, or perform rescue operations. Future, larger models will have retractable undercarriages and pressurised cabins. “It could replace a lot of light aircraft and also compete with business aviation,” Botti tells Monocle. “There’s a lot of criticism of private jets and, of course, this is much, much cleaner. It will also be cheap to fly: €400 to €500 per hour.”

For all the talk of a cleaner, quieter future for aviation, some aspects are eternal. The most sophisticated machines will still need the most basic parts, someone will always be needed to build them and a marketplace as busy as the Farnborough Air Show will always help to sell them. Beagle Aircraft is based nearby in Dorset; customers for its components include BAE and Leonardo. Among the exhibits at its Farnborough stall are a cargo door from a business jet, an outer leading edge from the wing of a German Air Force Tornado and a flight simulator. “We didn’t make that,” says Beagle’s order-book manager, Tom Rosser. “But if you don’t have something to draw people in, they’ll walk by. And for the five or so minutes when they’re on the simulator, you have a captive audience. That lets us explain why the things that we make are important.”

Coming to Farnborough, says Prosser, isn’t just an exercise in PR outreach. A lot of meaningful business gets done here. “For a company our size – just 100 to 120 people – it wouldn’t be worth doing as a loss leader,” he says. “Last year we paid for the stand with the sales that we made on the first day. And the lunches definitely help to get agreements over the line.”

Top three deals at Farnborough

Flynas
The biggest deal at this year’s event was between Airbus and Riyadh-based Flynas, Saudi Arabia’s first low-cost airline. Flynas is best known as the airline of choice for budget-conscious pilgrims visiting Mecca: during the last Hajj season, the airline filled 100,000 seats. It is now significantly expanding its all-Airbus fleet, ordering 130 A320s and 30 A330s, with delivery to begin in 2027 – a huge move by an airline whose current fleet consists of just 64 aircraft.

Japan Airlines
This year, Japan Airlines (JAL) finalised orders for 20 Airbus A350-900s and 11 A321neos, and for 10 Boeing 787-9s, with an option on 10 further 787s. The A350 order was reduced by one from the terms announced in March: the 21st had been intended as a replacement for the JAL A350 lost in a runway collision at Tokyo Haneda in January but JAL has decided that it can live without it. Boeing was clearly grateful for the 787 order: the firm’s senior vice-president, Brad McMullen, went out of his way to thank JAL for sticking with the company. 

Korean Air
Boeing’s recent difficulties were reflected by a restrained presence at Farnborough. The much delayed 777-9, for example, was only represented by a mock-up of its cabin. So, Boeing will have appreciated the vote of confidence from Korean Air, which signed for 20 777-9s, 20 787-10s and options on another 10 787-10s – a reported outlay of $12.6bn (€11.5bn). Due for delivery in 2028, these will be a significant boost to Korean Air’s fleet ahead of the completion of its long-planned acquisition of Asiana Airlines.

Inside Mioveni: How Dacia transformed a village into a global auto hub

The rumble and thud of heavy industry is overwhelming. Inside the stamping department at Dacia’s production plant in Mioveni, Romania, sheet metal is being sandwiched under pressure to create doors for the car brand’s new Duster model. For the robotic machinery to do its thing, huge, heavy moulds are being manoeuvred across the hangar by a yellow crane arm that spans the entire 15-metre length of the roof. “This is the high speed line,” shouts Alina Predescu, the department’s senior manager and a Dacia employee for the past 15 years, referencing the equipment on display. The combined 12 lines that operate here produce 4.5 million pieces a month. Next, they’re passed to the body shop where the cars start to take form.

To call Mioveni a production hub would be an understatement. Opened in 1968 during the early years of Nicolae Ceausescu’s Socialist Republic of Romania, the Dacia factory is a beast that almost never sleeps. Operating 24 hours a day over three shifts, it rests only on Sundays. A car is produced here every 55 seconds, while 350,000 cars roll off its production line each year. The figures are a testament to the phenomenal success of Dacia in recent years. The brand was long seen as a budget, no-frills player but has morphed into much more. Dacia now sells more than 650,000 cars a year and its Sandero recently became the best-selling car in Europe. The relationship, though, is reciprocal; Dacia wouldn’t be where it is today without its historic mothership plant, located about a 90-minute drive northwest of the capital, Bucharest.

When Monocle visits the plant – a series of grey, flat-roofed buildings surrounded by large car parks – we’re told to imagine it more as a town than a factory. On a map, its 288 hectares look almost as big as Mioveni itself, which sits below the plant’s slightly raised vantage point next to woodland. Before Dacia arrived, Mioveni (pronounced with a short “I” at the end) was a sleepy village of about 6,000 inhabitants. Today the automotive town is home to 30,000 people. Many Mioveni residents have either worked here or know someone who has – attracted by what one employee calls a job opportunity “gold mine”. With revenue of €5bn a year, the plant represents some 2 per cent of Romania’s GDP and about 2 per cent of its exports. 

Dacia began by mass-producing cars for the local market through a licensing agreement with Renault. Car kits were dispatched from France and assembled in Romania under a local brand name, though the plant shifted to making its own parts not long after. Dacia’s debut model, the 1100, was based on the Renault 8 and its second car on the Renault 12. That relationship came full circle in 1999, when the Paris-based multinational bought the brand. Renault’s CEO at time, Louis Schweitzer, had been to Russia and seen the success of Lada. He was convinced that there was a worldwide gap in the market for Dacia, especially in post-Iron Curtain Eastern Europe. 

With Renault’s arrival, efficiencies were greatly increased. Monocle is anecdotally told that before that, in the 1970s and 1980s, 30,000 employees were producing 100,000 cars a year, with capacity tripling at the plant between 2004 and 2010. “The factory has changed each year,” says the plant’s general manager, Sile Fulga, who has been here since 1987, wearing a Dacia logo wristband to protect his watch. “In 2000, we didn’t have any robots.” 

Underlying Dacia’s expansion has been an idea that counters the trends of the automobile industry. There has been a push back against the expensive bells-and-whistles cars that had already started to come onto the market at the end of the 1990s. “The idea was to say, what if we have a piece of the group that would not play the game of always more,” Dacia’s CEO Denis le Vot, also group chief supply chain officer, tells Monocle. Under Renault’s stewardship, Dacia launched the no-nonsense Logan model in saloon and estate versions, which came with wind-down windows and no air conditioning.

The car bodies being welded together by automated arms when Monocle visits are very different from those of the original Logan. Given how popular SUVs are worldwide – representing more than half of all sales in Europe – Dacia’s decision to pivot to an SUV look for most of its cars has proved prescient, even if many of them are smaller superminis, compact SUVs and crossovers. But Le Vot says that, though some aspects have changed, “the spirit is the same”. The less-is-more concept, for example, still prevails. 

Some might call them under-equipped but Le Vot prefers to say that Dacia produces cars with only the essential features. “We like to quit anything that is not strictly necessary,” he says, adding that the idea of “essentiality” is nonetheless shifting all the time given the types of vehicles coming onto the secondhand market, often a direct competitor of Dacia. Its cars feature manually adjusted seating, plastic over leather upholstery and understated screens; air conditioning, once deemed a luxury, is now part of the package. For a long time, Dacia also shunned lane-keep assist – the sometimes tedious feature that steers you back onto the road should you drift outside the lines – as too much technology, but new EU safety regulations mean that this is now part of the brand’s essentiality too. 

One of the less visible reasons why Dacia has become a superstar of the region – and beyond – is the way it has been run by Renault. Though brand studios in France might get design input, Dacia has been allowed to keep plenty of devolved powers, maintaining a 3,000-strong engineering corps in Bucharest, as well as a Romanian design team. There is a strong focus on what the Dacia CEO calls “design to cost”. Dacia cars are created with a sharp focus on the core things that matter to consumers in a process meant to separate real value from unnecessary technical glitz. Despite its range of cars, with the exception of its single electric model, Dacia also keeps the same platform across its catalogue – all the bits out of the consumer’s view, including the bulk of the body structure, axles and even a lot of the powertrains – which lowers costs. Lastly, Dacia taps Renault Group HQ and its R&D, which Le Vot refers to as “big brother”, to borrow technology developed years earlier.

The city of Mioveni is dominated by the St Peter and Paul Cathedral, with its distinct orthodox spires, which sits just off a main thoroughfare. Inaugurated little more than a decade ago, it’s one of the many buildings constructed here since the 1970s – many of them nondescript communist-era blocks – as the population started to grow. Walking around town, the influence of Dacia is difficult to miss. The yellow taxis driving around the streets are Dacias, as are the police cars, both Logan models. The workers in blue overalls fixing up the square arrive in a Dacia pick-up, while a family of three we talk to is driving a workhorse Dacia Solenza from 2003 that needs pushing to get its engine going. 

Later, we meet members of a local Dacia classic car club, all eager to show off their vintage models. Catalin Francu was a driver for Dacia in the 1980s and 1990s during the company’s original foray into rally car racing (Dacia recently announced that it would be joining Dakar Rally from 2025). Like many people, for Francu there’s a pride and perhaps even sentimentality attached to a brand that is still seen as indivisible from Romania itself. “I was born with Dacia,” he says. “And for many Romanians, it’s the same thing.” Both Alin Stanciu, owner of a 2003 Dacia 1310 estate, and Catalin Filip, whose 1969 1100 turns plenty of heads as people walk past, agree. Stanciu talks about a “nostalgia” for Dacia that clearly comes from where he has grown up. “It’s normal because everyone has a connection to the plant,” he says. “Four members of my family worked there.”

Still, present-day Dacia wants to be seen as much more than Romanian, even if CEO Le Vot calls it the heart of the brand. “Dacia is Romanian but Dacia goes way beyond Romania,” he says. “The uniqueness of the brand is not specifically the geography, though the history is linked to the geography.” For one, Romania is no longer the top sales market, with top spot going to France followed by Italy. The Mioveni plant also isn’t the only factory producing cars. Le Vot is quick to add that Mioveni has a “bright future” but there are two plants in Morocco that make what the CEO calls the “low drive”, more budget cars such as the Sandero and Logan, as well as the seven-seater Jogster. The Mioveni plant focuses on higher-end cars, including the Duster. 

Part of that gradual shift in brand orientation involved a redesign of the Dacia logo in 2021, which started to feature on new cars from the following year. It’s one of the many logo iterations we see on Dacias during our time in Romania. The kissing “D” and “C” feels modern and has been coupled with Dacia moving away from its traditional blue to an olive green. This has been complemented by lifestyle advertising that makes Dacia feel outdoorsy. Le Vot, quoting the brand markers, says that it’s all part of being “robust and outdoors, eco smart and essential but cool”.

Alongside the brand’s first electric car, the China-made Spring, which hit the UK in October (a first-generation model has been available in other markets for longer), 2025 will see the release of a large suv, the Bigster – a bid to cash in on that lucrative segment of the market. It will be made right here in Mioveni, from the metal stamping to the final conveyor-belt quality control. 

Alongside the evolving look and feel, Le Vot argues that the way Dacia is perceived continues to shift. While he says that Dacia is “still the cheapest on the block” for those who want it, buyers aren’t just secondhand car owners looking for the only new car they can afford. Premium brands have become so expensive, he says, that plenty of new Dacia owners have gravitated from higher-end players. It means that 70 per cent of Dacia’s sales are now made up of its most expensive models. “The market is coming to us,” he says. And with it, Dacia’s evolution continues apace.

The Agenda: Business

Hovercraft: Japan
Bouncing back

As modes of marine travel go, the hovercraft has a pleasurable whiff of yesteryear. Big in the 1960s, it has all but disappeared from view, falling out of favour due to high operating costs. In Japan, however, the hovercraft is about to be revived. Oita prefecture has bought three Griffon 12000TDs and is set to put them into operation before the end of the year. Oita used to have a popular hovercraft, the Oita Hover Ferry, which launched in 1971 and ferried as many as 440,000 passengers a year between the airport and the centre of the city in a swift half-hour. When a new expressway to the airport was built, passenger numbers dwindled and the route was dropped in 2009.

Nine years later the governor realised that the hour-long drive to the airport was a backward step and looked for a way of speeding up the journey. And so, Oita has come full circle with three new 45-knot craft, made by Griffon Hoverwork in the UK, and a sparkling new terminal in Nishi-Oita. Oita has big ambitions for the 30-minute route: the projections are for 300,000 to 400,000 passengers annually and, since it will be the only hovercraft route in Japan (the world’s only other year-round passenger service runs from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in the UK), it should attract tourists too. Aside from trips to the airport, weekend excursions around Beppu Bay are planned. The craft have been named by the public as Tanso, Baien and Banri, after three Confucian scholars. The prefecture is anticipating an economic ripple effect to the tune of ¥61.4bn (€379m) over the first 20 years. 

E-motors: France
Fresh start

Though most motorcycles still use petrol, the industry is undergoing a transition thanks to entrepreneurs such as Simon Dabadie, founder and CEO of DAB Motors, a boutique electric-motorcycle brand based in Bayonne in southwest France.

An engineer with deep roots in the industry, Dabadie started the company in his garage six years ago. “I wanted to make something disruptive, not just a mobility instrument,” he says. “Humans need emotion and beauty, even in machines. We infuse culture, technology and just the right touch of madness in our designs.”

Initially noticed for its petrol bikes, DAB Motors shifted gears to an electric concept in 2021.  “We forgot everything we know about motorcycles. The beauty of electric motorcycles is that you can start from scratch.”

The challenge, however, is scaling production without compromising on design. “We have huge know-how in Europe, in automotive and motorcycle manufacturing,” he says. “I want to keep this local approach when we are manufacturing our bikes. We decided to make fewer products but do them really well.”

With high-profile collaborations with Burberry and the company’s acquisition by Peugeot Motocycles last year, DAB’s presence at the top of a niche market is solid. The company is due to launch a limited-edition run of 400 bikes, the DAB 1a, made at the Peugeot factory in Beaulieu Mandeure.

Dabadie (pictured) hopes that his creations will transform mobility in urban environments. “I would love to see our bikes travelling in cities, solving the problem of noisy scooters and making people smile.”

The Entrepreneurs
Gregory Scruggs on: Wheels of fortune

UK-based Icelandic entrepreneur Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, founder and CEO of tyre start-up Enso, is obsessed with tyres. He sees the topic as an underappreciated issue facing the world’s transition to cleaner transport. Electric vehicles, for all their benefits, are heavier than their non-electric counterparts so they send tyres to the landfill more quickly. That suits the tyre industry, which is eager to simply sell more just fine. Traditional tyres also generate dust particles that worsen air quality and poison waterways. “The world economy runs on tyres but we never really think about them,” says Erlendsson.

He founded Enso in 2016 with a mission to build longer-lasting and less polluting tyres with higher-quality raw materials. After years of research, the company began production at an Algerian plant and subjected the new tyres to a year-long Transport for London trial. They were shown to reduce emissions by 35 per cent and extend EV driving range by 10 per cent, essential improvements for fleet vehicles operating in the UK capital’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone. Today some 1,000 London taxis roll on Enso tyres.

Enso was a 2023 finalist for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize but Erlendsson (pictured, on left, with the prince) has his sights set on market share as much as accolades. By December, Enso tyres will be sold in the US, the world’s second-largest automotive market. In June, Enso signed a letter of intent with the US Export-Import Bank to invest $500m (€463m) in a manufacturing facility slated to open in 2027. At full capacity, the factory could make 20 million tyres, or 8 per cent of the domestic market. No one company currently dominates the US tyre market, which makes it ripe for newcomers. “It’s not enough for us to just develop the technology,” says Erlendsson. “We need to actually put these tyres on the market at scale.”

For more ideas that are gaining traction, listen to Monocle Radio’s business programme, ‘The Entrepreneurs’.

Celebrating the unsung heroes of service

How to live: rewarding service
The winner is…

Why it’s time to recognise those who offer the sunny service that makes getting from A to B a joy. 

It’s all well and good for an airline to have a dazzling new Business Class product or a rail company to have ultra-silent sleeper carriages but if you don’t have the staff and service to match, there’s little point in bringing anything new to market.

Off the back of the Olympic Games in Paris, I’ve been thinking that perhaps it is time for a global award programme for superior service. Anyone care to partner with us on this sponsoring this venture? While it’s important to recognise athletes, actors and various performing artists, what about an international awards show for the people on the front lines for brands big and small every day, round the clock? Consumers surely spend more time talking about service that’s outstanding, poor and all points in between than they do the person making millions as the over-engineered brand ambassador.

On a recent train ride, the conductor on Rhätische Bahn (a benchmark in our ‘perfect train’ story) between Chur and St Moritz was so good at his job that he surely would have made the shortlist for ‘best performance on a platform and on board in a challenging environment’. A bewildered woman was shown to the correct carriage and her enormous suitcase carried up the stairs. Disoriented Belgians were shown past the dining car and to their seats. Tickets were inspected with efficiency and just the right amount of sunny chatter. This gentleman lifted the entire tone of the journey. Perhaps it’s time to recognise what passes for a warm welcome and help to raise the status of this most essential sector.

On the road again

After a deserved summer reset, it’s time to fold up the beach towels. September is a busy month for the Monocle team, and here’s what we have planned. 

Our fashion director, Natalie Theodosi, and fashion markets editor, Kyoko Tamoto, will hit all the main stops on the fashion-month circuit and report back from Paris to Milan. We’ll have a European presence on the design front, with our associate editor Grace Charlton attending Paris Design Week between 5 and 14 September, and design editor Nic Monisse holding down the fort at the London Design Festival from 14 to 22 September. And we’ll be keeping track of the rail industry at Innotrans, Berlin’s biannual trade fair on transport, from 24 to 27 September. Catch us if you can.

Election watch: Algeria

Date: 7 September

Type: Presidential

Candidates: President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who has served Algeria since 2019, is seeking re-election. The principal candidates seeking to stop him are Abdelaali Hassani, leader of broadly Islamist party Movement of Society for Peace (MSP), and Youcef Aouchiche of the Socialist Forces Front. It is assumed that President Tebboune will win easily, though this is due less to the nation’s gratitude for his sagacious rule than the steps that his authoritarian regime has taken to make life difficult for its opponents.

Issues: The nature of President Tebboune’s governance is the subject of consternation, even if it’s not easy to express. Tebboune (pictured) stared down huge demonstrations in 2021 and has grown more stubborn since. Opposition figures and journalists have been harassed and arrested. And, 13 years since the Arab Spring, much of the discontent that motivated it remains unaddressed here: youth unemployment is about 30 per cent.

Comment: It is five years since mass protests forced out 78-year-old Tebboune’s predecessor, the then 82-year-old Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Algeria’s people deserved better than one elderly autocrat replacing another.

The interrogator
Warja Borges
Founder, Unique Aircraft

Borges holds an engineer’s degree in interior architecture. She worked at German studio Reiner Heim Aircraft Interior Design. In 2010 she founded Unique Aircraft. Working with major companies, Borges has designed all kinds of aircraft from smaller business jets to large Boeing/Airbus-type planes for private clients, governments and heads of state.

What is the typical budget range for the aircraft you work on?
Working on a business jet, clients’ requests are mostly refurbishments. Costs range from €500,000 to €2m, including the outfitting. My core business is one-of-a-kind interiors for large aircraft, planning the interior configuration from scratch. The range is huge, depending on the complexity of the interior, technical requirements and materials used. Starting at about €30m for narrow body, up to €200m for a wide-body aircraft. The main drivers for the budget are the technology and manpower.

What are the usual (and unusual) requests from clients?
A usual request for a Boeing/Airbus-type aircraft would be a main lounge area with seating and dining, ensuite master bedroom, galley and crew area, guest seating or bedroom and an additional lavatory. Sometimes we do get the request to implement some beloved items or features.

What is most important when designing an aircraft’s interior?
The basic is to know the certification regulations and limitations and engineering constraints. The focus is on the passengers, their comfort and needs. With this in mind, my approach is holistic, stimulating senses to create an overall and unique flying experience.
unique-aircraft.com

Letters of interest

As calls for an Asian Nato grow louder, world leaders should study their history books to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Here’s a quick test. First question: Do you know what Seato stands for? If you said Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation, pat yourself on the back. You’re either a Vietnam War veteran, a baby boomer or a student of political science, or perhaps all three. Acronyms are a dime a dozen in international relations but Seato dropped out of the lexicon in the late 1970s when the Bangkok-based multilateral organisation was dissolved. The anti-communist defence organisation made up of Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan, the US, UK, France, Australia and New Zealand was Asia’s Cold War equivalent to Nato, albeit a much looser alliance. Seato unravelled soon after Washington pulled out of Saigon in 1975. Thai diplomat Pote Sarasin was Seato’s first secretary-general and some of Thailand’s most notable envoys got their first taste of multilateral diplomacy when assigned to the Seato desk. Though the organisation’s HQ is no more, replaced in the 1990s by Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seato has a legacy. The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), a postgraduate university north of Bangkok, was founded in the late 1950s as the Seato Graduate School of Engineering. Ambassadors continue to sit on the governing board of the university as part of their posting to Bangkok, though today’s roll call is more ideologically inclusive: France and Canada partake alongside China and Vietnam. In another sign of the times, AIT launched a Belt & Road Centre in 2019. A battle of ideas in classrooms and boardrooms certainly beats war in the seas and straits. Next question. What is Anzus? No, not Aukus. Anzus. 

Editor’s letter: Andrew Tuck on making cities work for everyone

In 2007, when we ran the first Quality of Life Survey, the debate about what makes for a good city was contentious but nothing like it is today. The metrics that any organisation uses to rate and rank cities are now picked over and scrutinised by folk keen to unearth bias, or suggest that you sit on some extreme of politics.

I recently travelled to Bratislava with our Vienna correspondent, Alexei Korolyov, to attend an urbanism summit called Start with Children, which posited the benefits for all if you placed kids at the heart of the urban-planning process – will it, for example, make streets safer, reduce childhood illnesses, make the city somewhere that parents will want to raise their offspring? As the various speakers came to the stage, it was clear that this approach had another benefit as a unifying idea, a filter that those on the left and right can often look through and agree on a way ahead: “If it’s really going to make my children’s and my grandchildren’s lives better, I’m in.” Restricting access for vehicles, removing car-parking spaces, can suddenly be seen as fair and needed and not a plot against civil liberties. My fear is that cities are going to face many flashpoints as they try to deliver on climate-change challenges – you can see it in the demonisation of the notion of the 15-minute city and in the attempts to pit cyclists against drivers. What’s key is making everyone welcome in this debate.

Yet we still believe that there is immense value in taking an annual survey of how key cities are performing and looking at how the changes that they are implementing are working out – and if that’s contentious then we are up for the debate. Beyond the city ranking, we dive into lots of other elements of good urban design too. In our Business pages, we look at the work involved in keeping our cities clean – from jet-washing monuments to eradicating graffiti and clearing garbage from our rivers. It’s hard to maintain urban pride if you live in a place where rubbish fills the streets and mindless tagging scars great architecture, so the lessons to be learned in these pages are to be adopted – and sent to your elected officials. 

In Design, we look at Urbidermis, a street-furniture company that was originally part of Spanish lighting brand Santa & Cole. Again, the provision of, say, park benches might not be something you have often pondered but, done right, street seating changes the pace at which we take in our cities, offers the weary and old places to linger, and even engineers social encounters. And in this month’s Expo, we look at neighbourhoods that work: places where people have a good place to buy food, a bar to hang out in, a restaurant where they’ll learn your name and a pace of life that offers both calm and excitement. I particularly love our dive into Naples, a city that might struggle on some metrics but which its residents love with a deep passion – you’ll see why when you turn the pages.

The bigger idea of how we begin a conversation about how our cities should function, one that doesn’t descend into opprobrium, is the subject of our illustrated Monocle Manifesto, which unpacks the elements of the social contracts that you need in place so that everyone can go about their day feeling safe, at ease. It contains a series of simple moments of care and attention that hopefully just about everyone can subscribe to.

This is, of course, our double issue, which will be on newsstands for some eight weeks. But we have plenty of other media moments to keep you engaged over the coming weeks and, hopefully, add to your own quality of life. Look out for our Paris Edition and Mediterraneo newspapers for starters. As for the Monocle team, we’ll hopefully be heading off to sample some summer moments in cities slick and alluring, gritty and passionate – though there are a lot of projects and ideas to bring to fruition this summer too. Whatever your plans are, we look forward to keeping you informed and entertained. Have good summers (or winters to our friends south of the equator).

If you would like to send over any ideas, thoughts and recommendations, then feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]. — L

12 sandwich recipes that’ll have you rethinking the humble snack

1.

Recipe
Smoked salmon and celeriac remoulade on rye
Serves 2 

Ingredients
For the remoulade
100g celeriac
1 small carrot
3 tbsps mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsps crème fraîche
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp capers, finely chopped
Large pinch of sugar
5g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Salt and ground black pepper

3 tbsps vegetable oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
A large pinch of salt 
2 slices of rye bread
Butter
4 slices of smoked salmon 

Method
1. Shred the celeriac and carrot with a vegetable slicer. Mix with the rest of the remoulade ingredients and set aside.
2. Pour the oil into a small frying pan over medium heat. Once the oil is warm, add the shallots. Cook until golden. Then place the fried shallots on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt.
3. Toast the rye bread, then butter it. Arrange the salmon on top and spoon over the remoulade. Finish with fried shallots.

2.

Recipe
Jambon beurre with mustard and cornichons
Serves 2 

Ingredients
25g cornichons, finely chopped
1 small shallot, finely chopped 
2 tsps Dijon mustard
30g salted butter, thinly sliced
2 handfuls of rocket, washed, refreshed in cold water and dried in a salad spinner
4 slices (160g) good quality French ham
2 small baguettes 

Method
1. Mix the chopped cornichons and shallots with mustard in a small bowl.
2. Open the baguette with a knife horizontally and spread with the mustard mixture. Place the thin slices of cold butter inside.
3. Arrange the rocket and ham on top and serve.

3.

Recipe
Schnitzel bun with cucumber, sour cream and dill dressing
Serves 2

Ingredients
For the salad
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
70g sour cream
5g dill, finely chopped
¼ tsp sea salt
230g pork filets, sliced

For the breadcrumbs
50g Panko breadcrumbs
20g Parmesan cheese, cut into small chunks
2 tbsps plain flour
2 medium eggs, beaten 
100ml sunflower oil
100g clarified butter
2 large white bread rolls
Olive oil
2 lemon wedges

Method:
1. Mix all of the salad ingredients together.
2. Place the pork filets between sheets of baking parchment and pound with a meat tenderiser, until 5mm thick. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Blend the cheese and the breadcrumbs in a food processor to form a fine crumb.
4. Fill one tray with flour, one with the beaten eggs, one with breadcrumbs and leave one empty. Gradually heat the oil and clarified butter to 170C.
5. Dust the pork loins with flour, dip into the beaten eggs and coat with breadcrumbs, then lay them on the fourth tray.
6. When the oil is hot, add the schnitzel and fry for two to four minutes each side, until pale golden colour. Once cooked, remove and place on a wire rack.
7. Slice the rolls horizontally, toast and brush with olive oil. Add the schnitzel, a squeeze of lemon juice and the cucumber salad.

4.

Recipe
Smoked eel, horseradish and pickled onion sandwich
Serves 2

Ingredients
For the pickled onions
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
75ml red wine vinegar
15g sugar
2 tbsps water
A large pinch salt

For the horseradish
2 tbsps sour cream
½ tbsp olive oil
20g finely grated horseradish
½ tbsp crème fraîche
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
5g chives, finely chopped
¼ cucumber, thinly sliced
2-4 filets of smoked eel
4 slices of sourdough bread
Butter

Method
1. Mix the vinegar, sugar and salt together in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring continuously, until the sugar and salt dissolves. Pour over the sliced onion and set aside.
2. Mix all the horseradish sauce ingredients until combined.
3. Toast the bread and spread it with butter.
4. Arrange the cucumber across two of the slices of bread, top with the smoked eel and spoon over the sauce. Finish with the pickled onions. Close the sandwich with the other slice of bread and serve.

5.

Recipe
Aubergine, egg, hummus sabich
Serves 2 

Ingredients
For an amba-style sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely grated
100g ripe mango, diced
¼ teaspoon sumac
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
½ lime, roughly chopped
1½ tbsp water
A large pinch of salt 

For the tahini
2½ tbsps tahini
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ sea salt
1 tbsp water

For the salad
6 cherry tomatoes, diced
1 small cucumber, diced
10g flat leaf parsley
2 tsps olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
2 large pinches of sumac
3 tbsps olive oil
2 medium eggs
2 spoonfuls of hummus
1 aubergine, sliced into 1 cm thick rounds
2 pitta breads
Green chilli pickles to serve

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Put the amba sauce ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth. 
3. For the tahini sauce, mix the ingredients together until smooth.
4. Toss the salad ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
5. Mix 3 tbsps of olive oil, the aubergine slices, salt and pepper in a bowl. Arrange on a tray and bake for 10 minutes on each side.
6. Boil the eggs for 7 minutes. Then peel and cut in half.
7. Spoon the salad, hummus, aubergines and eggs into a warm pitta and drizzle over the tahini and amba sauce.

6.

Recipe
Steak sandwich with chimichurri sauce
Serves 2 

Ingredients
2 x 200g sirloin steaks, season with salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps butter

For the chimichurri sauce
10g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 
1 medium red chilli, finely chopped
5 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
The zest and 1 tbsp juice from an unwaxed lemon
1 clove of garlic, finely grated
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
Ground black pepper
2 ciabatta rolls
2 handfuls of rocket

Method
1. Remove the steak from the fridge 30 minutes before the cooking time to bring it back up to room temperature.
2. Heat the olive oil in a very hot pan and cook the steak for 2 minutes on each side. For the last 30 seconds, add the butter and baste the steak. Remove from the pan and place on a chopping board, cover with a piece of foil briefly and let it rest for 5 minutes.
3. While the steak is resting, mix the chimichurri ingredients together, this could be done in a food processor.
4. Slice the rolls in half horizontally and toast in the frying pan that you used to cook the steak.
5. Place the rocket on the bread, slice the steak and arrange it on top of the rocket. If you have any cooking juices on the chopping board, add to the chimichurri sauce. Spoon the sauce over the steak and top with the other half of the bread. Serve immediately.

7.

Recipe
Spiced cauliflower kathi roll with coriander and tamarind chutney
Serves 2 

Ingredients
For the spiced cauliflower
250g cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp ground coriander 
½ tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, grated
2 tbsps olive oil 

For the coriander chutney
50g coriander leaves
1 green chilli, roughly chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
10g fresh ginger
1 tbsp tamarind sauce
½ tsp salt
2 lemon wedges
30g salted, roasted almonds, roughly chopped
2 rotis
2 tbsps yoghurt 

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Mix the cauliflower and the rest of the ingredients together on a tray. Roast for 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Put all the chutney ingredients in a small food processor and blend into a coarse paste.
4. Remove the cauliflower from the oven, squeeze the lemon juice over the top, add the chopped almonds and toss.
5. Warm the roti in the oven for 2 minutes. Then remove and place some cauliflower in the middle of each flatbread. Spoon over the chutney and yoghurt. Roll and place in the middle of a sheet of greaseproof paper and wrap it up to form a kathi roll. Slice the roll in half and serve.

8.

Recipe
Balik ekmek (Turkish mackerel sandwich)
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 tbsps olive oil
2 mackerel filets
2 ciabatta
1 gem lettuce, washed
2 pinches of pul biber (or Aleppo chilli flakes)

For the salad
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
6 cherry tomatoes
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 red chilli, sliced
½ carrot, coarsely grated
Small handful of mint leaves, chopped with a sharp knife (not crushed as this will cause discolouration)

For the dressing
2 tbsps olive oil, plus more to serve
2 tbsps pomegranate molasses
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
2 tsps sumac
½ clove garlic, finely grated
Salt and pepper

Method
1. Pour 1 tbsp of olive oil into a frying pan and pan fry the mackerel, skin side first over a medium heat. Cook each side for 2 minutes. Then set aside.
2. Preheat the grill. Cut the ciabatta in half horizontally and toast. Brush the cut side with olive oil.
3. Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. Toss the salad ingredients in a bowl and pour over the dressing.
4. Cover one half of the sliced bread with lettuce, then top with the fried mackerel filets. Spoon over the salad mixture and sprinkle with the pul biber.
5. Close the sandwich with the other half of the bread. Wrap in a sheet of greaseproof paper and cut in half.

9.

Recipe
Lobster roll with spicy Marie Rose sauce
Serves 2 

Ingredients
400g of cooked lobster
2 sticks of celery, cut into 1cm cubes
Butter
Gem lettuce
2 brioche rolls
Serve with crisps

For the Marie Rose sauce
2 tbsps mayonnaise
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp red wine vinegar
10 dashes of Tabasco
2 tsps creamed horseradish
¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce
The juice of ½ a lemon
3g chives
Sea salt and crushed black pepper

Method
1. Shell the cooked lobster and chop the meat into bite size pieces or buy it pre-cooked.
2. Mix all the Marie Rose sauce ingredients together in a bowl and add the lobster meat and cubed celery.
3. Warm the brioche rolls under the grill, slice them open from the top (like a hotdog bun), and spread with butter. Fill generously with the lobster mixture. Add crisps to serve.

10.

Recipe
Bocadillo de calamares with aïoli
Serves 2

Ingredients
150g squid, cleaned and sliced into 1cm rings with tentacles cut into bite size pieces

For the aïoli
2 garlic cloves
1 organic egg yolk
1½ tbsp lemon juice
85ml mild olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsps chives, finely chopped
¼ tsp sea salt

For the squid fritters
45g self-raising flour
¼ tsp sea salt
300g cornstarch
75ml sparkling water, ice cold
Sunflower oil
Lettuce leaves, washed
2 lemon wedges

Method
1. Toast the garlic, skin on, in a dry pan, then peel.
2. Whisk the yolk and lemon juice with a stick blender. Add in the oil. Drop in the peeled garlic, mustard, chopped chives and mix. Season with salt.
3. Heat the oil in a deep pot.
4. Place the dry batter ingredients in a bowl and pour in the sparkling water. Whisk lightly. The consistency should resemble single cream.
5. Heat the oven and warm the baguette for a couple of minutes.
6. When the oil reaches 190C, dip the squid in the batter and deep fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oil and place on a baking rack. Sprinkle with salt.
7. Slice the warmed baguette open and spread the aïoli inside. Arrange the lettuce and fried squid on top. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

11.

Recipe
Chicken souvlaki
Serves 2 

Ingredients
400g skinless chicken thighs

For the marinade
120g Greek yogurt
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp sweet paprika
¼ tsp salt
1 ½  tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsps olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely grated 

For the tzatziki
100g Greek yogurt
½ cucumber
½ garlic, finely grated
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper 

For the salad
½ lemon
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
¼ red onion, thinly sliced
Handful of mint leaves
A few shredded lettuce leaves
2 pitta breads or flat breads 

Method
1. Make the marinade and coat the chicken. Refrigerate for 2 hours or, ideally, overnight.
2. For the tzatziki, half the cucumber and remove its seeds. Finely grate the flesh and squeeze out any water. Mix with the rest of the tzatziki ingredients and season well.
3. Take the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat the grill to 220C. Place a rack over a baking tray lined with foil.
4. Arrange the chicken on the rack and grill for four to five minutes on each side. The meat should be a little charred and the cooking juices should run clear.
5. Remove from the oven and squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle salt over the top.
6. Warm the pitta bread in the oven.
7. Fill the flatbread with tomato, red onion and lettuce, sliced chicken and tzatziki sauce.

12.

Recipe
Fruit sando
Serves 2 

Ingredients
4 medium slices of very soft white bread or thinly sliced Japanese shokupan
150ml double cream
2 tbsps caster sugar
16 hulled strawberries (also works with kiwis, grapes or a combination of both)

Method
1. Whip the cream with sugar until it forms soft peaks. Lay out the bread slices and spread half of the cream over the two of them.
2. Arrange the fruit diagonally, corner to corner, in an “x” shape. Cover it with the rest of the cream and top with the other slice of bread.
3. Wrap tightly with cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes.
4. Using a very sharp, long knife, cut the sandwich, diagonally through the cling film. This will give you 4 small triangle sandwiches.
5. Arrange the sandwich cut side up and serve. 

The latest Portuguese farmstead villa offering much-needed escapism in the Algarve

The sun-kissed sandier fringes of the Algarve are a summer success story but the Portuguese region has peaceful patches too. The latest property to provide such sanctuary is Casas da Quinta de Cima, near the Spanish border in the town of Vila Nova de Cacela.

Set back from the sea within the confines of a 50-hectare farm, the country hotel was where owner José Maria Brion, a Portuguese actor, spent his summer holidays as a child. Today the estate, which has been in his family since 1925, is bearded with rugged citrus groves and trees growing avocado and carob. “It’s still a working farm so you’ll have fresh orange juice and homemade granola for breakfast,” says Brion as he takes Monocle on a tour of the grounds.

Opened in early 2024, the hotel is centred on a courtyard lined by whitewashed cottages that were once the living quarters of farmhands. With architect João Pedro Falcão de Campos, the aim was to preserve the original character of the buildings, which formed the core of a once important agricultural firm that produced cereals and other crops. “We wanted to share this experience of a forgotten Algarve, which most people don’t see today, one focused on the land, not the sea,” says Brion, squinting in the sun. “For us, it was important to keep things local, not only with the architecture but also the materials we used in the remodelling.” 

Nine guestrooms have ceilings lined with traditional strips of cane once commonly used for insulation, while bathrooms are adorned in a brownish marble known as Breccia Tavira, sourced from the area. Large suites feature an enclosed patio off the bedroom, with a private outdoor shower to wash away the sand from the beach, which is a few hundred metres away, past the property’s numerous lemon trees.

Those seeking privacy can opt to stay on the estate and sun themselves on loungers among blossoming flowers. To beat the heat, there’s a spartan stone pool, formerly the site where workers laundered their clothes. Close by is a circular threshing floor where grain was separated from chaff at harvest time. “Everything has been done to ensure that the original character of the site comes through so guests can envision how life was before,” says Brion.

Common areas such as the lobby are decorated with a mix of antique furniture procured from the homes of Brion’s parents and vintage shops (chairs next to the pool bar are mid-century finds previously used in Lisbon’s municipal offices). The reception has a table with stone countertop where workers in the 1950s would sort almonds. Inside a former warehouse, a breakfast room and lounge – complete with honesty bar, sofas and a billiards table – was erected.

The hotel offers two villas, each with a private pool and tastefully decorated interiors, aimed at families. Brion plans to renovate a further section of the estate’s buildings, including the stables, to double the number of guestrooms. “We haven’t included TVs in the rooms,” he says. “If it was up to me, I would make the phone service poor so that people could truly disconnect from their frenetic lives and enjoy the nature here.”

Talking trash: Community efforts and new technology that are keeping our cities clean

A healthy city is not so different from a healthy resident: it grows and adapts, does its best to look after itself and takes care of its hygiene. But at an urban scale, keeping rubbish, dirt and odours under control is a significant challenge. The UN estimates that the world’s cities produce more than 10 billion tonnes of waste a year, with little sign of slowing down.

Look at the big picture (after giving it a good wipe) and it’s clear that solving the problem requires our governments, private companies and residents to work together. Overwhelming as the challenge might sound, Monocle has sifted through the rubbish and found heaps of optimism about the future of our urban hygiene. In the following pages, we present the positive civic initiatives, smart technological innovations and upcycling companies that are keeping our cities clean.

1.
The River Dredgers
Rusken
Oslo

Things become frantic when a volunteer pulls an undetonated grenade out of the river. People scatter; our photographer drops his camera and calls the police. Soon, we hear that the bomb squad is getting involved. Thankfully, Rusken’s finds are rarely so explosive. As the picking crew’s 50 or so orange-clad members make their way up and down Oslo’s Akerselva river in boats or on foot along the banks, the usual suspects emerge: plastic containers, glass bottles, cigarette butts, pouches of snus tobacco, the occasional rusted road sign and the obligatory electric scooter. In about four hours, about 700kg of rubbish is hauled out of the 8km river that cuts through the capital, and which one volunteer describes to us as “the pulse of Oslo”.

The crew’s efforts to keep the river pulsing are appreciated. A soundtrack of applause and thank-yous from passers-by accompanies its work. “This city has been very lucky,” says Jenny Krohn, an Oslo resident for the past 35 years, whose official title is “Rusken general”. “We have been bringing people together to keep Oslo clean since 1976.”

Though Rusken (from the Norwegian word “rusk“, meaning “scrap”) is funded by the Oslo municipality, it operates more or less independently with little in terms of formal resources. Krohn has only two full-time employees, plus three hired seasonally. Still, the small platoon seems to have little trouble mobilising the occasional clean-up army. “The trick is to make yourself look bigger than you are,” says Krohn.

The secret to Rusken’s success is the fact that it taps into Norway’s dugnad tradition: literally meaning “help” or “support”, it refers to a custom of community-driven volunteering with strong connotations of civic duty. Doing your fair share of dugnad to contribute to the health of your community is a central part of Norwegian life. And it’s what allows Rusken’s team of three to do the work of a far bigger organisation. 

Later we learn that the police has checked the explosive and identified it as a relatively harmless grenade that releases white smoke. With calm restored, the cleaners continue undeterred. One officer tells us that he’ll return in the evening to fish here (though not for explosives). Thanks in part to Rusken’s work keeping the river clean, the once polluted Akerselva is now thriving with healthy salmon and trout.

The power of dugnad is on full display here. Alongside the volunteering ground troops with their bags and rubbish-pickers, Oslo’s Fjord Cleanup has brought dozens of small boats, which are deftly navigated down the river and used to haul bigger catches. Rusken is also collaborating with Kirkens Bymisjon (Church City Mission) to offer paid work for residents who are struggling with issues such as substance abuse and unemployment. 

By 14.00 the troops have dispersed. And there’s a feeling in the air that Oslo’s pulse is beating that bit stronger. 
rusken.no

Gomi Hiroi Samurai
Tokyo

You might think that Tokyo’s residents do a good job of keeping their city clean but actor Ikki Goto felt that they needed a reminder to take their litter home. So he teamed up with Keisuke Nakagome to become the Gomi Hiroi (“litter-picking”) Samurai, a double act that takes the message to the streets. Dressed in neo-traditional robes, with trilbies on their heads and baskets on their backs, the duo wield elongated tongs and perform a theatrical clean-up for passers-by. The show, which is sponsored by city businesses, entertains as well as informs. The pair pop up weekly around the area near their office in Ikebukuro and also recruit volunteers, and work with other organisations. In one performance, posted on social media, Goto sets out to fill 10 buckets with cigarette ends, plastic bottles and fast-food wrappers. The aim is to raise awareness along with standards. “We want to make people think twice before they drop their litter,” he says. 
gomihiroi-samurai.com

Public Hygiene Council
Singapore

Singapore’s global reputation for cleanliness demands constant vigilance: a stray piece of rubbish could upend it all. The Public Hygiene Council, a non-government group for promoting urban sanitation, has announced that its formerly quarterly “SG Clean Day” – when residents clear litter and sweep streets – will now occur every two months. The aim is to encourage civic mindedness and public awareness of what it takes to keep Singapore tidy. Not only do bank tellers and baristas pick up brooms, but janitors receive a much-needed day off too.
publichygienecouncil.sg

Mayor Eric Adams
New York

New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, came to office on a promise: “Fighting crime, fighting inequality, fighting rats.” The first two might still be works in progress but the city is getting on top of its rodent problem. In 2023 it appointed a dedicated “rat czar”. Initiatives include a side-loading garbage truck, designed in Italy, that will soon collect from new wheelie bins and put an end to bags of rubbish sitting kerbside, while Brooklyn-based Citibin is making enclosures where bins can be stored out of reach of furry residents. 
nyc.gov

2.
The Rubbish Collector
Villiger
Zug, Switzerland

All city dwellers know the feeling – the ugly sight of bins overflowing, holding your breath to avoid the smell on your commute and gritting your teeth at the daily grating of trucks struggling to keep up with the ceaseless flow. But one Swiss company might have found a simple solution to make the whole affair more bearable: to take it underground.

It started in founder Paul Villiger’s barn in the canton of Zug, where the self-taught inventor began welding metal pieces together to create new methods of condensing tins for easier recycling. From there, the ideas kept flowing. About five years after founding his eponymous company in 1991, Villiger’s first underground systems were installed in France and the Netherlands. “The initial idea was to limit noise and smells from waste collection in traditional containers,” says Michéle Villiger, who heads the international business. Today, it is a 400-strong family business with a revenue of €40m, exporting its innovative systems worldwide.

With its neat containers that have a minimal footprint and can hold anything from household waste to recyclables, Villiger can eliminate the need for foul-smelling, ugly bins at street level. The fact that these enclosed containers are below ground reduces noise and allows them to take more rubbish than standard bins. “The larger size also reduces the need for collection vehicles, which has a positive effect on noise levels, safety and the environment,” says business manager Michael Friederici. And instead of on specific bin-collection days, residents can throw out their waste at any time of the week.

Villiger’s customers are towns and property developers that benefit from compact waste-management solutions, reducing the need to allocate large spaces to rubbish collection that could otherwise be used for green spaces. The firm has further integrated itself into the waste-management value chain by developing a range of services, including special vehicles to empty containers in just a few minutes. Specific needs are different in every town but Michéle Villiger says that solutions can be adapted to anything from urban geographies to climate and social requirements. Now, from the quaint town of Oberrüti overlooking Lake Zug, Villiger and his team of engineers are already sketching out how the next generation of waste-management systems can make our cities even cleaner. 
villiger.com

Trombia
Helsinki

Finnish firm Trombia Technologies has taken street sweepers to the next level with the world’s first autonomous all-electric contraption, Trombia Free. The machine uses Lidar (light detection and ranging) and satellite data to map its environment and can then perform shifts day and night using only 10 per cent of the energy of a traditional street sweeper. And it’s quiet too.
trombia.com

Kärcher
Winnenden, Germany

Those of us who take pride in our patios might know Kärcher as the leading global manufacturer of power sprays since 1935. But the innovative family-run brand also puts its own cleaning techniques to good use when it comes to preserving the façades of historical monuments. Headquartered just outside Stuttgart, since 1980 Kärcher, alongside a team of art restorers, has been cleaning up more than 190 of our cities’ most recognisable monuments, from Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to the Vatican City’s colonnades. Even the limestone staircase in Paris’s Tuileries Garden has had a face-lift just in time for the city to host the Olympic Games, so it’s a good thing that the Kärcher team has experience of working under pressure.
kaercher.com

Laserflux
Willebroek, Belgium

Removing graffiti can be harmful to buildings that are made from softer stone and older structures too. To tackle this problem, Belgian company Laserflux has developed laser technology that heats up paint, rust and other surface grime, and evaporates it. The technique leaves the underlying material layer untouched because of its higher evaporation temperature. Unlike traditional methods such as sandblasting, the process is quiet and doesn’t cause dirt to fly everywhere, allowing cleaning works to occur without disturbing residents.
laserflux.com

3.
The Plastic Upcycler
Sungai Watch
Bali

In 2005, when Gary Bencheghib was nine years old, he and his family moved from Paris to Bali. The Indonesian island has been his home ever since. As Bencheghib grew up, Bali’s tourism industry boomed and he saw the pollution and environmental damage that accompanied its rapid development. He started taking part in beach clean-ups as a teenager, clearing the mounds of plastic that lined the shore after rainstorms. In 2020, Bencheghib and his siblings established Sungai Watch. What began as a small volunteer effort based on a simple innovation – installing floating barriers to stem the flow of rubbish from Bali’s rivers into the sea – has grown into a global charity with 140 full-time staff and sponsors including WWF and Marriott Indonesia. Sungai Watch runs education programmes in schools and works with village leaders and government officials to tackle Bali’s rubbish problem.

Sungai Watch’s most impressive achievement is perhaps the transformation of the waterways that criss-cross the tropical island. They were once so clogged with rubbish that it was often impossible to see the surface of the water through the blanket of debris. Now, Bali’s canals and rivers run clear, no longer an urban eyesore or health hazard.

As Sungai Watch’s operations expanded – it now has 280 barriers up and running – its stockpile of collected plastic grew too. “Our warehouses quickly filled up,” says Bencheghib. “In Indonesia there isn’t much recycling.” About 10 per cent of plastic waste in Indonesia – the world’s second-largest plastic polluter after China – is recycled. The rest lies in landfills or goes out to sea. Bali has very few recycling facilities.

This was the impetus for Sungai Design, the group’s newest venture, which upcycles waste – plastic bags in particular – and transforms it into furniture. Sungai Design’s first product, the Ombak chair, went on sale in March. US designer Michael Russek crafted the angular lounge chairs in black, blue and white, the original colours of the plastic bags that constitute them. The chairs are numbered, providing information on the locations where the bags were dredged from rivers. The texture and shade of every piece is unique. The Ombak chair costs $960 (€880). Its popularity is a testament to its beautiful design and consumers’ enthusiasm for supporting smart environmental solutions.

“We felt that we needed a product telling the story of where the plastic has been collected,” says Bencheghib. “Every chair comprises 28kg of plastic that would otherwise have gone into the ocean.” The chair has been selling fast in Indonesia and Sungai’s factory in Bali can barely keep up with demand. The first container of Ombaks was shipped to the US in June. Other products are in the works, including a stool. “We never knew that we’d be making furniture when we started cleaning up,” says Bencheghib. “We have been learning by doing. We’re really excited.”
sungai.watch; sungaidesign.com

Notpla
London

“Convenience doesn’t have to cost the world,” is the motto championed by sustainable start-up Notpla, reflecting its commitment to tackling plastic pollution with innovative seaweed-based packaging that can be composted and biodegraded like a piece of fruit. “To encourage wider adoption, we’re embedding ourselves in the food service, catering and hospitality worlds,” says Notpla’s Niall Russell. In the UK, as well as supplying takeaway delivery firm Just Eat, Notpla has partnered with the Compass Group to replace more than 75 million items of plastic across some 50 entertainment venues. “Through our UK partners we are making inroads across Europe and the US,” says Russell.
notpla.com

Redhouse Studio
Cleveland, USA

Architectural firm Redhouse Studio has joined forces with scientists at Nasa and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to tackle construction and demolition waste by harnessing the power of mushrooms. Its Biocycler programme involves setting fungi to work devouring and detoxifying anything from wooden floors to asphalt-based roof shingles. This process also creates new, carbon-neutral materials. “Our aim is to make large slabs from these,” says founder Chris Maurer. “They can be as strong as concrete, easy to erect, insulative and fire resistant, while mitigating landfill materials and toxins in the built environment.”
redhousearchitecture.org

Sparklo
Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi’s Sparklo is using a rewards system to change recycling habits. It’s a simple concept: fill cities with reverse-vending machines called Sparklomats into which users can feed bottles and cans to earn points to be redeemed as discounts in shops. “It all starts with human behaviour at the point of consumption,” says Sparklo’s CEO, Max Kaplevich. “With this approach, we are treating the root cause instead of just the symptom.” In little more than a year, the company has collected almost 30 million bottles and cans in more than 10 countries and become the Mena region’s largest clean-tech company, helped by partnerships with local governments and big names such as the Coca-Cola Company.
sparklo.com