Quiet moments like people-watching in a café are what make travel memorable, says Hubert Chan, chief creative officer of Vancouver-based luggage brand Monos. Over the past three years, Chan and his co-founder Victor Tam have built a brick-and-mortar strategy for their certified B Corp (launched as an e-comm operation in 2018) around offering up authentic slices of life. “We try to create transportive spaces,” says Chan. Even the name “Monos” is a play on mono no aware, a Japanese idiom for the wistful appreciation of beauty found in impermanence.
The beauty begins with the brand’s sleek suitcases and extends to its storefronts, each sporting a unique design contextual to the historic and cultural background of its location. All this kicked off with the Monos Vancouver flagship, complete with a conceptual coastal rainforest. After following up with a Toronto outpost that complemented its Little Portugal setting with an indoor olive tree, Monos then spent last year growing its U.S. presence with five new locations. Some of these stores incorporate a “third space,” or social gathering place, that marks the brand’s evolution into a hub of not just product but also community, culture and hospitality. Here, we speak with the design teams behind two Monos stores to unpack how they appeal to a traveller’s wanderlust.
1
WEST LOOP, CHICAGO
Designed by: Ste Marie
Location: Carpenter’s Addition, a formerly industrial area once owned by Chicago’s first pharmacist and located in the city’s West Loop, where historic warehouses now serve as a backdrop to foodie and design haunts like Fulton Market.
The prescription: Limewashed walls and luminous butter-yellow elements deliver a modern twist on the stark white shelves and bright lightboxes of a drugstore. Product plinths echo pill forms, while rounded counters and mouldings evoke the drape of lab coats.
Feature installation: A floor-to-ceiling wall floats luggage pieces side by side as if they’re oversized tinctures on an apothecary shelf.
Lounge zone: Postcard, where a café counter flanked by vintage JBL speakers doubles as a DJ booth.
Why bring a café/listening bar into a luggage shop?
- Craig Stanghetta, founder and creative director, Ste Marie:
“We thought, Wouldn’t it be interesting if you could have this other side to your brand, almost like your doppelgänger, that allows you to be dreamy and explorative? It’s a vehicle for recreation and experimentation, and communing and communicating with guests in ways that are less product-driven. The store is a more neutral backdrop for the luggage to show up as it would in a curated pharmacy environment. As you move over to Postcard, there’s a counterpoint there, taking design cues from how speakers were built. That ties into the West Loop being the birthplace of house music, but this area also used to be owned by a pharmacist, and both drug stores and music venues speak to having a bit of a trip.”
As Canadian companies, how did you and Monos ensure authenticity to Chicago?
“A retail space can be beautiful, but if it doesn’t have any connection to the place around it, a brand can end up looking like a bit of an imposter. We connected Monos to International Anthem, a great Chicago label, and King Hippo, a DJ and booking artist who introduced them to the local scene for finding acts for Postcard. That way, it’s emotionally immersed within the culture of the neighbourhood.”
2
ABBOT KINNEY, LOS ANGELES
Designed by: Leckie Studio Architecture + Design
Location: Abbot Kinney Boulevard, a high street of shops, galleries and restaurants nestled blocks from the beach in L.A.’s Venice neighbourhood.
The surf conditions: Wood elements and beachy finishes nod to the coast. Cerulean walls and Glen-Gery glass bricks conjure ocean waves and sea foam, and the warm California sun dapples through a series of skylights.
Feature installation: A figure eight–shaped glass brick sculpture near the store entrance lends a nebulous, watery effect to the product display space that lies within.
Lounge zone: An espresso maker at the back of the store beckons guests to enjoy a coffee in an adjacent garden courtyard flanked by desert-friendly succulents and Hay bistro chairs.
What did you learn from your time on the ground in L.A.?
- Michael Leckie, founder and principal, Leckie Studio:
“We were inspired by the casual nature of Venice Beach, and the idea of people changing in their towels. We decided to create a moment of voyeuristic, exhibitionist play by positioning this glass block sculpture at the front of the store. It is a functional display that also has an enigmatic street presence to passersby. Abbot Kinney is primarily a pedestrian street — the pace is very slow, so that connection between the interior and the streetscape is important.”
What does a courtyard café add to this location?
“An outdoor patio with a small garden is very common in many of the older boutiques along Abbot Kinney. As the area gentrifies and larger brands set up shop, some of these spaces are being lost. But they have real value to the community, because they are places where people can meet and spend time in an ad hoc way. They speak to the more tightly knit community that created the original vibrancy in that neighbourhood. We’ve been delighted to hear from a lot of people, especially locals, that this store feels very much in the character of Abbot Kinney — and the courtyard is a big part of that.”
Monos Retail Shops Master the Art of Living out of a Suitcase
The Canadian luggage brand works with Ste Marie and Leckie Studio to pack its latest shops with cafés that channel local spirit.