I had a place in Beirut, but I just let it go, because I hadn’t been there in a year. A four-and-a-half-hour flight is just a bit too far. It’s not the city’s fault. It’s more of a lifestyle issue. Beirut is a great place. If Beirut was where Rome was, it’d be great.

I think all the time which architect I would commission to have a place in Tokyo or somewhere else in Japan. [But] I would really find the climate a struggle. I really would.

Aviation sites, New York Times, FT [Financial Times], Der Spiegel online—those are my daily online diet. But then there’s enough of us now [at Monocle] that I get pointed in the right direction. A lot of things are links or photocopies that are brought to me. So my media diet is broadened by the fact that I have the research desk bringing me things.

It’s more passengers than crew who recognize me. And it depends on the airline. On Swiss, because of all the work we did with them. Sometimes on B.A [British Airways], ANA. The Japanese are very discreet so it’s a knowing nod. Sometimes with Swiss it can be a bit of both ways. I worked with the airline so I’m seen as staff. So I’m viewed with contempt as well.

Europeans and North Americans suffer from airport space out. You take the same aircraft, same number of people, and it takes them four times the time to board the plane at Heathrow than it does at Haneda. No one is prepared for travel, no one is considerate of their fellow passengers, no has taken their jacket off—simply have your passport open, at least.

It’s interesting to see how quickly people started saying, “Oh this is so Monocle.” When you launch a brand—when we launched Wallpaper, and certainly when we launched Monocle as well—it has to be very top down. I’m always amazed, because we consult with a lot of other magazines—or maybe that’s why we’re called in, because editors just aren’t strong enough. And you go into these story meetings and there’s no leadership. There’s no one saying this is what our story is, this is what it isn’t.

I look back at how I’ve co-edited with Andrew [Tuck] since we launched [Monocle]. The first 2-3 years, 70% was commissioned out from the top. Now we’re on year five and maybe it’s only 40%, and 60% proper up flow. Maybe that’s part of it: it’s the vision of one creative director… and it’s maybe four people really driving it. Now that I’ve consulted with other publications, I’m surprised how leaderless [they are]. It gets put into one big stew.

Bangkok was definitely one of the cities we looked at [for Monocle’s roundup of desirable cities with poor livability]. It has every opportunity to be there next year. Bangkok is slightly hidden and unknown and everything just seems so multi-layered, from the overpasses to what happens on the street.

It’s very hard [to improve such cities]. It’s very hard to do what, let’s say, Mayor Oh did in Seoul. And I think it’s debatable whether he succeeded. He certainly improved elements of the city but he certainly didn’t make Seoul cozy. Because you can’t really rethink the scale. The grid is the grid and that was prescribed a long time ago.

Winkreative is a business of scale now. There are so many designers from different backgrounds. None of them are skiing too off-piste. They’re all largely on the right slope and know where they’re going. But it’s fine. Sometimes some people might weave in and out of the trees a little bit. That’s good. It pushes the design at the edges, as it should. But they’re very separate [from Monocle]. Actually I wish there was more crossover but there’s a very healthy rivalry between them.

The only problem heading both is that clients of the agency think they’ll get a preferential ad rate or something. But those issues can get dealt with rather swiftly and diplomatically.

If you want something gothic with skulls, you’re probably at the wrong agency. It’s not in our DNA; it’s not what we do.

From doing Wallpaper, I learned cash flow. God, I was 25 at the time. I hardly had a bank account. I went to Barclay’s and just got a loan. There was no magic in it. Whereas now, businesswise it’s a very different setup. And I’m very happy that it is much more of a family structure that we have now.

Invest early in creating a sound environment for people to be in. It took four years to get to the dream office at Wallpaper. And there is a part where you have to be able to live the brand and host people. That’s a challenge. People have such high expectations. You put yourself out there and it better be pretty good when they come to see you.

Interview by Gregoire Glachant with the kind support of TCDC.