It's a rare thing to become the voice of generation, but back in the late 90s Tyler Brule did just that thanks to the hugely influential design magazine he founded. Perhaps you've heard of it? It's called Wallpaper.

The man who more or less transformed Generation X into style-conscious coveters of Eames Chairs and defined the lifestyle of the upwardly mobile "global nomad", Brule ultimately sold Wallpaper to focus on his branding and design consultancy Wink Media, where he's worked with brands like Nokia and helped rebrand Swissair in Swiss International Airlines.

Now, London's The Observer is reporting that Brule is making a return to the publishing world, introducing a new upmarket title which will exist in more or less the same space as Wallpaper and other titles it helped inspire, such as EMERGE fave Dwell. With around 5 million GBP in private funding, Monocle will launch internationally in 2007, aiming to reach around 150,000 affluent opinion leaders with a mix of "business coverage, reportage, cultural criticism and luxury goods."

With Conde Nast preparing to launch Portfolio in 2007, it would appear that the convergence of business and lifestyle throughout popular culture is a truly powerful trend. Powerful enough for both a David and a Goliath of the publishing realm to go against the grain and launch new titles even as the industry as a whole reels under the meteoric ascent of online media and the growing influence of blogs like the slightly more downmarket Cool Hunting on this would-be market segment.

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