The Journal
Conversations, places, and materials. Slow notes from a Munich studio on the things we make and the people we make them with.
Places
Why Hotels Are Winning Again — and What the Hotel Bathroom Has to Do With It
Monocle's Nic Monisse argues hotels beat rentals through "good hardware". We'd take the argument one room further — into the hotel bathroom.
Conversations
An elevated sense of place starts at the sink
Two recent Monocle hotel features show how far properties will go to prove where they are. The bathroom bottle is the last, and often weakest, link in that chain.
Conversations
The bathroom is a plate-flip moment
Andrew Tuck, Monocle's editorial director, recently wrote that guests are flipping plates and reading labels to see if a hotel's story of place holds up. The same scrutiny applies to the bathroom.
Conversations
Plainly in Quality Works
Our collaboration with Winkreative — Tyler Brûlé's global branding agency — featured in their editorial showcase of recent work.
Rituals
The Hand Cream Guide: How to Fix Cracked Hands and Find One That Actually Absorbs
The best non-greasy hand creams that actually absorb — how to fix cracked hands overnight, what ingredients (cacay, fermented argan, rice starch, meadowfoam, magnolia bark) really do, and why texture matters as much as moisture.
Conversations
Plainly on Monocle Radio — the full Entrepreneurs interview
Founder Artsem Kruk speaks to Tom Edwards, host of The Entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio, about elevating hand care, the underserved niche behind Plainly, the collaboration with Winkreative, and the ingredients that set the formulations apart.
Materials
Why we expanded into body care
A short note on the body lotion and the hand & body wash — what we changed about the formulation, why we did it now, and the people who asked us to.
Conversations
How Plainly began — a conversation with the founder
Founder Artsem Kruk on travel, a long-held passion for design, the pandemic moment that shaped Plainly, and why the most overlooked category in cosmetics turned out to be the most personal one.
Places
A guide to specifying amenities for boutique hotels
A working note for owners, general managers and interior designers on the small object that finishes the room — and why the bottle on the basin deserves the same attention as the architect, the lighting plan and the linen.
Conversations
Inside Cortiina — design as hospitality
A conversation with the team behind Cortiina Munich — a Design Hotels member where Plainly is the bathroom amenity. We talk architecture, restraint, and why the things guests touch matter most.
Places
Andreas Murkudis, Berlin
Inside the Potsdamer Straße space that defined a generation of slow retail — and where you can now find Plainly between the cashmere and the porcelain.
Materials
Cacay oil — a quiet ingredient
It is not the headline ingredient. It is the one doing the work. A short note on cacay oil — where it comes from, why we chose it, and what it does that argan oil cannot.