Wes Anderson designed a Montblanc fountain pen

After collaborations with American Express, SoftBank, Stella Artois, Prada, and H&M, Wes Anderson returns to advertising, this time with a campaign and a short film celebrating the centenary of Montblanc’s Meisterstück fountain pen and a collection of leather accessories with the same theme. Three climbers (Anderson himself, joined by his comrades Jason Schwartzman and Rupert Friend), who unsurprisingly stare into the camera, arrive with a plethora of suitcases (!) at a refuge on the summit of Mont Blanc, which inspired the first Montblanc fountain pen, conceived “for the adventurous traveler who wants to leave his  [or her? they said] mark”. The three quickly enter Montblanc’s refuge/library/writing room, joking about how the temperature changes in the Alps within minutes, but also about their supposed brief for the advertising campaign, which has two slogans – something notoriously to be avoided in this field. But rightly so, Anderson doesn’t care. The refuge becomes a theatrical vignette, whose stylized yet vibrant spaces, animated by the actors, represent the spirit of Montblanc.

Anderson surprised Montblanc by announcing to the executives his pen, which he had assembled by his team of set designers and was then included in the short film: the Schreiberling, which means “scribbler” in German. A small pen with lighter and more acidic shades of green compared to the Meisterstück collection, and with a yellow end, like the floors of the chalet. An irresistible little pen, which for some reason evokes the equally small pencil that Hans Castorp asks Clavdia Chauchat for in “The Magic Mountain”, by Thomas Mann. Although Friend immediately claims to prefer the classic Meisterstück (which in German means “masterpiece”), Montblanc has agreed to produce 1,969 copies of this small green fountain pen commemorating Anderson’s birth year, 1969. Finally, the three ascend to the writing room with their pens. Schwartzman will write a letter to his mother, Friend his diary, and Anderson an absurd novel set during feudalism, he has already – or only – written the first sentence and fears he may have copied it from some other book.

Handwriting, today more than ever, is a psycho-magical act, a small intimate ritual of inestimable value. In celebrating the Meisterstück, Montblanc, in addition to craftsmanship – the same that makes Anderson's films possible – wants to celebrate its “role as a tool for creating new realities, leaving a mark on history, and bringing ideas to life”. And if handwriting is indeed a ritual, doing it with a fountain pen – which obliges the hand and mind to a well-defined posture – can only make it even more powerful and at the same time lighter, a quality that requires thought for any invention.