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Montblanc Haus

2 Comments / Montblanc, Seen in the wild / 25 October 2024 / Hamburg, Montblanc, Montblanc Haus, seen in the wild

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of visiting Montblanc Haus in Hamburg, located just next to Montblanc’s headquarters and manufacturing site.

The visit was part of a trip to Hamburg with my wife and son. We didn’t really know what to expect, so I thought we’d see a small exhibition about Montblanc’s past plus a gift shop, situated in a crammed building. The reality was quite different, though: when we arrived we were greeted by the view of a very modern, purpose-built building.

2 meter high metal shopping bags outside the Montblanc Haus

The surface of the building is wavy in a mesmerising way, showing what I assume is the mountain panorama of Montblanc, the highest mountain of the Alps. Even the landscaping of the outside area was aesthetically in line with the Montblanc Haus.

The outside landscape, as seen from the cafe

The reception staff was extremely friendly. To entertain children there is also a treasure hunt activity to keep them busy. The exhibition itself is spread over two floors. The building has a third floor, which wasn’t open on the day of our visit.

Montblanc fountain pens, arranged as a mountain

I won’t be able to relay the impressive exhibition here, so I am not even trying, but just to give you a quick overview: the ground floor is focussed on Montblanc’s history.

The first floor is looking at the production process of Montblanc’s fountain pens as well as the importance of writing.

A letter, handwritten by Albert Einstein. One of a few dozen letters by influential people.

The last part of the first floor is linked to one of Montblanc’s latest campaigns: Wes Anderson’s advertising. You can be part of the set (or a copy of the set) used in the 100 Years of Meisterstück campaign video.

I am always impressed by Montblanc’s ability to release pens that are very different to each other. If you look at Pelikan’s piston fillers, Kaweco’s Sport or Lamy’s Safari, AL-Star or even the latest pine green Lamy 2000, the ‘achievement’ of the manufacturers is that you get the same pen in a different colour. It reminds me of my factory tour of Staedtler’s facilities: I mentioned the limited edition colours of the Mars Micro 775, which I was quite keen on, but they were hardly aware of it and mentioned “but it’s just the same pen in a different colour”. Montblanc on the other hand brings out new pens that are very different to each other and are often only available for a few months – with a price tag to match.

There was also a Montblanc shop, selling stationery and more. This includes a special Montblanc Haus fountain pen and ink. Ms Wergin from the shop explained to me, that the ink’s recipe is quite special and was developed specifically for calligraphy. It can however also be used in standard fountain pens without problems. Its consistency is supposedly a little more liquid than that of Montblanc’s main black ink, which helps it dry faster.The ink also consists of several colour pigments, which should give it a particularly deep and rich colour.

I didn’t get round trying the ink out yet, as my currently used pens were just recently inked, but I am looking forward to trying it out soon.

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Alsterhaus in Hamburg

A recent family trip to Hamburg ^[1]which was my first ever trip to Hamburg included a trip to Alsterhaus, a posh department store that very much reminded us of Harvey Nichols in Manchester.

Excuse the wide angle distortions of the photo but because of construction work I couldn’t move further away

The Alsterhaus sells many posh brands (think Armani, Chanel, Hermes, …), but unexpectedly we also found an extensive selection of stationery brands on one of the higher floors.

Some brands, like Graf von Faber-Castell, S. T. Dupont and Caran d’Ache take up large parts of the stationery corner’s luxury corner, but pens from other brands, like Pelikan and Kaweco, are also in stock.

Despite Alsterhaus’ general focus on luxury brands you can also find affordable stationery items for office and school use.

This includes a great selection of Lamy pens.

Faber-Castell, Leuchtturm and more were also available.

Thanks to my wife I walked away with Caran d’Ache’s Nespresso pencils (more about them at Pencil Talk) and my first ever “Les crayons de la maison” pencils (more about them at Lexikaliker, who discovered that this series is not quite what it is made out to be).

Prices were comparable to what you pay for these items in other shops or online.

This set seems to be the tenth edition, created together with Mizensir, a Swiss parfume firm.

When opening the plastic wrapping you can smell the strong smell from these pencils.

At this stage it is not completely clear whether the different pencils have different smells that are indistinguishable because they were together in sealed packaging or whether the different pencils have the same smell by design.

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↑1	which was my first ever trip to Hamburg