Montblanc, Hamburg / Noe Duchaufour-Lawrance

摘要

There are 35 steps involved in just the making of the 14ct gold nib of a Montblanc pen - so how do you go about translating that kind of detail and narrative into a retail environment? To begin with, designer Noe Duchaufour-Lawrance has opened with some broad brush strokes, or to be more precise some broad pen strokes. Sweeping black, high-gloss, lacquered panels - 'the gesture' - are a key delineating element of the brand's new, just-opened European flagship store in Hamburg. A few may question why the flagship has opened in Hamburg, or even why Germany at all. Despite its French-sounding heritage, and Mont Blanc itself being in the Alps between France and Italy (Monte Bianco), the brand is actually German. What's more, Hamburg is the hometown, with the factory just outside this second-largest city in Germany.