Montblanc’s Marco Tomasetta has been around the luxury block several times, especially in fashion. Having spent time at Prada, Chloé, Louis Vuitton, and as the Creative Design Director of Men’s and Women’s Leather Goods at Givenchy, it’s very likely that you’ve already seen his work by now. Yung sat down with him to speak about the brand’s future in the current climate.
YUNG: Tell us about Marco’s world? What does that look like at Montblanc?
Marco Tomasetta: Well, my world meets at Montblanc. Right now, I am at a critical moment in my career. I think it is an exciting point of arrival in my career. I can use the experience I developed throughout the years to express Montblanc’s DNA fully. I am able to go more in-depth and investigate this DNA to express it through the different categories of the brand. Also, Montblanc is not a fashion brand. I have previously worked predominantly with fashion brands. It has a lot to do with the art of writing and creativity.
How do your vision and creative direction plug into the other Montblanc categories to create a more unified global movement?
Montblanc has a beating heart, a very iconic object connected to writing. I’m talking about the Meisterstück. The brand has many different codes. I tapped into all the elements and codes of the brand to help the categories interact with one another. The Meisterstück ignites my creativity, giving a vibration that can help unify all the categories seamlessly.
What is your design process like? Do you tap into the brand’s archival pieces, the history and how do you reinterpret that for a new consumer today?
You cannot look at an archive and think you want to make it more modern because archives don’t get old. You know, in an archive, you find things that developed throughout different periods of time. And everything at that time was a revolution and innovation. So, what I do is I use these brand codes and bring the same taste, the same attitude into the new products and new objects that might be useful in today’s life. Because what changed is the way we use things. But the way we live, for example, a pen, never gets old. It can never get old. So, the archive, for me, is a place of inspiration, where I can find beauty because sometimes, I think archives are more interesting and beautiful than new things we might see around.
How do you see the evolution of a brand so intrinsic with its classic product offering to live in a contemporary world?
I know that Montblanc can look like a classic brand from the outside. I thought that too before I joined, but I would say it’s a heritage brand. Sometimes I think fashion being so fast-paced and aggressive made Montblanc not find its space and maybe feel a bit more classic. But I want to reiterate that the concept of Montblanc is really modern because if you think of the pen, it’s based on engineering, it was very innovative for its time, and the brand was able to create things that stood the test of time.
The brand usually resonates a lot more with men. How are you trying to change that in a modern world catering to a broader spectrum of genders?
So, if you think about it, Montblanc is based on writing, and writing is genderless. Writing is universal. A pen-the Montblanc pen-was used by artists of the world, both men and women, and they could communicate and express their thoughts to everyone. The brand has always had female influence from its inception. I think Montblanc can appeal to both men and women because it is a brand that speaks to humankind in general.
