Montblanc’s StarWalker Collection Takes Us to the Moon and Back

In a galaxy not so far away, Montblanc celebrated the launch of its redesigned StarWalker pen collection at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston, Texas. Marking the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, as well as NASA’s recent announcement of sending an astronaut to Mars in 2024, the museum made perfect sense for the launch of the collection. It also reinforced the company’s penchant for designing high quality pens lightyears ahead of the competition.

Although Montblanc’s Meisterstück collection has been riding high (becoming the brand’s most recognizable collection to date), reissues of past, perhaps lesser-known, lines were put to the forefront when Zaim Kamal became creative director six years ago. The StarWalker collection, which was first introduced in 2003, is the latest to get a refresh.

“We wanted a counterbalance to the cultural gravitas of the iconic Meisterstück,” Kamal said. “We wanted to find a hook, and when we started looking at the StarWalker collection three years ago, it was a time when space was at the center [of the conversation]. SpaceX was doing its first tests; [Richard] Branson was talking about going to Mars.”

As fate would have it, Kamal came across the novel Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by the late author and astronomer, Carl Sagan. And after talking with astronauts like Leroy Chiao, he then added his own twist to the blue dot with a translucent version, placing it at the tip of the cap or crown of the pen. “It is a symbol for reconnecting with what makes us us,” Kamal said. “It had to be luminescent; it had to have a jewel quality to make you feel light-headed. This dream was very important.” It took 30 to 40 tries to get the right color of the dyed resin—one that dutifully conveys what astronauts see looking down from space.

He also looked at the designs of rockets from the 1950s and ’60s as well as the machine described in Jules Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon. This is evident in the StarWalker’s sleek silhouette and two bold parallel lines that coil around the barrel. Three versions of a fountain point and ballpoint were made: a full-metal edition, a black resin barrel and metal cap, and an all-black resin barrel with contrasting metal fittings.

All this was highlighted outside the museum, in a large-scale version of the company’s blue dot, where inside a space simulation was projected on the structure’s 360-degree dome ceiling. Montblanc also brought its ambassador Hugh Jackman on board for the brand’s virtual ride to the stars. “When you put a beautiful Montblanc pen in your hand, you think about what you’re saying and what you’re writing,” said Jackman. “It gives you space.”