Did a rhyming refrain from a 90s cartoon stick in our heads like Arthur’s passionate declaration: “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card”? No? Just us? Regardless, think of Montblanc’s new campaign as the spiritual predecessor to this message. Entitled Library Spirit, the London edition of this new campaign celebrates the endless possibilities for knowledge in a library. “Places of enlightenment and discovery, libraries around the world generate new ideas and spark imagination,” the brand writes. “Capturing years of storytelling on their shelves, libraries can also act as a window to the soul of a country, a culture, a city.”
Shot by Mariano Vivanco in the aptly titled London Library on St. James’s Square, the campaign features actor James Norton, who’s currently appearing in a West End adaptation of cult book A Little Life, alongside model, singer, author and i-D cover star Karen Elson, and model Arthur Gosse. Here is where old meets new, “an unlikely union of elegance and unconventionality,” as Montblanc put it. “The London Library setting is not only a place for the traditional studying of the classics, but also a place influenced by the bustling, multicultural city around it,” says Marco Tomasetta, Montblanc Artistic Director. It becomes “a place for scratching beneath the surface and finding a new wave of inspiration in something that is unexpected, that goes against the current.”
Last week the luxury maison launched this new campaign and its products at The Lumley Library at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, with campaign star Karen joined by the likes of Suki Waterhouse, Callum Turner, Will Sharpe, Alex Pettyfer and David Gandy to enjoy a Jackson Boxer-cooked meal in the elegant space. Entertainment came in the form of a spoken word performance by Raven Smith and a live musical performance by Karen. Meanwhile, i-D asked a handful of guests about their handwriting; check it out on TikTok.
