Progressive times: Zaim Kamal moves Montblanc forward into a brave new future

Montblanc is a 110-year-old heritage brand. How do you keep the maison’s heritage in tact while embracing modernity and change?

Change is part of Montblanc’s DNA. Montblanc is what I call a “heritage masion”, meaning its heritage comes with values – in this case, the values inherent in our craftsmanship, excellence and innovation. And these values evolve over time, so that what we considered to be innovation 10 years ago is not what we consider it to be today, or what it will be tomorrow. So this evolution of our values allows us to keep moving forward without forsaking the heritage of the maison.

You describe your target client as a young urban progressive, rather than a young urban professional – what is the difference?

The word “professional” has very specific connotations and I would say if [we had been talking about a client between] 2013 and mid-2016, we could have used “professional” as well. A “progressive” is basically a person who is a professional, but in a profession that is not yet necessarily defined. [When you hear] “professional”, you think of lawyers and doctors and of a certain kind of mentality. A progressive is somebody who does his own thing because he believes in it, and he has his roots in [it]. In fact, it doesn’t matter if he’s working in a profession that we know of, or if he’s creating his own identity. So that’s why we use “progressive” – because it opens up the world.