The partnership between Montblanc and Unicef was forged in 2004. 14 years and several collections later, they have managed to raise more than 10 million dollars. The goal? To promote literacy and children’s education.
Education is a fundamental human right. However, 63 million children of school age (6-11 years) do not attend school and, of those who do, only 4 out of 10 reach minimum levels in reading and mathematics due to the poor quality of education received.
Some of the writing instruments from the Montblanc for Unicef collection.
Conveying the culture of writing is one of Montblanc’s core values, which is not surprising considering that its flagship product is writing instruments. With its partnership with Unicef, the company aims to help in the task of providing as many children as possible with access to equitable and inclusive education.
The Montblanc for Unicef collection has raised 1 million dollars.
With its latest initiative for Unicef alone, the brand has raised $1 million for Unicef’s educational projects in China, Brazil and Djibouti. Among the improvements that will be implemented are the renovation of classrooms, the provision of school supplies and appropriate furniture, teacher training and teachers’ salaries in community kindergartens.
The Montblanc for Unicef collection consists of writing instruments, watches, accessories and leather goods. There are two characteristics that unite all these items. Firstly, the colour. Unicef blue is present on almost every piece. Secondly, the multilingual inscriptions that decorate the writing instruments. These are the first characters that children learn to write in six different alphabets: Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Hindi.
Selection of products from the Montblanc for Unicef collection.
As Nicolas Baretzki, CEO of Montblanc, says, it is a design that emphasises the value of writing:
“By highlighting the universal nature of writing and the diversity of the world’s languages with a design that features six handwritten characters – each being the first letter taken from six different alphabets that children first learn to write – the collection has been designed as a powerful reminder that it is crucial to have access to quality education from an early age in life.”
Education is a fundamental human right and a tool to break the cycle of disadvantage for those who cannot access it. When all children have access to education from an early age through adolescence, it creates opportunities that influence current and future generations.
