Marc Newson, born in Sydney in 1963, is an Australian industrial designer. He studied jewellery and sculpture in Sydney and went on to design furniture, everyday objects, vehicles and luxury goods; in 2014 he also joined Apple (Wikipedia).
For Montblanc he designed the Montblanc M series. It came out in 2015, according to a press release first from mid-August at Harrods in London and from 1 September in the boutiques (forum post (Fountain Pen Network) of 12 August 2015). The first edition comprised a fountain pen, a rollerball, a ballpoint, an Artfineliner with a particularly fine tip and a ScreenWriter for touchscreens. Its hallmarks are the obliquely flattened end of the barrel bearing the emblem, which Montblanc calls the “plateau”, and a cap held by magnets that turns the clip into line with this plateau of its own accord when it is put on. The fountain pen takes cartridges only; Montblanc did not provide for a converter (model catalogue). Its 14 kt nib is that of the StarWalker, and only the nibs of the launch edition bear the initials “MN”.
Montblanc had commissioned outside designers before, for example André Ribeiro in the 1990s (frequently asked question on André Ribeiro) and, according to forum posts, Albrecht Graf Goertz around 1960. What was new in 2015 was that Montblanc named an outside designer publicly; a version of the press release circulated to dealers, according to which Montblanc had handed a design to an outsider for the very first time, is incorrect (post on Penexchange (thread “Die ‘kleinen’ Geschichten zu und hinter Füllhaltern”)).
The black original was followed in 2017 by the matt, sandblasted Ultra Black, in 2018 by the red (MONTBLANC M)RED, part of whose proceeds went to the Global Fund and which Newson himself had suggested, and in 2019 by the metal (MONTBLANC M)RED Signature. In 2016 the series received the Red Dot Award for product design (designer’s website). Montblanc no longer offers it; when it ended is not documented.