Montblanc Urban Spirit: Hand-Painted Leather Display in Barcelona

When Montblanc launched its Urban Spirit leather collection, the brand wanted something warmer than a standard product display. They asked our studio to imagine a hand-painted treatment for a special selection of pieces in Barcelona, turning wallets, bags and belts into small canvases that would carry the words “Montblanc Barcelona” in a bold, urban script. The result is a case study in how luxury leather personalization can energise a boutique environment and how the same mindset can be applied to flagship locations in Dubai and across the UAE.

From Urban Spirit to Santa Eulalia’s Windows

The project was hosted inside Santa Eulalia, one of Barcelona’s most respected luxury multibrand stores, located just a few steps from the official Montblanc boutique. Our team designed a graphic language echoing the Urban Spirit collection: clean lines, subtle references to city maps and a custom handstyle created especially for the brand. This visual identity was applied both to the leather pieces themselves and to the surrounding space, with window stickers and podium graphics ensuring that the hand-painted message was visible from the street.

Each item – briefcases, backpacks, card holders and belts – received a bespoke “Montblanc Barcelona” lettering in white and gold, carefully positioned so it worked with the construction of the product rather than fighting it. The approach was similar to what we later deployed for high-end handbag personalization projects in Dubai, where typography and colour choices are tuned to each silhouette instead of being treated as a generic logo print.

Creating a Human Touch in Luxury Retail

What makes this kind of intervention powerful for luxury retail is not only the final look, but the story behind it. Clients immediately understand that the pieces have been touched by an artist, not by a machine. The same philosophy guides our live Montblanc activations at Harrods in London and our other exclusive luxury leather collaborations in Dubai, where guests can literally see ink and paint flowing onto the material in real time.

In Barcelona, the display mixed our custom graphics with a powerful scenography built around a motorcycle and a clean white backdrop. The visual rhythm of the black lines on the floor and plinths echoed the hand-painted signatures on the bags, in the same spirit as our graphic setups for Lacoste LIVE anniversary events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and calligraphy-driven personalization for Jimmy Choo in department stores.

What This Means for Boutiques in Dubai

Dubai’s luxury districts – from Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates to high-traffic hotel galleries – are constantly competing for attention. A curated selection of hand-customized leather pieces can transform a standard corner into an installation that feels alive, especially when combined with a live component. The Barcelona case shows how a brand can start with a clear collection concept and invite an artist to translate it into a living, breathing experience, just as we do during live fashion customization parties for Sephora in Dubai or during engraving activations for Mercedes-Benz VIP events.

For maisons operating in the UAE, this approach can be scaled from a limited local operation to a regional storytelling tool. A collection might, for instance, have a “Dubai”, “Abu Dhabi” or “Riyadh” signature series, each hand-drawn in a slightly different style to reflect the city. The flexibility we developed on this Montblanc Urban Spirit Barcelona project is the same that allows us to move seamlessly from leather engraving for corporate Nespresso events in Dubai to a more illustrative live sketch format like our boutique sketch experiences for Jimmy Choo in Dubai.

International Reach, One Consistent Artistic Voice

One of the key strengths of our studio is the ability to follow the same client across continents while keeping a coherent artistic voice. During the Montblanc Urban Spirit campaign, our artists could be painting in Barcelona one week and performing a live personalization event in London or Dubai the next. This international capacity is essential for brands that want to roll out a strong creative concept simultaneously in Europe and the Middle East, ensuring that the level of craftsmanship remains identical whether the activation happens in a Passeig de Gràcia window or in a Dubai Mall flagship.

For marketing teams in the UAE looking for luxury leather personalization in Dubai that genuinely matches the standards of Paris and Barcelona, this project is a clear demonstration: hand-painted details, bespoke window graphics and a tailored in-store storyline can all be orchestrated under one roof, with an artist-led approach that respects the codes of luxury while bringing them firmly into the present.

ClientMontblancServicesCustomYear2017Linkwww.montblanc.com