To celebrate the 15th anniversary of M.A.D.Gallery, MB&F reunites with Caran d’Ache around an object that is both familiar and entirely unexpected. With the GorillaSharpener, the two Swiss maisons transform the iconic pencil sharpener of our childhood into a mechanical creature somewhere between sculpture, design and school-day nostalgia.
Since 1933, Caran d’Ache’s “sharpening machine” has accompanied generations of Swiss schoolchildren. Now, in the hands of Maximilian Maertens, a designer at MB&F, it leaves the school desk behind for something far more spectacular. The familiar mechanism is mounted on powerful gorilla limbs, as though the animal were about to move across the desk on its knuckles, surrounded by pencils and notebooks.
Before arriving at this distinctive silhouette, the project went through a series of sketches and three-dimensional models designed to faithfully recreate the animal’s posture. Crafted from a zinc-based alloy, steel and chromed mechanical components, the GorillaSharpener is finished in Alpine Frost Blue, further enhancing its sculptural character.
The idea, however, did not come entirely out of the blue. In 2024, MB&F and Caran d’Ache had already reimagined the same object with the DinoSharpener, a version mounted on dinosaur legs. For Maximilian Maertens, the next step was almost inevitable: if the first evoked Godzilla, it now needed its King Kong.
The relationship between the two maisons goes back even further, to the Astrograph, a rocket-inspired writing instrument unveiled in 2016. Yet behind the humour and imagination of the project lies a more meaningful purpose. Launched to coincide with World Gorilla Day, the GorillaSharpener accompanies MB&F’s partnership with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, an organisation founded in 1967 and dedicated to the protection and study of gorillas.
MB&F notably supports the Pablo mountain gorilla group, monitored in Rwanda, helping to fund scientific research and on-the-ground conservation efforts. It is ultimately a natural partnership for MB&F, whose universe has always been built around a simple idea: bringing mechanics and imagination together. Founded as a conceptual watchmaking laboratory, the studio has gradually expanded its creative playground into other forms of mechanical art, notably through collaborations with maisons such as Caran d’Ache.
Limited to just 300 pieces, the GorillaSharpener will be available exclusively through MB&F, at M.A.D.Galleries, MB&F LABs and the MB&F Lounge in New York. An object that neatly encapsulates the maison’s philosophy: preserving something of childhood imagination, then giving it the technical means to become reality.
