I think I understand how they came up with the name for this brand. If the people behind Paperblanks came to you and said they had a new line of notebooks, and asked you to take a look at them, you’d say “Oh!” when you opened the box and saw that they looked like this:

These notebooks are definitely a departure from the Paperblanks look– totally different notebook styles, designs, and materials. I got a nice assortment representing a few of their product lines: Circulo, Ondulo, and Quadro. Ondulo has a wavy-textured cardboard cover and contrasting endpapers. Circulo and Quadro are named for the circular or square cut-outs that show off the contrasting colors in the two-layer cover. In all these lines, except in the cahiers, you get a paper bookmark that can be stuck onto the inner back cover. It’s scored so it will easily bend over to mark your place. All the notebooks have a little booklet tucked inside with some brand info– I was very impressed by the booklet, as it’s an unusual design–the jagged shape results from a slightly trapezoidal slip of paper that is then folded on angles, with the type inside aligned to the folds. There is also some product info on a sticker on the inside back cover of each notebook. The sticker has an interesting shape– this and the booklet made me think they’d spent some extra money on these to spice up the design, as anything beyond standard square or rounded corners must cost more!

The larger size notebooks have wrap-around magnetic covers and a binding that is designed to lay flat– it works well, as you can open the notebook pretty much anywhere and it will stay open.

The small Circulo cahiers come in a set of two, one black & red and one grey & orange. These are in some ways similar to other single-signature notebooks, but I love how they are spiced up by the 2-layer cover in contrasting colors. It makes the cover stiffer and more sturdy.

The paper within is a creamy off white with fine grey grid lines. It feels lovely and smooth to write on. There were some little spots of bleed-through with a few pens, and show-through was about average.

All in all, I really like the attention to detail and quality of workmanship in these notebooks. They’ve added some special little touches that take them a notch above similar products. I’m not sure how widely these are distributed at retail yet, as the store finder on their website didn’t show me any results, just an empty map. But you can buy them online at Jenni Bick and Notegeist. The prices start at $9.95 for the 2-pack of cahiers and seem pretty reasonable for the features and design quality.

And you can also throw your hat in for a giveaway! I will be giving away two prize packs of two notebooks each. The two winners will be chosen randomly from entries received in these ways:

On Twitter, tweet something containing “Paper-Oh Notebooks @paperoh @NotebookStories”, and follow @NotebookStories and @paperoh.

On Facebook, “like” the Notebook Stories page and the Paper-Oh page and post something containing the words “Paper-Oh Notebooks” on the Notebook Stories page.

On your blog, post something containing the words “Paper-Oh Notebooks” and “Notebook Stories” and link back to this post.

The deadline for entry is Friday June 26, 2015 at 11:59PM, EST. Good luck everyone!
And please remember to check my posts on Facebook and Twitter for an announcement of the winner. Please allow a couple of weeks for me to check all the entries and determine the winners.