I recently wrote about how Moleskine’s packaging has evolved over the years. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at a similar Rhodia Webnotebook comparison. In future posts, I’ll also examine some other popular brands to see how their products have changed over time.
I first reviewed a Rhodia Webnotebook in 2009, not too long after they were introduced. Here’s the orange one I received as a sample from the company.
At some point, I also acquired a black Webnotebook with 80 GSM pages. I already had it when I reviewed the orange one, so I’m assuming I bought it in late 2008 or early 2009.
A few months ago, I purchased a current Webnotebook from JetPens when I saw that they were stocking the version with unlined 90 GSM pages, something I’d wished was an option years ago when they only offered lined pages.
How have the old Webnotebooks held up over time? Neither of the early ones was subjected to daily use–they have just been stored in boxes, so I can’t really speak to durability. The orange one seems to show some wear or fading of the color on the cover at the edges and corners, but it’s basically in great shape. What is quite shocking is the condition of the old black one– the cover material is crumbling on both sides of the spine, to the point where flakes and particles fall off every time I pick it up. Seems very strange for a notebook that has barely been opened to wear out in that way.
The original notebooks both had the vertical paper band with branding info on it. You can see that the newer one has a more typical horizontal band, just in white. It’s attractive, but I miss the iconic Rhodia orange! The other major difference in external appearance is that the recent model has a slightly larger cover and slightly smaller pages, leading to a great big cover overhang. The old black Webnotebook had the smallest overhang, and even the orange one was starting to get a little clunky looking, but this current one looks way worse. The cover also seems softer and almost rubbery.
My older black Webnotebook doesn’t note a country of origin, but the orange one said “Made in France.” The new one says “made in Étival-Clairefontaine, France,” but I think that refers just to the paper. Below that, the band says “French Design Made in Morocco.”
The 80 GSM paper in the old black notebook felt nice to write on but shows a lot of feathering and bleed-through with fountain pens. The 90 GSM paper in the old orange notebook and the current black notebook performs very well with fountain pens, and still feels wonderfully smooth to write on.
90 GSM Orange Rhodia Webnotebook from 2009:
80 GSM Rhodia Webnotebook tested in 2009:
90 GSM Rhodia Webnotebook from 2019:
I was really hoping the unlined Rhodia Webnotebook would be something I could use day to day. I love the paper but I just can’t get past that clunky cover. (And I hope it won’t end up deteriorating like the other one!)
Bottom line on the Rhodia Webnotebook comparison: a cosmetic update to the packaging, but from what I can see, Rhodia seems to have stayed very consistent in their paper quality over the past decade, and it’s great that they introduced unlined (and dotted) versions after the early years when lined was the only option. Also, in 2009 I had noted that the suggest retail price was $15 for this pocket size– that does not seem to have changed, which is nice. Unfortunately, the exterior construction is a bit different after the move to Morocco, but if the larger overhang isn’t something that bothers you, it’s still a great notebook!
Various colors, size and paper formats available on Amazon.