Nuuna is a new brand of notebooks made in Germany by Brandbook. (I’ve reviewed some of Brandbook’s products designed for custom promotional uses, but this is their entry into products for the retail market.) The kind folks at Notebook Maniac (who have a great selection of other notebooks too) sent me a couple of samples … Continue reading Review & Giveaway: Nuuna Notebooks
The folks at Kapdaa contacted me from India to offer a sample of a very cool concept: notebooks covered in leftover fabrics from clothing. An offcut is the material that remains after the clothing pattern has been cut out. Often it just goes to waste, but Kapdaa uses these remnants to make attractive cloth-bound journals … Continue reading Review: Kapdaa Offcuts Notebook
The kind folks at Pencils.com sent me a couple of samples of their Palomino Luxury Notebooks. I was excited to try these, as they looked like they were adding some interesting tweaks to the typical notebook, and because I had seen that they were being made in collaboration with the Turkish brand Fabio Ricci, one … Continue reading Review & Giveaway: Palomino Luxury Notebook
The folks at Cool Material sent me a nice batch of their recently introduced “Word.” notebooks. These are a staple-bound notebook in the vein of Field Notes and the Moleskine cahiers, but with a unique page format. First impressions: I love the cover designs, in cool colors and camouflage patterns. They came packaged very beautifully … Continue reading Review and Giveaway: Word. Notebooks from Cool Material
This is another notebook I bought about 3 years ago and then immediately shelved. When I first examined it after buying it, I pretty much hated it. I bought it because it was cheap and I’d never tried a softcover Piccadilly, though I’d liked using some of their hardcover ones with graph or plain paper. … Continue reading Review: Piccadilly Softcover Notebook
I think I first came across this notebook on the Blick website. It comes in several sizes, and I was excited to see that one of them was 3.5 x 5.5″, a rare size for sketchbooks. I went to the Blick retail store in Manhattan to see if I could check one out in person, … Continue reading Review and Giveaway: Canson XL Mix Media Sketchbook
I’ve been rather fascinated by field books lately. I first owned one when I was in college– I forget where I bought it, but I stumbled on it in a store, thought it looked cool, and ended up using it for some art classes where its durability came in handy. I hadn’t thought about it … Continue reading Review and Giveaway: Elan Pocket-Size Field Book
It’s been a while since I actually reviewed a Moleskine notebook, and with all the concerns about quality going downhill, I thought it might be a good time to look at one I am currently using, a plain pocket size notebook (with regular paper, not sketchbook weight) which was purchased in recent months. This is … Continue reading Moleskine Monday: Reviewing My Latest
I spotted these at my favorite local stationery store (NYC’s Paper Presentation, on 18th St.) and immediately fell in love with them. I was thrilled when the nice folks at OrangeArt agreed to send me some samples to review. The format of these notebooks is hardly unique, but the letterpress tattersall design on the covers … Continue reading Review & Giveaway: OrangeArt Tattersall Notebooks
This notebook is for all the fountain pen and ink fanatics out there: the Ink Journal. It was created by Tom Oddo of Goldspot Pens, who I am sure tests a lot of pens and inks, and as such, must have put a lot of thought into what a perfect ink-testing notebook would be. A … Continue reading Review & Giveaway: Ink Journal