Field Notes

Wall Planners & Financial Year Diaries!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:27:00 +0000

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, dear Reader, but it's time to start planning! Whether just for yourself, your family, your workmates, your accountant, or for whomever, a plan has always made a big difference and remains more relevant than ever. A brief look back at some lessons and examples of planning has shown me that most of what I've ever been exposed to on the theme of Planning is kind of inadequate.

Let's start at the start. As with most life lessons containing a moral, planning has been addressed in the canon of Aesop's fables. The Ant & The Grasshopper is worthy of most primary school classrooms but strikes me as completely deficient in 21st century relevance. There is an ascetic Ant who spends all his Summer days storing food, even though it's really hot and unpleasant to haul grain from A to B all day long, while a self-indulgent Grasshopper takes it easy, enjoys the shade and lives high on the hog for half the year. Inevitably, of course, Winter rolls round and the Grasshopper ends up more or less starving while the Ant and his brethren enjoy the spoils of their summer toils.

I need to check myself here. Aesop wrote this circa 600BC when work was probably about as simple as storing grain, so I'm sure it would have been a box office smash in Ancient Greece. But nowadays, it just doesn't apply. This is not the fine juggling act of options, decisions, people and tasks that we now call planning, it's more like a single choice played out day after day.

So if Aesop fails us, to where do we turn? If you're like me, when you're in a bind you will Do What Cook Would Do! Captain James Cook, of course. History's greatest Navigator and Discoverer, whose ambition took him 'not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go.'

Cook was the last Hero of the Age of Discovery. Indeed, his efforts brought that era to a close, along with the rise of the industrial revolution. As brave as Cook was, ever stoical in the face of disaster, and as smart and ahead of his time as he was, he wasn't really a planner extraordinaire. In fact, the best back up he had when losing track of his second ship was to write a message in a bottle, bury it under a tree and carve into the trunk 'Dig Here' before sailing on. This isn't James's fault, of course...what else could he do?

Cook does provide one lesson about planning that applies to us today. He is often lauded as a great polymath because his journals reveal all kinds of insights on botany, geography, ethnography, people management, resource management, political science and philosophy. Cook was none of this and even if he was, nobody in their right mind would take this approach these days. Dilettante now has a negative connotation because the amount of knowledge required in any one role these days is so overwhelmingly large that if you try to cover 3 or 4 bases you'll inevitably be found wanting in all of them. We are in an age of specialisation that requires many people coming together across many facets of a task and each doing a relatively small part expertly. Quality over quantity indeed!

So here we stand. Aesop has let us down simply because he dealt with a time that was far too simple and completely lacked the complexity we now confront every day. Cook even lets us down because, well, it was the Age of Discovery and there was a complete lack of information on which to base a plan and technology with which to implement it. Neither of these conditions exist nowadays, so how do we plan many people coming together across broad and multiple projects with expertise rather than plain old amateur enthusiasm?

I find the answer in a science fiction novel (here's hoping the boss doesn't read how we do things...) by Theodore Sturgeon from 1953 - More Than Human. The novel runs in Sturgeon's methodical, pseudo-macabre style and presents the idea of Homo Gestalt. Six extraordinary people with really strange, unique traits and abilities blend together to act as one organism, becoming this great gestalt consciousness. Sturgeon presents this as the next stage of human evolution but I see it as the ideal way to plan tasks in the 21st century!

Now we're not yet up to literally blending multiple minds into one but with work these days, we have so many specialised tasks each contributing to such a large, overwhelming edifice that it would kind of be ideal! Failing Homo Gestalt, we can actually kind of get close with planning, right? Sturgeon's creation develops ridiculous powers and abilities because all minds are as one and all talents can be directed via the one channel...to me, Homo Gestalt is little more than a well maintained Wall Planner!

As there are many facets to any task there are many facets to any plan. Individuals need to diarise tasks and run their own schedules but without that central gestalt consciousness, you'll end up with 5 one fifths of Captain James Cook rather than 5 experts. The difference is the well planned broader scheme, the context for work and effort, the common grey matter that those efforts are channeled through. If we think of consciousness as nothing more than the state of being aware, then Wall Planners, Team Planners and big, obvious, readily available business plans become your gestalt consciousness - a single conductor that waves its baton for your orchestra of specialists!

So do it now! Get planning! You can grab your 18 Month 2013 Moleskine Diary now and you will enjoy a Winter in Ancient Greece flush with grain. Or you can grab your Financial Year Diary for yourself and some Notice Life Wall Planners for your team, leave Ancient Greece behind, forget about getting lost in the pacific and touch the next stage of human evolution, vis-a-vis the 9 to 5.

NEW Lamy Safari Apple Green

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:15:00 +0000

The newest Lamy Fountain Pen, the Lamy Safari Apple Green, has just arrived and is looking very, well, Australian...it's almost the ideal Granny Smith colour and bright enough to help me ignore the slow descent into the colder winter months. In other words, a welcome addition! Every time the Lamy Safari is brought to my mind I like to go back to my own, write a few pages and appreciate how really amazing this pen is. I'm talking here about the Safari Fountain Pen. The Safari Rollerball is really great, an excellent rollerball ink, and i still place the Safari Ballpoint in my top 5 ballpoint push buttons of all times, but the fountain is where this pen struts its most self-assured stride.

Coincidentally, I was reading recently about the Argentine Tango, of all things, and I can't help but see a parallel...well, it might actually be a tangent...between this most famous of dances and my experience with this most reliable of pens. Not the pen itself so much, but how it and I have gotten along over the years.

Unsurprisingly, I guess, there haven't always been Milongas (Argentine Dance Halls) filled with the romance of pairs of dancing lovers. The tango grew up in the harsh suburbs of Buenos Aires around the end of the 19th century and it has a fairly dark story. I'm no expert but it traces its roots back to the indolence of unemployed Argentines (as well as Hungarians, Italians and plenty of other frustrated men) who saw the city as their route to economic independence only to be disappointed upon arrival. To fill their days, I suppose, these men would get into scrapes which quickly became knife fights which then evolved (probably after somebody pointed out how much better a knife fight would be if there were a) no knives and b) no fighting) into the Tango.

It satisfied a lot of needs. The days were filled with something to do, nobody was getting hurt anymore but there was still this intense undercurrent of belligerence between two men fighting (in quadruple time) for supremacy, an alpha-male need for dominance being gratified. For a long time, the dance was only done between men and even after women had been introduced, men still danced on their own for a long time trying to perfect their steps. What i like here is that something that started out as unmitigated hostility was turned into what we now recognise as possibly the West's greatest monument to passion and romance. From something difficult was born this great love affair.

This evolution is a big part of the creative process. One example brought to my mind recently was of Nick Cave writing his books with pen and paper. His reason being that writing with a pen helps, or rather makes, you appreciate the value of words. With word processing, you can delete whole swaths of text in a single stroke, cheapening the meaning of each word therein. If you're writing, the process is often slower and more difficult but the very closeness of what you are doing takes you deeper into the task, each part now subject to more thoughtful scrutiny. From something difficult is born a more profound engagement to the task at hand.

And this evolution is also a nice way to explain my relationship with the Lamy Safari. I'm Australian. I used a ballpoint pen, and only a ballpoint pen, right through school and by the time i first encountered a fountain pen I had over 13 years of ballpoint habits to break. This ballpoint technique of writing, the pen nearly vertical, hard downward pressure as you move the pen over your paper, is a terrible way to approach a fountain pen. Fountain pens have a continuous flow of liquid ink just dying to get out of your pen so you don't need any downward pressure. To make matters worse, positioning the pen vertically is just killing your wrist and hand, those little muscles under constant strain.

And so here is the hostility stage of my fountain pen relationship. I really didn't see the appeal, it was too difficult. Soon enough though, this stage evolved, after somebody pointed out that I should trust the pen's design, into a great love affair. The Safari has these neat little rest points on the grip section (we've done a full Lamy Safari Review you should read for more) and if you just let the pen lead, all of a sudden there's no strain on your hands and the pen is angled beautifully towards your paper. The Lamy nib is also cut to allow optimum flow of ink at this angle...two left feet to a pro, just like that!

After a little practice of writing with 'proper' technique, I found myself really getting into the romance of fountain pen writing. There's something so expressive in a medium-nib line, each character a personality of its own, dark and shaded here, lighter and more nimble there. You can look over the page and get a reflection of the writer, whether it was scribbled in the fervent haste of a creative burst or whether it came more methodically, perhaps with some deeper understanding. You can look over the page and see, rather than a bleak wintery pale-blue, a vibrant green, yellow, pink or blues that recall to mind the sky at sunrise or the wine-dark sea after sunset. As a comparison, I can come back and read what I've typed above here and have absolutely no idea if it took 5 or 50 minutes, if the first paragraph flowed naturally or was revised 10 times. This is really why I love the Lamy Safari fountain pen. It has the potential to take any task at hand, even if as unappealing as something tantamount to a knife fight, and imbue it with the potential for romance, a freedom of expression that lets a stationery fan like myself see any piece of paper as a Milonga Perfecto.

Defy Bags & Craftsmanship

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:50:00 +0000

The video above from Defy Bags actually encapsulates a lot of the story of manufacturing, and as such, of society, over the last few decades...it's quite interesting (you can watch a nice big version here if you like).

Defy bags was founded by Chris Tag. Chris makes every bag, from start to finish, in Chicago and openly admits that a seed for craftsmanship was planted in his personality during childhood, watching his father and grandfather coming home from work at the General Motors factory in Dayton, Ohio. This was a time when American industry was unrivalled in its power. The American mainland escaped World War II relatively unscathed and so they found themselves, in that most o-matic of decades, the 50s (you know, cut-o-matic, slice-o-matic, grill-o-matic appliances), with a lot of hands, a lot of money and a lot of resources. One of the great industrial booms in recorded history followed as factory after factory was opened, staffed and producing goods, goods, goods!

For a lot of people, though, the boom wasn't so sweet. As things progressed, all of these amazing machines, inventions and automated processes were being developed and a lot of those hands suddenly found themselves without too much to do! Machines overtook that unscathed landscape and manufacturing went away from the idea of a bunch of people in control of a few relatively simple tools to a bunch of relatively complex machines being operated by a few relatively simple processes.

This was great for quality of life compared to a time when there were no washing machines, no vacuum cleaners, no household appliances but not so great for the quality of those things that had forever existed. Have you ever compared, say, a flat packed dining table to a beautiful dining table from the 40s? There is no such thing as a dining table from the 40s that isn't beautiful, they were made by men with their hands, no bolts or screws or clips, just timber at the mercy of somebody engrossed in what they're doing.

Here's the main point about hand made stuff: there is no loophole for apathy. The work becomes engrossing, the responsibility all yours, the ownership of the task is unmistakable. You can look at the finished product as a direct reflection of yourself...in fact, you can't look at it in any other way. In short, you do it well.

But back to the 50s and society in general. The space race was on between the Soviets and the States and with each thrilling instalment, this infatuation with automation, with 'technology' just got bigger and bigger. Using your hands became passe. By the time Neil Armstrong was on the Moon, Americans had nothing left to hang on to but their household appliances and unrivalled material quality of life. Vietnam was a disaster, Watergate was around the corner but nobody lived more comfortably than Americans. People were ignoring the aforementioned loophole, because things were comfy.

But then a cruel twist of irony as the 80s came along and Japan was all of a sudden ruling the world of automated manufacturing. Where Hirohito had failed, Akio Morita and the Sony Corporation had succeeded. All of those once mighty factories, initially staffed with skilled craftsmen, later staffed with shiny machines, were finally shuttered. Veil American manufacturing.

All of these forces still exist; an infatuation with technology, a desire for a comfortable quality of life and a reliance on the economy of automated manufacture. But they are not everything. They are great for basic things but here is where the script gets flipped. We, most of us, the lucky ones, are no longer in a daily struggle for quality of life. Things are comfy. Nor is the idea of 'technology' so novel that we pay attention to informercials about kitchen appliances. Where hand made things used to be passe, we now understand that it is quite the opposite. As Shakespeare wrote for the Merchant of Venice, 'but at the length, truth will out' and we now crave the very things which were taken for granted and seen as archaic 60 years ago - for something that is handmade!

Why? Again, it's that loophole for apathy. The fact that when you hold something handmade, you are holding a direct reflection of the maker. To take the present subject matter as an example, each Defy Bag really does carry this story, that once there were proud men doing work they were proud of, that we lost our way but that at the length, truth will out. Chris puts it well: "I believe you don’t just create with your hands and brain. But with your hands, brain and heart."

There is an individual story, a uniqueness, a personality to each finished piece. It may manifest itself as something trivial and simple but in principle it is everything. If you've seen bags made on an assembly line, you've seen a worker put a piece of fabric into what looks like a giant transparent barbeque, and stand aside for 30 seconds while some science-fiction stitch-o-matic does its work. It looks kind of neat, and I'm sure a child would be really impressed with the speed and I'm sure the robotic accomplishment is an engineering masterpiece but in none of these qualities do I see signs that somebody has put their heart into what they are doing and that the finished piece is a reflection of a craftsman's principles and integrity.

Clairefontaine Notebooks & 'The Source'

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:40:00 +0000

A very much wanted delivery of Clairefontaine Notebooks arrived last week, choc full of Clairefontaine Essentials Clothbound Notebooks. I was really excited, we all were. Due to outrageous popularity of late, these guys have been sold out but fountain pen users can now breathe a sigh of relief - they are back!

I am reminded here of that old phrase 'You don't miss your water 'til the well runs dry...' It seems that we at NoteMaker and even myself personally have kind of neglected this amazing paper, the amazing little biography of Clairefontaine. I searched Field Notes for Clairefontaine expecting a bevy of posting about what essentially was the one piece of stationery that 'got me' in the first place and could only turn up a single post, which dealt with the quirks of an infant King as much as the paper in question.

So shame on me - it was only in a time of dire Clairefontaine shortage that I realised how great the Essentials notebooks are and now, as repentant as any sinner, I'm here to divulge my thoughts on Clairefontaine paper.

I remember this fairly vividly. It was whilst innocently thumbing through a Rhodia Pad (as we stationery fans know, Rhodia paper is made by Clairefontaine) for the first time that I first 'got' design stationery. I don't mean that I began to understand the appeal or the idea on an intellectual level. I don't mean that i saw it as a source of economic independence. I mean that I got it, a visceral sensation down to the marrow of my bones, and I have since counted myself one of the many who have fallen under this Siren's song, almost certainly never to return.

I couldn't believe it. I hadn't even written on it. That, I proceeded to do with a 3.15mm lead Lamy Scribble, a 4B lead made for sketching, it is agreeably smooth on the worst paper. I think I was transported back to some childhood nirvana, the sheer joy of making any mark and getting that instant gratification of seeing yourself transposed onto paper. I was just making wholly unintelligible loops and lines here and there over that pale blue 5x5mm grid, actually giggling, incredulous at even the idea of comparing this paper to what I had previously known.

I've since learned a little bit about why Clairefontaine's Mill in the Vosges region of France is so amazingly good. In 1858, Clairefontaine set-up in a Paper Mill that itself was built in 1512. They started making stationery, as opposed to just loose leaf paper etc, in 1890 and were the first to make school notebooks, those petits cahiers, for all of France.

That Clairefontaine is a Paper Mill first and foremost is incredibly important. They have this tunnel vision for paper quality and they are quite unique among widely available, consumer-marketed stationery in this capacity. Clairefontaine has absolute control over the whole process of manufacturing. This might sound rather unremarkable but paper quality is a microscopic thing and tiny differences make a huge impact, as anyone who has had their fountain pen or rollerball feather on poor paper will attest. From one notebook to the next, Melbourne to Toulouse, your paper will be exactly the same. I mean, other brands' paper may look the same, may even feel the same, but once you start writing on it, testing the integrity of that sheet, how closely interlocked those fibres of pulp are, how amicably it abides the application of your ink or pencil lead, you can sometimes be disappointed. When you source your paper from a third party, unfortunately these tiny details of quality just aren't your call.

Not with Clairefontaine notebooks. Never, in fact. The best fountain pen in the world may skip from time to time or you'll run out of ink. Your iPhone can have a tantrum and your MacBook can give you that spinning wheel. Your car will break down, the train will be late and you might even break the strap on your backpack. But as a daily tool goes, that thing you rely on for your work, Clairefontaine's paper just will not let you down. Ever. Paper is overlooked in this capacity as a tool but it totally is. I find few things more frustrating than writing across a page and having the poorly made sheet shed itself of paper fibres, like a leper, which then get drawn up into my nib and disrupt the flow of ink. Or writing with a ballpoint and having those little blobs of loose papery swill accumulate under the ball. It's the equivalent of Microsoft Word crashing just as you start to move the cursor towards SAVE after a good hour of work!

As I seem to have started a little rant here, I may as well finish it. I really want to use both sides of the sheet of paper and few notebooks give you the reverse side in mint condition. I mean I can live with a little 'echo' and so long as I'm not using a dark ink, I can even deal with some bleeding from time to time but there is no comparison for turning the page over to find two brand spanking paper adonises ready to take your thoughts. We at NoteMaker have turned away some really cool stuff because it's performance in this regard does not cut it.

That's kind of the practical side of why, personally, I love that Clairefontaine paper. But there are other reasons beyond basic utility and reliability and I think these can be seen as arguably just as important. Clairefontaine is a Paper Mill, it is the source, the undiluted, inviolable beginning of the final product. It's the farmer's market of paper! That whole slow food movement is all about getting back to the source of your food, right? Many authors, Michael Pollan probably the most widely read of them, have made quite a fuss about why we should worry about this. It's not just gastronomy at play here, it's a deeper human phenomenon as far as i can see. We love, probably need, to know and to trust the provenance of the things in our lives. To do so is comforting, a form of honesty with the inanimate objects in our life.

We all worry about this. It's why universities have a rigorous peer review system for original research and it's why we subsidise and rely on University research so much. With each degree that we move away from that source (think about an article in Nature vs an article in New Idea) things get progressively shakier. Can you trust it? How far have we deviated from the source?

To sum it up, Clairefontaine is really one of very, very few stationery makers who can show you exactly how, from start to finish, they make that amazing paper and bind it into a notebook. They are singular in the quality of those notebooks.

Field Notes The National Crop Limited Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:28:00 +0000

This video above says more about the latest Limited Edition from Field Notes, The National Crop, than I ever could! 4 times a year, Field Notes produces a very limited edition run of themed notebooks and this is number 14. It's definitely the best ever, a total celebration of everything that the memo book stands for. In a way, these promotional farmers memo books carried all the info that a crop raiser needed to get by, all of his observations, his records, notes, calculations, successes and failures. Watching this, holding The National Crop, I can't help but be reminded of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

Yes...you get that cuper cute sew on badge too!

From a time where the success/failure of a crop was literally the be all and end all, the axis about which a man's life would turn, you get a real appreciation of how much weight every single one of those scribbled numbers or notes would carry. As they say, I'm Not Writing It Down To Remember It Later, I'm Writing It Down To remember It Now! Few of us are in such a dire position these days, but the point remains that a pocket notebook really can be your best friend, the eidetic memory of everything noteworthy that we come across, everyday.

Paper & 'The Middle Frequencies'

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:27:00 +0000

This Saturday April 21 is Record Store Day, an international celebration of your local independent record store. Melbourne is incredibly rich, per capita, in independent record stores so to my fellow Melbournians I say go find your local, have a browse and help support these wonderful places.

This may seem an odd topic for a stationery blog but anybody who has listened to vinyl probably knows why i'm bringing this up. It's what a friend of mine once described, however vaguely, as 'the middle frequencies' and it's common to any 'analog' record of anything - music, writing, sketching, scribbling...

Very quickly, a record is 'analog'. There are physical grooves etched into the vinyl which replicate the actual soundwave that any recording makes. Sound is just vibrations in the air and those exact vibrations are copied perfectly by a record. You get everything, a full sound, every single part of the spectrum. CDs, DVDs and MP3s are all abstractions in a way. They are varying degrees removed from the original and work by 'sampling' that sound wave. They do this pretty frequently, a CD 44000 times per second, but amazingly, there is still a stark difference between a CD and a record.

In many ways, it's no big deal, right? I mean, you get the notes, the melody, rhythm, the timbre stays the same but you miss those 'middle frequencies' because a CD isn't taking the whole signal, it's just choosing points of the soundwave to pick up. Put as simply as I can put it, a record sounds 'more live'. It's 'closer' to the actual sound, fuller, more rounded, more real.

I'm sure that by now the metaphor is quite clear. Hand writing is your Record, word processing is your CD. As i type this into Blogger, i'm getting all of the letters, the punctuation, it's even making sense. But as i look to my notebook on the left, i see 'middle' with an underline, 'handwriting' looking something like 'hand__-_k_' and i even tried to sketch a soundwave...dearest Blogger, you're robbing me of the middle frequencies!

Sometimes, a bland, emotionless reproduction is great. If i submitted last month's report to the boss with hand drawn graphs and my barely legible script, I'd be wasting everybody's time. But not everything should be so darn boring and objective. The progress of science has duped us into seeing, doing and making everything 'objectively'. To that i say poppycock! Stories, relationships, emotions, the kind of stuff that makes a day worthwhile, these are totally subjective and if you want to get the whole thing across, word processing does not cut it. Illustrator does not cut it and Photoshop is totally inept.

But it's not just the full spectrum of the soundwave (or the full gamut of emotion) that makes an analog record the business. There are endearing little rituals associated with each. Taken together, this does make anything analog 'more work', but the other side of the coin is that it makes them way better. It takes more time and more care to maintain a record than it does a CD and it takes more care to play the thing...you even have to get up and flip it after about 15 minutes. But audiophiles do this because capturing the whole sound, the closeness and richness of it, is totally worth it.

Likewise is takes slightly more effort to write a letter and even to open one. But it's fun! There's anticipation, a small sense of wonder, and a big sense of absolute gratification that can only come with the fulfilment of that very human desire to own a physical artefact of something. To hold something augments all of the emotions and associations in memory that come from what it is. But it's not just correspondence, of course. Creative writing, journalling, reflection...these are stories, they are subjective and if you trust them to a screen you're missing the whole story, regardless of how much 'more work' is involved. Writers and storytellers do the extra work because it's totally worth it.

The last point worth mentioning is about memory. Psychologists and Neurologists have flooded the academic record with studies showing just how fickle and untrustworthy our memories are, especially when it comes to 'colouring' and 'shading', i mean, really filling in the finer detail. 'Was there the faintest breeze? And did she have a ponytail?" (To quote Gil-Scott Heron)...that's the stuff that makes a story! And that is the kind of thing that comes across in a paper record of something which a screen can't tell you. Not necessarily the words, but the way they are written, where they are written, how they are written. These are important degrees of meaning, the finer emotional details, the difference between the actual record and a sampled abstraction thereof.

All New MT Tape!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:05:00 +0000

All New MT Tape! Look at it all! I love it, it is the one saving grace for people like me who are conspicuously low on craft skills, DIY skills or any kind of hand-maker abilities. But when i write a letter, (happening a lot lately since i got a new fountain pen) a strip of tape here or there makes me look like a pro! And, it's the kind of embellishment which is genuinely thoughtful. Call it Confucian if you want, but these tiny tokens make all the difference. Well, to me at least. Enjoy!

Design Stationery Boutique

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:27:00 +0000

We have a lot of stuff at NoteMaker. Obviously we like it all. Indeed, we love it all but i guess there are inevitably firsts among equals and with this in mind, I think I can speak on behalf of the crew when i say that we are Paper People.

Yes, as the last month attests, we love pens. Of course we'd be lost sans diary, couldn't work without desk accessories, wouldn't even bother leaving the house without a cool bag and would rather recede into hermitic loneliness than to imagine a world without albums and journals for memories.

But really, our first love, that thing that lit a flame in our heart way back in early 2006 was, is and forever will be paper. Paper People!

Perhaps the best thing about paper is that it is, in a literal and metaphoric sense, the soul of design stationery. Obviously, most stationery is made from paper so there is the tangible side of things but its the nature of paper - availability, ease of use, familiarity, adaptability - that allows so many people to get 'hands-on' and bring their ideas to life. This is the true design stationery story - the fact that so many people fall head over heels for it and devote their time, creativity and emotion to it.

Ask a designer who is bound by CAD or Illustrator the favourite part of their day or job and you'll hear 99 times out of a hundred that it is when they get to put pencil to paper and really explore their designs. They too are Paper People!

So we made a point recently to find and celebrate Paper People! We're starting with three: Ashleigh Dewar, creator of Peggy Takes Manhattan; Holly Webber, creator of Letterbox Love; The Paper Nomad team, itinerant brains of Paper Nomad. More about each over the coming days.

These people had a flame in their hearts too and turned to Paper to bring it to life. Hand made, Home made and done for the love of the process and their faith in Paper. Check out our Design Stationery Boutique, showcasing these awesome, wonderful designs.

Paper People of the world, Unite!

Kaweco Ice Sport in Pink!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:46:00 +0000

I know we have talked about Kaweco a lot lately (with good reason) but I just can't resist this. I've been staring at the all new Pink Kaweco Ice Sport pen for a couple of minutes now...it arrived this morning (so did all new fine and medium nibs for Kaweco fans) and has swept the entire NoteMaker team off of our collective and individual feat! Pretty pretty to say the least!

Paper Nomad & Red Dot Design Award

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:04:00 +0000

I kind of feel like a part of the In Crowd today. See, i always knew these Paper Nomad sleeves were really cool and now that one of the world's most prestigious design awards, the Red Dot Product Design Award, has crowned Paper Nomad better than 4500 other entries from 58 countries and 1800 design houses, well, yeah...it's validating. Congrats to Paper Nomad for picking up the 2012 Red Dot Design Award!

It's a very cool idea with a very cool story behind it. It's an extremely 'international' operation. Believe it or not, the idea and first stage of design was done over drinks in Melbourne, at the Espy of all places! Three mates put their heads together, met some 'general enthusiasts' from Austria and Finland and turned their cool idea into a commercial reality. Paper Nomad now lives in Vienna and they do all of their case sewing in Romania.

Their trick is all in the material. The patent is pending and it is a special pulping process that uses several layers of paper and a bio-polymer membrane. Thanks to the magic of chemistry, this makes the sleeves tear- and water-resistant. The insides are lined with sheep wool felt and cotton and the whole thing is biodegradable and happily, humbly, will one day return to the earth from whence it came.

As you can see in the video above, it's all very hands on, both in manufacturing and use. The paper exterior is obviously a dream come true for people who like to sketch or doodle or maybe don't carry a notebook with them everywhere. Whether you treat it like a mini canvas and do your own cool design or just treat it like a to-do list or notebook, the cool thing about Paper Nomad is that over time it will start to say something about you. Reminding you of that book the guy at the cafe suggested you read or that awesome song you heard streaming on your laptop...

I think people are really, finally, wholly giving up on apps (for whatever device) that 'help' with note taking and reminding. It's just nowhere near as easy as a pen and some paper. When they first met, a lot of people were worried, paper people mainly, that paper and this new generation of amazing digital smartness were going to meet head on and that one was going to crush the other. How silly! It's like when two dogs meet at a park, right? Paper & Digital have had enough time to sniff each other out and now they know what the one can do for the other...i look forward to watching them frolic and chase birds for years to come! So how perfect of Paper Nomad to put these new best buddies side-by-side?!

Yellow Owl Workshop Visit & New Arrivals

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:34:00 +0000

Where to start? We just received a delivery from Yellow Owl Workshop with plenty of New Arrivals! and we just made a visit to the Yellow Owl Workshop in San Francisco! The very headquarters of the company itself! Although it's so small that I am hesitant to call it a headquarters and only really consider Yellow Owl to be a company in the same sense that a local theatre company is a company or possibly even something smaller...and i mean that in the most complimentary fashion possible!

I don't quite know what i was expecting...I knew it's a small operation of passionate people who were driven and lucky enough to make a business out of what they love doing, a hobby, but still, one expects some degree of mechanisation somewhere...no such luck here! There are no big printing presses, no shiny cut-o-matic machines, just happy, smiling people, comfortably absorbed in what they're doing. I mean there is ink, paper, knives, rubber, pencils etc everywhere, if the space race of the 60s was actually a stamp race i imagine the NASA headquarters would have looked similar, but the whole scene taken in kind of stamps this impression (totally intended the pun!) of optimism on the lucky visitor.

See, i really like author Kurt Vonnegut and probably my favourite of his novels is Player Piano. It was written in 1952 and presents this dystopia, a caricature of the future as seen in the 50s really, where mechanisation has become complete and there is no longer any meaningful work for human hands, just a mass of unsatisfied, undignified people who clean and service machines. It's easy to fall for this with the scale of production in the 21st century, to think that any manufactured good which isn't wrapped in a calico bag or in a jar and bought at a farmer's market was actually just made by some cold humourless machine, but the paradox here is that the 21st century is more than ever an environment where genuinely hand made goods can be found easily and supported. The 50s may have been bleak but that's just because all of those things that open up markets, like transport, communication and travel hadn't caught up yet.

I mean look at this photo above! I love this, it looks like the sort of home storage for your old sewing materials that are kept on the top shelf in that cupboard that you really don't want to open yet this is how Yellow Owl run their workshop! It's because of the amazing internet that we first found Yellow Owl and because of the wonders of the modern world that we are able to have a relationship with them, to support this kind of hand made manufacture on a scale which is bigger than the first Sunday of every month. Vonnegut saw man serving machines but really, it's the other way around. So a triple thanks to Yellow Owl. Their lovely hospitality, awesome cards and stamps and a dose of optimism for the times we live in. Hurrah!

Lead Pencil Grades

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:59:00 +0000

Ah, lead pencils...such a personal favourite. Ever since I failed my pen license test in primary school, I've found a real partner in lead pencils. They understand me, they accept my hand for its wayward marking and they just work so well.

And they have quite a story behind them too. See, lead pencils (obviously) don't contain any lead...this is good news, as lead is totally poisonous. We have the British to thank for the misnomer. The core of your Palomino Blackwing or Field Notes pencil is made of a mixture of Graphite and Clay and it was in discovering a huge graphite deposit in the 16th century that the Brits mistook it for 'lead ore' and like most of their mistakes, this one has had long-lasting consequences and the name just stuck.

Actual lead does deserve a small footnote in the story of pencils as a lot of pencil barrels were coated with paints that contain lead but fortunately this practice is long dead. Happily, we are left with graphite which is for all intents and purposes totally harmless. I haven't tried it, but you could even eat a little and be completely fine, spare your tastebuds perhaps. But back on point, the 'lead' of lead pencils comes in quite a range of formulae which is why we have the (very loose and informal) grading system of 9b to 9H.

Prepare yourself for a very silly taxonomic system. So, we know that your pencil is predominantly graphite (the black stuff that does the marking) and clay (to hold it all together) but the proportions in which you mix these ingredients determines what grade of pencil you have. B stands for Black and H stands for Hard...so, blackness and softness go hand in hand and greyness and hardness likewise.

If you have a very soft lead pencil (take the extreme, 9B) you can expect a lot of graphite and little clay. It will be very black and the point will positively disappear on you. It you have a very hard pencil (9H), you can expect a very light grey point that basically never diminishes. Sketchers love the Bs for shading and varying the degree of blackness. Designers love the Hs for hard, sharp lines and edges. Most pencils in general use are HB, B or 2B and this keeps most of us happy most of the time.

The full system descends in order from 9B to 2B then stumbles through B - HB - F - H before regaining its feet to some extent and running 2H to 9H for a respectable finish. The core of graphite and clay is fired at 1200 degrees Celsius and then cased in timber to keep our hands clean. The best timber for pencils is incense cedar which is forested fairly intensively in California. Believe it or not, the best age for such timber is 150 to 200 years old, so you're sharpening quite a little story in and of itself every time you refine your pencil point.

It's a pretty bland, straightforward act of chemistry in putting together your lead formula and choosing your proportions of graphite and clay. But a romantic like me will return to the 16th century and claim that some pencil makers go beyond chemistry and cross over into alchemy, taking earthly substances and basic elements and turning them into solid, pure gold! Yes, Palomino...I'm looking at you.

All of this aside, i'll always give an heartfelt recommendation to try some new pencils out. They look cool, most of them have a lovely aroma, they have a wonderful breadth of functionality and best of all, you don't need some stupid 'license' to use one!

Where the hand goes...

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:34:00 +0000

Lately I've had the pleasure of putting Blackwing pencil to Rhodia paper and been rewarded with a vivd reminder of just how much fun this combo is! Neither of these two, as a duet or playing solo, is in any way new to me, but they're worth celebrating all the same...indeed, even more so!

As a bit of background, these last couple of weeks I've been using a Clairefontaine Grid Book, Delfonics Rollbahn, Blackwing 602, Blackwing, Koh-I-Noor 5.6mm lead holder and a Kaweco Ice Sport Rollerball. So it's a stellar line up!

But this week a larger format was required for some broader thinking and the Rhodia Pad 38 was enlisted for some help. And boy did it deliver! Give a Blackwing that much space and your brain will start to run places you didn't think it could ever find!

Humans are vulnerable to plenty of crazy phenomena all to do with imitation and metaphor. Seeing someone smile will make you smile, your brain will follow what it sees. V.S. Ramachandran has documented plenty of amazing cases of synesthesia which kind of run along these lines - you experience one stimulus and 'confuse' it with another. The brain receives some input and ends up doing something unexpected as a consequence.

Most people would call this a preposterous leap but I see an analogy here with using the Double Dynamite Blackwing and Rhodia pad. That much space, that much speed, it's so encouraging! You want to keep using it, to keep thinking, to push into new parts of the paper...you're not bound by a screen or an abstraction like a keyboard...the extension of the self is in full effect

The confusion that happens is entirely serendipitous. After a good couple of hours of sheet after sheet, my first thought was 'Where the Hand goes, the Mind follows'. I think my brain was getting all this info: 'Hey, there's more space, and look, you're going so fast!' and so it imitated the hand and started thinking free...and fast!

Clearly I'm not too sure what was happening...only that it was really, really fun! Open that large notebook and your mind will follow. Indeed, if you really pressed me to sit down and try to nut out what i think tripped those synapses into life, I'll ask for three things: A couple of hours, a blackwing and a rhodia pad!

Ballpoint vs Rollerball Pens

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:30:00 +0000

We get quite a few enquiries about what a rollerball pen is and what a ballpoint pen is and what's the difference and which is the most appropriate for each person. There are actually a few important differences which affect how the pen performs and in which situations it is most happy. We'll run down a few of them here.

To sum up the way they write, a rollerball writes with a thick, vivid line. The line may smudge if you quickly run your hand over it (as it uses liquid ink) but it is a smoother pen. A Ballpoint pen generally writes a thinner, less vivid line but it does dry instantly on paper.

If you're not sure what kind of pen you write with is, it's probably a ballpoint...most pens are. But you can always do a quick test keeping the above points in mind. Both pens use the same basic mechanism, where a rolling ball at the tip of the pen is 'inked' by a reservoir above it. As you write over a page, the inked ball rolls over the paper, leaving its mark.

The main difference is the ink inside that reservoir. The ballpoint uses a viscous ink, so it's not pure liquid. This is good news in some ways but bad news in others. Because of the ink formula, it dries instantly on paper and there is no smudging. This expedient little feature (like most expedient features) is really the main reason that ballpoints are so popular. And economy of course.

But because of the ink formula, the ball is not very responsive and a lot of people find ballpoints 'scratchy'. The ink can 'skip' too...because it is not a smooth flowing, liquid ink that is running over the ball, you can end up writing with a 'naked' ball, so no ink is left on your paper. We've all had this happen! Also, the ink can dry up in the reservoir. This is why those very cheap ballpoint pens stop working even though they look like they are full of ink.

Rollerballs on the other hand use a liquid ink. Or a gel ink. We'll treat them differently here. A liquid ink rollerball basically puts a greater amount of ink onto the paper than a ballpoint. 3-4 times the amount is an instructive standard and this is why your rollerball line is so vivid and also why some rollerballs can smudge.

But they are much more smooth. This makes writing easier than it is on a ballpoint pen and also just makes your work look a bit more alive! Personally i really like a rollerball line over a ballpoint line. Rollerballs can cause a couple of problems if you are using poor quality paper. As it is a liquid ink, it can 'bleed' or 'feather' if you are using poor paper. Just grab some Rhodia and you'll be fine!

Gel ink rollerballs are the same as above but even more alive still! The nature of gel as a medium allows greater pigmentation of the ink and this just leads to a greater range of possible colours, rendered with a bit more vigor.

There are, of course, exceptions to these guidelines. Fisher Space Pen ballpoint pens, due to their refill, experience none of the heartaches advised above for ballpoint pens generally. Likewise, any rollerball, such as Retro 51 or Diplomat, which uses the Schmidt Easy Flow 9000 refill will dry instantly and doesn't smudge!

If you'd like some tips, we have Ballpoint pen care and Rollerball pen care tips online. Pens aside, writing really is a marriage of paper and ink and so your paper is really important. No matter your pen, if you're using poor quality paper you will run into problems. Likewise, if you have Rhodia or Clairefontaine paper (in particular...there is plenty of great paper out there), your pen will write like a champ!

Back In Stock - Moleskine Pens!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:08:00 +0000

Moleskine fans, fret no more! The hugely popular, entirely enjoyable Moleskine Roller Pens are finally back in stock! The Gel Ink refill inside is designed specifically for a perfect marriage with Moleskine paper and that little cap is much smarter than the av-er-idge cap! It clips perfectly onto any Moleskine notebook, so it's always right where you want it! The metal pen pictured is a personal preference with lovely heavyweight feel. Happy writing!

Lamy Nexx Citron - New Colour!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 23:05:00 +0000

The Lamy Nexx is a classmate of the extremely popular Lamy Safari & Lamy Al-Star pen designs, which are all grouped under the Young Writing banner, but i think it's kind of like the mischievous kid in the bunch! I'm reminded of that gifted, brilliant youngster who neglects his potential and would rather sit at the back of the room tying to impress the girls. I mean, the Safari and Al-Star are so smartly dressed, right? I mean stylish, but cultivated and neat. The Nexx is all over the place. A silver barrel, a black grip, a fluoro cap!

Don't make any mistakes here, it's equally as talented as its goodie two shoes buddies. But for some reason, we (Australia) tend to sneer at the Nexx and it is nowhere near as popular. So to my fellow fountain pen users, I say 'get over it!' This isn't the 1960s and the Nexx is not a mop top do, so stop being such prudes!

The Nexx, for all its disobedience, actually looks really cool. I like the three-tone colour you get with a posted cap, especially on the Red cap version, and the Nexx, which is a total hit in Germany's high schools and universities, is the embodiment of something we feel quite strongly about - that fountain pens are as relevant as ever, and a part of that thing we call style.

So I'm happy to concede that such aesthetic considerations are purely subjective but we can still talk about it objectively, particularly in regards to how it writes, that potential talent mentioned earlier. Unsurprisingly, it's awesome! The rubberised grip is so soft and the rubber surface really removes any need to put pressure on at the fingers at all. It's so comfy. And when you post that fluoro cap you get this wonderful balance of weight, resting nicely in your hand but also, because of the rubber grip, there is quite a bit of weight down towards the nib.

Nexx is made for beginners, to teach proper writing technique. The way the grip is moulded and the way the pen is weighted mean that the pen is held at the proper angle to make ink flow smoothly. This creates a relaxed grip which allows you to write for hours without fatigue or discomfort and also gets rid of that very Australian 'ballpoint claw' grip where the writer relies on the wrist to do all the work instead of the fingers. So come exam time, you can write those essays without discomfort...even if the Nexx considers itself too cool for Essay writing!

Diplomat Pens

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Diplomat pens are exceptional! That word has a generally positive connotation nowadays, like amazing, or fantastic or brilliant, but its meant here in a more faithful sense of being a departure from the norm, not typical, different. Now it just so happens that in every way that they do depart from the norm they do so with fantastic brilliance, but i still think the distinction is important.

For starters, Diplomat pens are severely under rated. And i don't mean under rated like when somebody tells you that 'their first album is better than their biggest' just to sound hip. Diplomat pens are actually under rated. People who have used a Diplomat know this and anyone who is thinking about buying a pen should pay heed.

Admirably, the company is owned by the grand daughter of the founder so it is still a family company. At this size, at this scope, in this global market and over this period of time, this is exceptional.

I think this is really important. That whole thing about lineage carries through, it creates a sense of accountability. If you're accountable to share holders or venture capital it comes to pass that you're only really accountable to profit year by year and so you have this big old monkey on your back. If the conditions are just right (or, rather, wrong) you may start to cut corners.

But if you're accountable to a few generations of your family, then quality comes first, right? Otherwise it's wilful besmirching and nobody's doing that to their own family. This accountability is obvious, I mean, Diplomat pens still have a brass barrel inside, imparting lovely weight and longevity.

Come to think of longevity, no other pen brand that we stock gets feedback like 'I still use my dad's old one' quite like Diplomat. These pens seem to last in fantastic working order for generations! Which seems apt...they're still made in the Diplomat factory. Not just 'a' factory owned by Diplomat but 'the' factory owned by Diplomat...the one and only since 1921!

A curious little point of geopolitics intrudes on the story here as this factory happens to be located about 30km from the Polish border. In this pocket of East Germany there is really high pressure on wages, as the economically weaker bordering countries are full of people looking for work. And so it happens that without any conscious effort, Diplomat's work force is probably greatly underpaid for its knowledge and this carries on to great value in Diplomat pens. But without cutting any corners in materials or craftsmanship!

As an example of craftsmanship, all lacquered Diplomat pens have 14 layers of lacquer. That's really astonishing...this makes them great for engraving, impervious to wear and tear, and beautiful to look at, a kind of iridescence when the light is just right. Now i'm pretty sure if you put a pen with 14 layers of lacquer in my left hand and one with 4 layers in my right I wouldn't be able to tell the difference but give it 5 or 10 years and it would be pretty obvious! This is again that exceptional trait, that accountability to principles and standards laid down by the family.

Most Diplomat nibs are steel. Some are Gold. Either way, they're all really great. Everything aside, the lacquering, the brass, the beautiful design, it's the nib which is where the action happens and all the great praise that Diplomat pens get is essentially coming down to the nibs. They're rather large, invariably beautiful and consistent. So consistent. But so beautiful too. I love a good fountain pen nib and I think Diplomat engrave theirs with just the right amount of ornamentation.

But i suppose the most important way in which they are exceptional is value for Money. Grab any pen around 100-300 dollars and a Diplomat at the same price will probably beat it. Even if it's a tortoise and the hare kind of victory, Diplomat will still come out on top. Fountain pens are really great investments, they can really take on a life and story of their own after a few years of companionship and in this light Diplomat pens are a fantastic, amazing, brilliant exception.

Fountain Pens Care, Use & Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:55:00 +0000

Happy Labour Day! At least to all of our fellow Victorians and our little cousins down there in Tasmania. Well, in Tasmania i think they call it the 8 Hour Day. In Queensland they call it May Day! which cracks me up...the ruling gentry perhaps a little panicked at the idea of fair working rights...well, not really. Labour Day goes right back to the middle of the 19th century and we should all be thankful we don't have to work in 19th century conditions.

Something else that goes way back is fountain pens! Dubious little segue-ways aside, a fountain pen also works really hard, for really long and really reliably. So you should show it the most simple, token acts of kindness. Flushing the pen with water when you refill takes less than a minute and ensures a fit, healthy, happy worker. Writing a little something with your fountain pen each day keeps it running smooth and storing it the right way (nib pointing up...don't lie your fountain pen down) will add years to your productive partnership.

We have plenty more fountain pens care and tips you can read and plenty of fountain pens in need of a little TLC. Lamy lovers will note the permanent price drop on the pretty, pretty Lamy Al-Star fountain pen (pictured in Shiraz). $10 less than previous! Happy Labour Day indeed!

J Herbin Ink Tests!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:21:00 +0000

We've had a very busy couple of days since falling for Kaweco pens as the infatuation seems to be pretty contagious. Kaweco rollerballs and fountain pens have been really well received and already we've had feedback about how enjoyable they are.

This is great news! We wrote that Kaweco is here to bring fine writing to the masses and the cockles of my little heart are nice and toasty to see this actually happening! Just as heartwarming to a sentimental fool like me is to see J Herbin Ink coupled with just about every Kaweco pen. The French & Germans may have had some troubles getting along in the past, but it's all sunshine and Queen from here!

Anyway, I love J Herbin Ink. I love the light, smooth flow. It's all water based and so it is not permanent or waterproof. I mean, it lasts long enough for any sensible period of archiving but if for some reason you wish to re-read your journal from beyond the grave, it might not work.

But the best thing (about fountain pen ink in general actually) is the shading. Ah, shading...i just love it! It's like a finger print, you can see how somebody writes and i have this theory that its like a window into the subconscious...every time i write 'check stock' the last two letters are really dark, like i'm trying to push the pen through the paper...it must be either really important to me or really frustrating!

And it just looks way better than ballpoint pen writing, even if you have a clumsy hand...the analogy is like an original oil painting (fountain pen) and a print of the same (ballpoint).

Check out some more colours below and then a truly wonderful example of what somebody with lovely handwriting can do using a fountain pen. This is a poem written by Nicholas Gold as part of our Rhodia Think Offline comp in 2011. Fitting as Rhodia paper is money in the bank where fountain pens are concerned.

Moleskine Japanese Album Art

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:57:00 +0000

Part of our pen month is the Pen A Day Challenge! Take up a pen or pencil to write or sketch every day in March. Not just to do your study or at work - do it for leisure, to keep in touch, to tease out whatever thoughts are in your mind. See how much fun it is!

One person who has been besting this challenge every day for over 10 years is Rita Lazauskas. Rita is an artist, curator and educator based in North East Victoria and turns Moleskine Japanese Albums into seriously cool works of art.

Conveniently, each Japanese Album has 31 sheets so a month per album or a year's worth in the image above. Amazingly, each takes only 5-20 minutes and sometimes as short as 1 minute!

You can see more about Rita here. And so, Dear Reader, where the aforementioned challenge is concerned, we now have a benchmark...good luck getting anywhere near it!

New Arrival - Kaweco Pens

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:49:00 +0000

I love this photo! A Kaweco Classic Sport Fountain Pen sitting, however incongruously, inside a teeny little trophy. The red, white and blue paraphernalia gives it the feeling of a podium presentation, or a triumphant return and ticker tape parade, but there is still some evasive charm I can't put my finger on.

And this is kind of how I feel about Kaweco pens. Charmed, certainly. Indeed beyond my own comprehension...i mean how can such an unprepossessing pen tickle me so? The capacity to transcend things is always beyond articulation, that special something as they say, and after two weeks of trying to intellectualise how i feel about the Kaweco Sport pen, i'm giving up. I just love it, alright?.

But we can say some other things about these. Kaweco is and has forever been made in Germany. Forever is a good word when talking about Kaweco - the company goes all the way back to 1883, a mere 12 years after Germany was known as Germany!

The Kaweco Sport comes in a variety of styles - Ice Sport, Al-Sport, Classic Sport and a few others still. Ice Sport to me typifies the Kaweco spirit. It's fit and versatile with the eagerness of a young puppy to be taken everywhere with you whilst being just as robust. It was originally designed, as the 'sport' name suggests, to be used in any situation.

It has a simple ABS plastic body which is only 10.5cm long with the cap on and then 13.3cm long once you've posted the cap to write. It's really small and easy to carry. This made me laugh as i was going for an afternoon jog last week and didn't even notice that it was in my pocket until i got home! Genuinely, a sporty pen indeed! ABS Plastic is an inexpensive, tough material, so the Ice Sport is stunningly affordable. Here we run into the best part about these pens - the value!

Kaweco pens use nibs made by the well reputed, indeed revered, Bock family in Germany. The Bocks have been making fountain pen nibs since the 1920s. I mean, just think of how good you can get practising the same thing for over 90 years! Combine this with Kaweco's encyclopaedic knowledge of pen making and the economies of scale that come into production are really awesome. This means value - big time.

It's only $20 for an Ice Sport fountain pen and I can guarantee there are pens 5 times as expensive which aren't as enjoyable to write with. If you have really big hands, or you need a heavy pen in your hand, or you need diamonds and pearls, then this is not for you.

But if you're into writing and things which look really cool, then this is totally for you! If you've been thinking about a fountain pen but maybe they're a little too expensive, or maybe you're unsure if you'll use it much, or it will agree with you or you have any other doubts, then I do recommend that you test the water with Kaweco...be warned though, you'll very soon jump right in!

Something else I really love about the Kaweco Sport is the screw cap - a screw cap! Maybe there is some transference going on here. Maybe every time that I screw off the cap i am reminded of an Omas Arte Italiana or another of the luxury screw cap pens I know...

Ignoring Jung and his shrink buddies for a moment, I also love the pause that a screw cap forces. It's only a sec, of course, but it's enough to impart the sense that something profound or monumental is about to be written, even if it's just 'Buy Sunset Traveler's CD' quickly scribbled down as happened yesterday. It's like William Makepeace Thackeray's quote that 'There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write'...I think the act of screwing the cap off gives a vital moment for one such thought to maybe effect the right synapse here or there and maybe, just maybe, make it into the world...but who knows, right?

There's no neat resolution to this post. These pens are totally charming, I love them and I know a few of the reasons why i love the but the sum is greater than the parts. All I can say is that you should try one. If you have 50 fountain pens, you'll still enjoy it and if you're yet to try out the format then it will win you over. They say it's a wise man who speaks when he feels he needs to and a fool who feels the need to speak. I readily admit that this has been a verbose post but heck, where pens are concerned, I'm head over heels, a total fool, for Kaweco.

Stationery Value Packs!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:15:00 +0000

Rhodia Pencils & Rhodia Paper...

Good Monday! Even though March started last Thursday for all of you Julian Calendar Police, I think it's just as sensible to think of March starting today...I mean, it's the first Monday...that's good enough, right?

Whitelines & Moleskine Paper...

Right. And March 2012 for us at NoteMaker is all about Pens! Pens, pens, pens! So look forward to plenty of pen action over the next 4 weeks.

Diplomat Fountain Pen...

But like all good shows, our Pen Month needs a support act, an entree, aperitif or whatever you would like to call it. And so why not celebrate your pen's best friend...Paper!

Palomino Blackwing on Moleskine Paper...

We have plenty of paper and that's why we also have Stationery Value Packs. In fact, everything in the images above appears in a Value Pack...except for the Diplomat Fountain Pen, that's just a personal Pen Month indulgence. Anyway, grab your favourite everyday format and save some dollars...a great way to justify a new bottle of ink (...the Third Amigo in this thing we call writing) and enjoy some fine, fine writing.

New Arrival - Rifle Paper Co!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:43:00 +0000

Rifle Paper Co kind of blur some lines for me. There's always been an easy distinction between what I call a 'Fine Paper' card, like a correspondence card, and a greeting card. There are a lot (and I mean a lot!) of really nice, cute, sweet handmade cards available.

In fact, come to think of it, the Greeting card is really the main vehicle for paper loving makers of things to express themselves. There are comparatively few book binders or boutique notebook makers out there, but visit any stationery fair and you can find a plethora of really lovingly made greeting cards.

Undoubtedly this is partly because a card is much easier to make than a notebook, right? Of course! But there is something else here I think. Who doesn't like to send a card? I mean it's got everything that Hollywood's been selling for decades now. There's drama, there's suspense, there's a love story, there can be redemption and even dancing in your living room! The whole idea is so darn romantic!

I think it has to do with proxy. You have this heartfelt, funny, silly or whatever message to send but you can't do it directly...you have to choose a vehicle for it, cross your fingers, kiss the envelope for luck and trust it will be well received. So choose a good vehicle!

And if you're into a greeting card, or even a fine paper card to return to the opening point, then Rifle Paper Co is your delegate of distinction! And much more besides! Brand new, we have all kinds of paper goods, as lovingly made and beautifully designed as any Rifle card.

Recipe Cards, Prints, Invitations, Box sets, notepads and cards, cards, cards! Do it...e-mail's great for a lot of things but expedient and romantic have NEVER been bedfellows and convenience and thoughtfulness are mutually exclusive. That's all I'm saying!

Moleskine LEGO Video!

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:39:00 +0000

Moleskine LEGO Notebooks are now shipping! And really fast too! But to the video, is there anything a little LEGO man can do whilst not looking cute? I can't think of anything either!

New Arrival - Delfonics Rino Brano

noreply@blogger.com (Field Notes) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:33:00 +0000

New Arrivals from Delfonics are always fun and this is no exception! We have new colours for the incredible Rollbahn notebook and new colours for the Delfonics pens! This must be the most popular pen in the world! Well, at least in the world of NoteMaker...put these two together, in any combination, and you just can't miss! Especially if you've had the good sense to keep it all together with a notebook strap...there are new styles of these too!

Going for a job interview? You'll get it if you turn up with a Rollbahn and Delfonics Pen! I haven't tried, but you could probably get out of speeding fines, win elections and get that girl just by carrying this combo around.

But I digress. What's All New is this wonderful thing we call Delfonics Rino Brano! My only reservation about it is the pronunciation. Indeed, Rino Brano (I'm running with Ree-no Brain-o) adds to the cacophony of possible pronunciations that design stationery throws at us everyday...Moleskine (mole-a-skeen-ay for Purists. Mole-skin for pragmatists) Papelote (pup-el-lot-eh) Cahier (ka-yay) Lamy (strictly speaking, Lar-mee) Leuchtturm1917 (Loysh-turm 1-9-1-7) and others cause mass confusion and hesitation. Again, I digress.

So, what is Rino Brano? It's this wonderful collection of wax canvas pouches. Little pen pouches, cute teeny carry-alls, A5 book pouches, little portfolios, travel wallets...endlessly useful and really well put together. I really like wax canvas, it's tough, water resistant and feels substantial. Trustworthy.

Inside is polyester lining and the zip and tab are adorable...small things have never escaped the consideration of Delfonics' designers! As you can see, there is just an air of confidence about the way Rino Brano pouches look. So understated yet so consummately well done. The label reads Rino Brano...With Lots Of Things. Lots of things to carry in it, lots of things to use it for and lots and lots of things to like about it.