3 posts tagged “moleskine”
Now available at Fully Booked, I was elated yesterday when the kids saw that the Moleskine rack there was stocked.
I finally got the Ruled and Plain Notebooks that I've wanted for so long.
By popular demand (meaning Alex and Ik), I opened the Ruled Notebook first. They wrote good wishes for me in the back pages.
I am so0o looking forward to writing all sorts of nonsense in my beautiful new Moleskine.
Aaaahhh...
It's a feeling only a fellow enthusiast or collector of anything would understand...how some things are prized for their aesthetic qualities and intangible cachet rather than for their mere functionality...
Since Moleskines are still out of stock at Fully Booked and PowerPlant, I had to settle for the next best thing - a teNeues notebook that obviously is going for the Moleskine vibe.
What I like about this line? the colorful covers. There are so many to choose from, from different aesthetics and styles.
They are also reasonably priced, around half the cost of a Moleskine.
This is the one I actually bought. I like hearts and colors.
These lined journals come in two different sizes. The smaller one (like the one I got) is 10x15 cm, has 152 lightly-ruled pages, sewn binding, ribbon bookmark, elastic band closure, and inside pocket for receipts and business cards - just like Moleskine! gasp!
I had seen them at Fully Booked (PowerPlant mall branch) early or middle of this year and thought they were lovely but way, way too expensive for a notebook. But I couldn't get them out of my head; over the months I'd go back to the store, look at the display, and wonder whether I should finally get one or not.
I'm talking about Moleskines, the hip hot notebook that almost every creative person in the know is carrying around. Moleskines are touted as the notebook used by literary and art stars - Hemingway, Chatwin, Picasso.
Actually, "moleskins" or notebooks with a cover of oilcloth-covered cardboard have been around for over a hundred years and were made in France by a few select stationers, until demand for the old-fashioned notebooks died. The last moleskin notebook maker, based in Tours, France, stopped making them in 1986.
In 1998, the Italian company Modo e Modo revived the old tradition and sold them under the trademark "Moleskine". And that is how they are known to aficionados - writers, artists, other creatives, the intelligentsia, academics, scientists, and wannabes. Writer Neil Gaiman always carries one.
I must profess my profound admiration for the Modo e Modo marketing machine - from 30,000 in sales early on to more than 3 million now, their hype is certainly effective. Consumers feel that with a Moleskine they can channel the creativity of the artists and writers of the past who used similar notebooks. Farfetched idea, but it's often observed in anthropology - "sympathetic magic".
Googling the 'Net, you'll see a lot of references to Moleskines. They are used as planners by IT people using "GTD" (Getting Things Done) and other time-management methods after applying "moleskine hacks" (modifications). They are also popular as art albums, scrapbooks, for writing stories in, and as journals and diaries. I've found out that some people actually use them to take notes!
Moleskines are also available at Powerbooks, but at present stocks are depleted everywhere. Wait till the first week of December to satisfy your Moleskine cravings.
They come in pocket and large sizes, with plain, ruled, squared, and watercolor paper (for the sketchbooks). There are also daily and weekly planners, as well as Japanese albums and memo pockets. The default color is black, but they issued a limited edition red planner for 2008, and not too long ago offered Shantung silk-covered variations in blue, red, green, and plum as part of their Van Gogh Museum collection. The colors do evoke the hues in the painter's works.
They are very expensive, but if you are an aesthete, one who loves paper and pen, then you must have one. Or more.
I plan to get two pocket notebooks - one plain and one ruled - and fill them in with words and drawings. Most likely my sketches will be of quilt blocks and quilt designs. The words, essays and other random ramblings.
I can't wait to curl up with a nice hot Double Tall Raspberry Mocha Five Pumps Nonfat No Whip One Splenda, a pack of gel pens, and those Moleskines I'm yearning for. Coffee, paper, and ink - with these tools I can create my own new world.
www.moleskine.com ->mother ship
www.moleskinerie.com -> 24/7 MoleskineCon
