PAPER REVIEW: PONT NEUF NOTEBOOKS

I was really happy to see Japanese stationery brand Kunisawa recently re-introducing themselves with a completely revised product lineup (read the re-review HERE!). Their confidence in the updated paper quality turned out to be absolutely justified, finally combining the stunning business-chic notebook designs with fantastic - consistent - quality Japanese paper on the inside. 

But alongside the updated Kunisawa products, they also sent a few other products that certainly didn't fit in. That's because, as I mentioned earlier, mother company Kawachiya Print also houses a second stationery brand: Pont Neuf!  

The contrast between Kunisawa and Pont Neuf doesn't need an explanation...

Pont Neuf is best described as the absolute polar opposite of Kunisawa's functional, subtle, business-appropriate designs. Instead, they go for bright, colorful, playful products. The most eye-catching being a selection of wild, fluffy, fabric-covered notebooks - extravagant (and quite high-end)! But also the notebooks I'll be showing today, which are a collaboration with Tokyo-based art Gallery Brain Trust, for a collection with William Morris design notebook covers.

William Morris was a renowned 19th-century artist and craftsman and is perhaps best known for his hugely popular - to this day - botanical patterns. His designs were originally created for wallpaper decoration, but I think it works equally well on these notebooks, and it fits right in with the style Pont Neuf tries to convey. 

Both the A5-sized slim staple-bound softcovers (64 pages) and thicker A5 hardcover notebooks (192 pages) in the William Morris collection each come with unique cover prints, four in total. The printing is high quality and detailed, and the colors - while certainly vibrant - aren't overdone. One minor detail: I say A5, but both notebooks are actually 195 x 138 mm, which is ever-so-slightly smaller than the traditional A5 size!

While the softcovers come with simple, uncoated paper stock for the cover (which has a nice subtle debossed texture from the printing!), the hardcover notebooks are distinctly more upscale. The cover is made of textured, heavily coated (plastic?) paper with gold foil debossed details, gilded edges, and rounded corners. One downside about the stiff, plastic-like material used on the hardcover is that it cracks and frays a bit around the edges of the notebook, which deters from the otherwise pristine cover design, and gives the edges a slightly rough feel.

Both notebook types are able to lay open quite flat

Inside, the Pont Neuf notebooks do match the minimalist approach of Kunisawa with un-numbered, dot-grid pages and pretty much nothing else. The hardcover does have one practical element that the thin softcover booklets don't have: a thin bookmark ribbon.

The paper inside the Pont Neuf notebooks seems to be identical to the excellent paper we've already seen in the updated Kunisawa Find stationery, which is of course a good thing. 

For those of you that didn't read my previous review, here's a short rundown of my findings on this new paper: it's a very smooth stock, more or less the same thickness as Rhodia (so around 80-85 gsm), and with a distinct yellowy-ivory tint to it. The paper shows excellent shading and sheen and doesn't budge to wet nibs or even ink swabs, with no bleedthrough and minimal showthrough (or ghosting) to speak of.

"Create your own style" an appropriate catchphrase for the eccentric Pont Neuf brand!

While I personally lean towards the minimal and clean aesthetics of the Kunisawa products, there is certainly something to be said for the more extravagant side of Pont Neuf's colorful collection of notebooks. The two brands work nicely side-by-side, offering unique products on two very distinct ends of the scale. Pricing is also comparable between the two brands, and - while certainly on the more premium side - is quite fair given the excellent paper quality and great design. The softcover notebooks retail for 5€/ 6$, and 25€/ 30$ for the hardcover.

Note: The products shown here were provided by Kunisawa, so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affiliate links.

PAPER REVIEW: KUNISAWA FIND NOTEBOOKS

Some products start off so strong that you're convinced you'll never find any flaws to them... but then things take a turn for the worse. The Kunisawa Find notebook collection is one of those products. A pity really, because I was really quite was blown away by this extensive selection of Japanese stationery at first!

It all started out as a love on first sight-situation. Everything from the design to the precise packaging of the Kunisawa Find products is what I've come to expect from Japanese stationery: minimal design, subtle colors, neat and precise manufacturing,... These have it all. The aesthetic is focused around a business-y monochrome black-grey-white color scheme (with a few exceptions of brown and blue here and there) that are offset by copper accents such as the hot-foiled logo and gilded edges. The result is a stylish and varied set of notebooks, reporter pads, sticky notes,... 'plain' enough to be used in a professional environment, but with a distinct touch that sets them apart from the rest. 

One small detail about the design that I particularly enjoy, is that they use different cover materials for their different products. The hardcover notebooks have plastic covers with different textured finishes, while the ring-bound books are made with cardboard and the 'Soft' notebook has a textured PU foam cover -all of them in matching colorways of course. The variety in materials gives each product its own look and feel.

The logo represents the three-legged crow 'Yatagarasu', a Japanese mythical creature representing the god of guidance.

Then there's the wide range of products to choose from:

Find Sticky Memo. A7 size with 80 adhesive sheets, blank.

Find Block Memo. A7 size with 80 sheets, 2.5mm grid ruled.

Find Pocket Note. Spiral-bound hardcover notepad, 9x15cm. 50 sheets (100 pages), 5mm grid ruled.

Find Smart Note. A compact and slim hardcover notebook. 9x17 cm with 40 sheets (80pages) and gilt edges, 2.5mm grid ruled. Lays open completely flat.

Find Soft Note. A 12x21 cm softcover with flexible PU cover (very flexible!). 96 sheets (192 pages), 5mm grid ruled. Doesn't lay open flat because of the more flexible spine.

Find Slim Note. A thin A5 softcover notebook. 40 Sheets (80 pages) with gilt edges, 5mm grid ruled. Lays open almost completely flat.

Find Ring Note. A5 spiral-bound softcover. 80 Sheets (160 pages), 5mm grid ruled. 

Find Hard Note. Semi-hardcover A5 bound notebook. 96 Sheets (192 pages) with gilt edges, 5mm grid ruled. Lays open almost completely flat.

Functionally, all Kunisawa products follow a very minimalist approach, similar to other Japanese notebooks. All Find notebooks are as barebones as it gets: no numbered pages, no page marker, no elastic closure or back pocket. The only exceptions are the Find Note Soft and Find Note Hard, which come with a thin grey page marker ribbon. If you like your notebooks quite feature-packed, Kunisawa is likely not the brand for you.

Up until this point, I have absolutely zero complaints. I can live without numbered pages or a bookmark, but I expect to find decent paper on the inside. Unfortunately, that's an area where Kunisawa couldn't always live up to my (high) expectations.

All Find stationery utilizes the exact same 'Foolscap' paper (The term Foolscap most likely got lost in translation at some point as it's not a brand name, but rather a type and size of letter paper). The cream-colored paper seems to be around 80 gsm in weight (I couldn't find any actual specs to back this up). It's relatively smooth but not glassy smooth, so it's also suitable for use with pencil. All Find notebooks come with 5mm grid paper, except the Find Block Memo and Smart Note, which have a tiny 2.5mm grid. I wasn't so sure if a grid this small would be usable, but in practice it's really quite enjoyable to write on and I found that my writing would naturally fit inside the ruling. The light grey grid is noticeable, but not too obtrusive in my opinion.

Good vs Bad. Nice crisp lines on the left, feathering and a flat, bland line on the right.

Good vs Bad. Little to no bleedthrough on the left, quite severe bleedthrough on the right.

Excellent shading and sheen on the left. On the right is one of the 'mediochre' samples which shows little to no sheen but still shows decent shading.

Very interesting shading/oxidation effect of Platinum Classic Citrus Black ink swab. This is one of the good paper samples.

As you can probably tell from the photos above, the problem is that -despite all using the same paper- they don't all perform equally well. I tested each different product with various fountain pens, cotton swabs, dip nibs,... and some performed absolutely perfect (zero feathering, almost no bleedthrough and ink dried crisply with nice shading and sheen), where others couldn't hold up to fountain pen use. 

Kunisawa sent samples to a couple different reviewers, and paper quality results seemed to be completely random throughout their product lineup. I'm fairly convinced that it's not a matter of bad paper choice (some samples I tested were legitimately excellent), but rather poor (or lack of) quality control that allowed a faulty batch of paper to slip through the net and get spread across different products. I emailed back and forth with Kunisawa about the paper issues and they in turn communicated it with their paper manufacturer. They acknowledged the issue and seemed to be working to fix it. 

"I do not seek, I find."

As it stands now, It's difficult to recommend any of the Kunisawa Find products, since there is no way of knowing which ones will perform well and which ones won't. Especially at their rather premium price point (up to 27$ for the A5 Find Note Hard notebook), there's no room for error. Kunisawa is a promising brand that I'll certainly keep an eye on. Their design philosophy and build quality is already on point, but I really hope they can fix the inconsistency in paper quality. Some of the products I tested had downright excellent paper, so I'd be all on board if they could provide that kind of quality across the board.

This product was sent to me by Kunisawa so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affiliate links. 

Good paper left, bad paper right.

Good paper left, bad paper right.

PAPER REVIEW: STALOGY 365 DAYS NOTEBOOK

The world of Japanese stationery is vast, and from my -rather limited- experience, filled with a LOT of fantastic products. Stalogy is a new brand to me, but I'm glad I got introduced to their products back in September when I visited 'Buiten De Lijntjes', a stationery/lifestyle shop in the Netherlands! 

The product that was recommended to me by the shopkeeper was the Stalogy Editor's note 365 Days notebook. A seemingly simple and low-key notebook that didn't stand out much, apart from its bright-yellow packaging. It immediately reminded me of the Hobonichi journals, but it's in no way connected to them (at least as far as I know). 

"...Eliminating unnecessary ornamentation and function, we are taking a new look at what's really necessary, rediscovering essential elements and aiming to finally arrive at what should have existed all along. What should have been, is," -Stalogy

The Stalogy 365 journals are plain-looking, softcover notebooks with a black textured 'plastic' outside cover. A few Stalogy logo's and their slogan "what should have been, is" adorn the top left edge of the front cover, hot-foiled in gold. It's a fairly no-nonsense, industrial-looking product at first sight.

One reason why I love Japanese stationery is their excellent eye for detail, and Stalogy definitely does not disappoint in that regard. The 365 notebook is flawlessly put together with a tight stitched spine and neatly cut edges. The 365 Days notebook comes in 4 form factors: B6, A6, B5 and B5. All versions come with a massive 368 pages, yet are only about as thick as a regular Leuchtturm notebook (which is only approx. 250 pages!). Reason for that is the extremely thin paper they use. I have the urge to say it's Tomoe River paper (probably the 68 gsm variant), but I couldn't find any information to back this up. 

In use, the outside cover is flexible enough to fold almost 360° if you want to. The notebook lays open on itself, but it doesn't stay completely flat. I used the smaller B6 size and it's comfortable to use and take with you on the go, although I usually tend to go for slightly larger notebooks. 

Again in true Japanese style, we're seeing a notebook with very little features. The pages have a faint grey grid printed on them (5x5 mm). The ruling is very pleasant to write on, and doesn't interfere when reading what you wrote down. The 365 Days -as the name suggests- is subtly optimized to be used as a bullet journal or agenda. 

The top right of the page features a date system, and to the left of the grid you can find the hours 7 to 23 printed in a tiny and unobtrusive font. Together, these let you use the notebook as a planner where you can indicate the date and divide the page into the hours of the day (Unless you wake up before 7am, or have appointments after 11pm. In that case I guess you're out of luck...). It's a useful feature when you want to, but it doesn't get in the way when you want to use the notebook as something other than an agenda. Don't bother searching for a page marker, page numbers, index table... you won't find those here.

One way to add structure to your notebook are the Stalogy stickers and sticky notes. They offer a wide variety of plastic post-it's and tab stickers, among which these small (5x5 cm) square see-through stickers (available in blank, ruled or grid). They are made of some sort of plastic film with an adhesive back, yet their textured surface makes it possible to write on them, even with fountain pen.

These sticky notes let you add small notes or details throughout your notebook, without making a permanent mark. While I like the idea of these little 'add-ons', they do come at a considerable cost and I admittedly didn't find much use for them. They might be useful for bullet journalling, or important notes, though.

Some interesting shading going on in some places where the ink meets the grid ruling. And look at that sheen!

The paper is very smooth to write on, and behaves perfectly with fountain pen (perhaps a bit too slick for pencil use). Ink is handled without feathering and very little bleedthrough (ink swabs, very wet writers and a few flex nibs could give bleedthrough, but all in all it's very well-behaved). Ink dries with a crisp edge and the paper brings out the best of the ink with rich shading and sheen. With the paper being relatively thin, you should expect quite a bit of showthrough, which makes it a bit less legible when you use both sides of the page (it's possible, but not ideal). Overall, if this isn't Tomoe River, at least it's a damn good copy. 

Quite some showthrough but little to no bleedthrough...except with a sharpie of course

The Stalogy 365 is an all-round excellent notebook. It won't turn heads with its design, but the build quality is bar none, and the paper is great for fountain pen use. Unfortunately quality comes at a price, with these 365 Days notebooks starting at 26€ for the smallest A6, up to 39€ for the B5 size (in the US they can be had for less). Regardless of where you buy, these are a good bit more expensive than, say, a Leuchtturm notebook of the same size (though you do get about a third more pages). The stickers and post-its also come with a pretty price tag, with the see-through post-its coming in at a hefty 9€ (about 6.5$ in the US). While I'm not a huge fan of the accessories at that price, the 365 Days notebook definitely comes highly recommended!

This product was sent to me by Buiten De Lijntjes so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affiliate links.

PAPER REVIEW: MIDORI MD NOTEBOOK

Japan has a pretty unique stationery 'ecosystem'. The Japanese stationery we know today, is still relatively new to us. 10 years ago, it would've been impossible to find most Japanese stationery products that are all over the US and Europe nowadays. Yet most of these brands -Apica, Life, Midori,...- have been well-established in Japan for generations, before finally trickling down outside of the Asian market. 

The fact that they remained undiscovered for so long is unusual at the least. But at the same time it's also the reason why I find their products so captivating. These brands have built up a style and quality aimed specifically at their home market. The products we see across the globe today, feel genuine, showing a long history of Japanese traditions.

We'll be looking at the Midori MD notebooks today. These notebooks were sent to me by a Belgian stationery store called Mofelito Paperito (most creative shop name ever?). So big thanks to them!

Simplicity is key in Japanese design, and this reflects in every aspect of the MD notebook. It starts with the packaging: each notebook comes protected in a waxed paper sleeve, and pastel-colored outer sleeve. Even though the packaging is simple and straightforward, you can see the eye for detail in the way it is presented neat and tidy. Opening it up feels almost like a ceremony, it legitimately brought a smile to my face! 

The notebook itself is, again, simple and basic but extremely well put together. The outside is made of thick, cream-colored stock that gives strength to the construction. However this thick cardboard is not actually the 'cover'. Rather, Midori designed the notebook without a hard outside cover to give a raw, minimal aesthetic, but also to give the notebook more flexibility. Technically, this would classify as a softcover notebook, however the cardboard stock they used is too stiff to actually bend it. It does open up quite nicely though, and it lays flat on the table.

The paper inside is sewn and glued together, and the whole assembly is held together with a white mesh cloth that wraps around the spine (called a 'super'). This is basically a nude notebook, showing what it would look like if you'd remove the hardcover of a book. 

The entire notebook, with its cleanly cut edges and simple details, looks clean without distractions. It's minimal, but in a way only the Japanese can pull off. If that sounds like a vague description, I'd recommend you pick one up and see for yourself why I'm so impressed!

The MD notebooks are available in A6, B6, A5 and A4, each with the option of blank, ruled or grid paper (except the A4, which is only available with blank paper). Each notebook contains 88 pages, which makes them rather thin and compact. The paper stock is developed by Midori in the 60's, and unfortunately I couldn't find any details on paper weight. From a rudimentary calculation, I'd guess it's in the ballpark of 85gsm. That would make it slightly heavier than Rhodia paper, which seems about right. 

The only two features on this notebook are a very slim, color-coded (to match the paper style inside) ribbon bookmark, and a label sheet to designate your notebook to a specific task, or archive them once you are done with it. 

Because these notebooks don't have an actual cover, you might want to look for something to protect them. Midori sells simple covers made from clear plastic or waxed paper that follow the same minimal approach as the rest of their products. The paper cover is rather thin but adds some style points if you don't like the 'bare' notebook. I opted for the plastic cover because it lets you see the design of the notebook through it, and it features a pen loop for some added functionality.

Let's talk about the paper, because it really is quite something! With the MD notebook, Midori establishes that the Japanese manufacturers have got the science of papermaking down. In fact, I think this may be my new favourite paper from the land of the rising sun, hopping over the already excellent Life Tsubame notebook (reviewed here). I don't really understand how, but Midori managed to create a paper that doesn't feel coated -it actually has some tooth to it-, yet it offers all the advantages that a slick vellum-type paper like Rhodia has. 

Nibs never skip or hard start, yet the paper never even shows the slightest hint of feathering or bleedthrough in my tests (even under the harshest 'stress test' conditions I threw at it!). You have to get used to the slightly 'toothy' feeling when you write, but that's also what makes it so ideal for use with pencil or ballpoint (which is where Rhodia falls short). You'll see a minor amount of ghosting on the back of the page, but it doesn't make writing on both sides impossible. The light blue ruling/grid markings are finely printed, which makes them fairly unobtrusive once you've written over them.

Shading is crisp, though maybe a tad less pronounced compared to Rhodia. To my biggest surprise, sheen is actually quite pronounced on this toothy paper. I won't say it's Tomoe River grade, but it definitely far exceeds my expectations.

I think it's not too difficult to see why I fell in love with these notebooks so fast. The design is simple yet timeless, the paper is unusual but fantastic to write on, and every aspect of the notebook and its packaging is cleverly thought through with Japanese precision. Starting at 11€ and going up to 23€ depending on the size (at Mofelito Paperito), the MD notebooks aren't particularly cheap (keep in mind that the pagecount is a bit lower), but you'll quickly realize that you get excellent quality for what you pay! 

These products were sent to me by Mofelito Paperito so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affilate links.