FRARA ROAD x STILOGRAFICA PEN ROLL MUSTARD

If you're a long-time reader of The Pencilcase Blog, you may remember a review I did about five years ago, of a product from a new South African company called Frara Road. Back then, I reviewed their Pen Roll (find the original review HERE): a cleanly-executed, well-thought-out leather pen roll made from a beautifully soft brown distressed leather. 

In the years that followed, it remained a bit silent from the people at Frara Road, and the brand, unfortunately, remained in the background, despite having an - IMHO at least- excellent product on their hands with the Pen Roll! So you could say I was quite pleasantly surprised when Jamie (one of the two brothers who run Frara Road) reached out to me again a few months ago, to ask if I was interested in checking out their new product: A store-exclusive version of the Pen Roll, created in collaboration with one of our sponsors, Casa Della Stilografica! 

The result of Frara Road's and Stilografica's collaboration is The Pen Roll Mustard. This special edition stands out from the crowd (not hard to see why!) with its wonderfully bright warm-yellow leather. The name Mustard is aptly chosen, though I find the color mostly reminiscent of a bright and sunny Italian summer day! Admittedly, if you know me you'll know that the joyful and cheery yellow color of the Pen Roll Mustard is perhaps not the first color I'd choose. But it's hard to deny that I get a little smile on my face every time I pick it up. And as an added bonus: it's very easy to find (even from a mile away)!

The leather on the Mustard is a beautiful and pristine full-grain leather with a nice texture. It's a bit of a departure from the more distressed and tough-looking brown leather on the original Pen Roll, but it's every bit as supple and soft to the touch. The Mustard leather does seem to be ever-so-slightly thicker than on the original, which makes it just a little trickier to roll up neatly.

The closure system that Frara Road created for the Pen Roll remains a very clever and simple one that I enjoy using. The strap is sturdy and stays neatly out of the way when you don't need it. Again here, the slightly thicker leather of the Mustard seems to want to unroll and open up just a bit more than the original did. Although with more use, I assume it'll break in and become easier to close.

Construction quality of the Pen Roll Mustard is excellent, just like the original. Edges of the case aren't polished but the cuts are clean and precise. I'd perhaps say that the stitching on this newer case is a bit neater and more deliberately positioned, compared to the original case I reviewed five years ago, but the difference is all in all quite minimal. Just like with the original, I would've liked to see some extra reinforcement stitches around the loop for the closure strap, as it does stretch out a bit when you tighten the closure.

L to R: Montblanc 149, Visconti Homo Sapiens, Pelikan M805, Leonardo Art Deco 2021, Leonardo Furore, Lamy 2000

The Frara Road Pen Roll is a fairly space-efficient way to carry around six of your pens, and the rolled-up form factor makes it particularly easy to hold in your hand on the go. In my original review of the Pen Roll, I mentioned that pens as large as a Montblanc 149 can fit comfortably, but in hindsight, that was still a rather conservative size indication. Especially nowadays, where we're seeing increasingly larger oversized pens hit the market, the Pen Roll still holds up very well. Even one of the largest pens in my collection, the Leonardo Momento Zero Grande Art Deco 2021 - a whopping 15.8cm long pen! - still fits comfortably. 

If you look at the above image, all pens, even those very large ones, are nicely tucked into the slots so there's no chance of them scratching each other. The clips can be attached over the leather, though the slots are roomy enough to accommodate the entire pen with clip. 

The back of the leather on the inside of the case is very soft and plushy, so there's no risk of it scratching your pens. The leather also has a certain 'grippy' quality to it, so pens inside don't slide up and down in the slots. Even smaller and thinner pens will - for the most part - stay quite firmly in place and won't always slide down to the bottom of the case.

All neatly tucked away!

One of the downsides about the Frara Road Pen Roll that I also brought up in my original review, is that it takes up a considerable amount of desk space when opened up - about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. It looks tidy when you have it opened, though: the top flap folds back to get out of your way, and the closure strap is attached in a way that it naturally lies underneath the roll. 

I raved about the original, and the Frara Road x Stilografica exclusive Pen Roll Mustard scores equally high marks: It's a beautifully designed and produced case, the quality of the leather is fantastic, and it remains an excellent option to properly protect your pens. - Only, now it also comes in a bright and cheery yellow!

The Frara Road x Stilografica Pen Roll Mustard retails for 95€ (or around 85$ without VAT from Stilografica. Use discount code 'Firenze' for 10% off!), which is the same price as the regular brown and black versions. While that's a bit more expensive than they used to be 5 years ago, it's still an excellent value proposition in my opinion. Now having Frara Road's products available from a reputable European retailer also helps in making them a bit more accessible, which is nice. But I hope to see them become more easily available in other corners of the world, also. 

Note: This product was provided by Frara Road, free of charge, 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.

FRARA ROAD LEATHER PEN ROLL REVIEW

When it comes to carrying my pens, I'm quite a conservative person. I never really liked the idea of pen rolls, and rather stuck to my trusty Visconti Dreamtouch cases until now. 

You see, my irk with most pen rolls is that the design never feels practical to me. Surprisingly, a lot of them have very wide pockets, which are meant to accompany more than one pen at a time. That obviously means the pens (or clips) can touch.

Now I might just be the most overprotective pen weirdo ever -I take full credit for that- but I really don't like the idea of throwing some expensive pens in a pen roll and have them damage eachother in the process. That's kind of what I want to avoid in the first place when I pick out a pen case. So that's where the Frara Road pen leather pen roll steps in... 

Frara Road is a young brand created by two brothers. They are based in South Africa, and make a curated selection of leather writing accesories. I saw this pen roll online and was immediately intrigued by the simple -and seemingly clever- design. Special thanks to Jesse and Jamie, who were kind enough to send one of these cases over for this review.

The design...well it's a pen roll, so the name says it all. It's a piece of leather that holds your pens and rolls up into a cylindrical shape. If you look at different pen rolls, they are all similar, yet each brand has a slightly different take on how they think it should look. In my opinion, these different designs either work or they don't...this one belongs to the first category.

I like what Frara Road did with the design. They kept the entire thing simple and straightforward. The edges are straight and are folded over to give a clean finish and add some strength. Everything is cut and stitched neatly. They use normal thread to stitch all the details, which might prove a little less durable than the thick waxed thread you often see on leatherwork. But, at least from my experience, it definitely feels solid and well put together.

The dark brown full grain leather is extremely soft and supple. The leather is thick enough to offer protection, but not too thick so that it doesn't add unnecessary bulk. The finish on the leather already looks 'broken in' when it arrives, with minor scuffs and wrinkles right out of the box. It also has a very pleasant soft matte feeling in the hand, and of course that fantastic smell new leather goods have. 

The case is held closed with a leather strip that is stitched to one side of the roll. I like how it cleanly folds behind the back when you lay the case flat open on a table. The entire thing rolls up to a tight package, and the leather band can be threaded through an oval hole to secure it. The back of the leather has some texture that really grips onto the loop to give a secure fit. The closure mechanism takes some time to get used to, but it's very minimal and it works quite well. Perhaps some stitches around the hole would make it a bit more durable. But again, it doesn't look like it will break or wear out anytime soon.

I've been throwing this case in and out of my bag for a few months now, and can't really notice any aging. The leather picks up scuffs and scratches, but it blends in nicely with the 'aged' surface finish that it already had upon arrival. The leather doesn't seem to pick up oils as much as I thought it would, so it hasn't become shinier so far (after about 2 months of use).

In terms of size, it's a good bit longer and thicker than the Visconti Dreamtouch pen case, which also holds 6 pens. But the shape is completely different, so depending on your needs this might actually be better suited for you. The shape of the pen roll makes it easy to hold in your hand, while the slimmer profile of the Visconti case might be better suited to fit a briefcase. The Frara Road pen roll measures 18.5 cm (7.3") by 7.5 cm (3") when closed, and 30.5 cm (12") by 28 cm (11") when opened flat. The leather itself is about 2mm thick, but it's two layers thick in most places, so give or take 4mm total. 

Perhaps the only downside about a pen roll like this, is that it's quite large when opened flat. You can tuck away the protective flap to reduce the size a bit, but it still takes up a good chunk of real estate on your desk. That being said, it does lay flat and you can see your pens when it's on the table, whereas the flap of the Visconti Dreamtouch case always closes automatically. 

But how does it do in terms of protection? Let's just say that I still don't trust it as much as the Visconti Dreamtouch case when it comes to protection. I'm sure by now you heard me ramble about the Visconti case more than enough, but the hard shell design just makes it a really safe and sturdy option to take your precious pens along. That being said, Frara Road comes in on a close second. The leather has a pleasantly soft back side that hugs your pens and doesn't leave scratches. Each pocket is just tight enough to hold each pen securely in place, yet large pens do still fit (up to a MB 149 is no problem). I like that the pens don't move around, especially smaller pens don't fall all the way down into the slots. 

The case can accomodate surprisingly large pens. Pens of up to 16 cm long (like the Franklin Christoph 66 Stabilis) are no problem and fit right in. The protective flap covers the top part of the pens so that they don't touch when you roll up the case. The fact that the slots are tight enough on itself means that you don't have to clip the pens to the slot to keep them in place. As a result, the clips don't stick out either, so there's no possibility of pens damaging each other... My OCD sense of pen-overprotectiveness is pleased! 

One thing to note is that the fibrous texture on the back side of the leather does leave small pieces of lint everywhere and on your pens, especially during the first few weeks. All in all it's a minor nuissance on an otherwise great product, and most of those loose fibres go away after a couple weeks of use. 

I'm seriously impressed with the Frara Road pen roll, they delivered a top notch product. It has become part of my everyday carry ever since I got it, and it's the perfect companion to my Visconti cases (that I still prefer to use for more expensive pens). The design is stylish and minimalistic, the build quality is top notch, and most importantly: it does a great job protecting your pens! Pricewise, they hit a solid sweet spot in the 75 USD range, which is quite competitive compared to other brands on the market.

Note: This product was provided by Frara Road, free of charge, 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.