Moleskines: Good enough for Hemingway? Good enough for me!

Apr 15, 2010 by Nelly

Last year, I found myself in Chapters with a friend shopping for a daily planner to replace the one I had at the time. I used to be under the impression that electronically organizing my day was more efficient, but I found out – much to my dismay – that I’m still “old-school” in that category. I like things on paper, in a book, where they can be crossed off, moved around with arrows and with enough space to accommodate my spur-of-the-moment ideas.

As an occasional writer, the fleeting amount of ideas that crosses my brain and escapes me instantly is alarming. I can walk down a block and half a page written on a subject of my choosing, only to get home and find myself struggling for hours to formulate two lines.

A friend of mine, shopping with me for her new year’s agenda, took me to the “Moleskine” table and handed me a sizable book with a page dedicated to each day. She said once I use a notebook of that caliber, I’ll never go back to my flimsy booklets. I looked at the price tag, and saw a rude “$ 25.00″ looking up at me. I looked at her and asked if she thinks I’m mad enough to spend that much on something that will have post-its stuck to it, coffee or rain stains between the pages, ripped off pages, and the like. She told me, that’s what the price was for; it takes a beating like no other notebook.

I felt adventurous and picked up the agenda, with a new year’s resolution to use every inch of paper provided in this notebook.

Several months later, my agenda is synonymous with sanity. It fits my needs perfectly. I plan my days, to-dos, jot random notes and have ample space to fill when the creative lightening strikes. It gets tossed in all kinds of drawers, bags, knapsacks and occasionally my trunk. And my friend is quite right, I don’t see myself moving away from the brand anytime soon.

In fact, over the past few months I’ve purchased their sketch books, mini notepads that were handed out to family members as stocking stuffers, medium-size lined notebooks (volants) for language-learning purposes and a few regular sized writing books that were gifted as birthday presents.

The quality of the covers (made from Moleskin; a heavy cotton fabric) is superb. It’s bendable, almost stain-proof and handles wear & tear very well. The papers are soft yet absorb quite a bit of liquid, and I should know – I’m a fan of fountain pens. Some of the larger notebooks and agendas have a mini folder to stash away smaller notes, post-its, receipts, photos and the like.

The classic black sketchbook is a staple product of the company, which is based in Milan, but was available in the 19th Century in Europe where it was made by French book binders. The stitching process, while modernized now, still holds some of the older more refined techniques of page binding. You can see the evidence of that when bending and pulling away at the papers. There are hardly any strays and the craftsmanship is exquisite.

Moleskines were popular with the likes of Hemingway, Van Gogh, Wilde and Picasso. The use of the product by these legendary figures sustains – to this day – the refined feel of the company’s brand. In fact, it’s one of the first things you hear when you think of purchasing a Moleskine. I remember to this day my friend’s pitch for the notebook “if it was good enough for Hemingway to write on, it’s good enough for you”.

And yes, I suppose it is. Though I doubt Hemingway was as organized.

The product line runs from $7.99 to $39.99 in Chapters depending on the size and style of the notebook purchased. Several colours are available, ranging from the Classic Black covers to some red editions and neon-coloured books that makes for thoughtful gifts at any occasion.

The other nifty thing to this brand is the community they provide for their customers. You can go in and be part of a creative group of people that exchange ideas, thoughts and help on various issues, and all of whom are bound by their preference in notebooks. And that’s saying something.