Yay! It is National Stationery Week, and at Hedge & Hog, this is an exciting time as we are such stationery-philes, or stationery addicts if I am being completely honest. Anything to do with stationery throws us in a bit of a frenzy of excitement here. So, this is very difficult to choose the top 5 notebooks, but here goes. As an Architect and Designer, I am focussing naturally on the ones that are great for sketching, doodling and keeping notes, and size is definitely a factor for me in terms of usability and how easy it is to carry them around.
1.Leather Dreams Notebook, £40.00, Choosing Keeping
There are several beautiful notebooks here, but I really love this. The concept of dreams being the window to your inner soul is beautiful, and the royal blue colour and the soft leather bound finish is luxurious. At this price range, it has to be pretty special, and it certainly is. The cream paper is a dream to write on, and at 17 x 12.5 cm it isn't too big to carry around for your musings, thoughts and sketches.
2. Metamorphosis, $20, Baron Fig
As a designer, there is nothing more annoying than a notebook that doesn't open flat, and so I was really excited to come across Baron Fig's notebooks. They are created with the designer in mind, and so besides the luxurious heavyweight smooth paper, it opens flat, it is beautifully finished, and it has perforated as well as grid paper! It is a joy to write and sketch on these. This notebook also has 192 pages (yes, 192!!) so there's plenty of space to create a portfolio of sorts, and it is a nice size at around 6 x 8 inches. Lovely!
3. City Series, Rs 345 (appx. £5.00), MyPaperClip
I discovered these while visiting India last year. The city series caught my attention because of the beautiful hand-drawn illustrations of the famous historic landmarks in the city. If you've been to Delhi, you will recognise some of these. Colourful and vibrant, they certainly make an impact, and as an Architect, and a Conservationist, they really appeal to me personally. Wish it had plain paper for some urban sketching, but the lined paper is good quality and has a textured feel, and also the A5 size is pretty handy. The notebooks are centre sewn so have a real handmade look to them. Strong and sturdy, and gorgeous to look at as well!
4. Scribe, $12.00, Code&Quill
Code & Quill understand designers, and this is one of their smaller notebooks, perfect as a carry around pocket notebooks for jotting down design ideas. In two colour variations, the design is simple and elegant, with the focus on functionality and finish. The size is appx. 3 x 5 inches, the paper is 100 gsm grain free and acid-free, and smooth and wonderful to write and sketch on. Each pack has 3 of these notebooks, and has the signature red thread running through the middle. If you fancy anything sturdier, have a look at their Monolith design which is more of a desktop notebook than one to carry around in your pocket. But, if you are anything like me, you would probably end up getting both!
5. Handprinted Linocut Notebook, £10.75, Hedge & Hog Prints
Last but not least, I do love these handprinted linocut notebooks that are available in my shop. There are 6 different designs to choose from, and a range of colours for each. Each notebook is handprinted from my original linocut designs with love and care, so there might be slight differences which makes it even more unique and original. They can also be personalised in your choice of colour (within reason, of course!) and also available in lined, gridded or blank papers. So you can really customise your notebook to a large extent, which in my books is a lovely thing. I love these pocket notebooks so much for the gorgeous cream paper, and the ease of carrying. It is like carrying an original piece of art in your pocket and will definitely make you stand out. There are designs for garden and nature lovers, as well as sports lovers, so you can even buy the whole set and use each for different lists and notes. Now, there's an idea!!
Hope you have fun browsing, and enjoy!
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I just stumbled across your post, and I love how much effort you put it.
I hope it’s not too forward, but we just published There’s a book for that.
We developed custom notebooks for a variety of users and needs, lovingly thought through and carefully designed.
Please head over to https://www.abookforthat.com and have a look, we’d love to hear from you and include your thoughts in our work.
You will love it.
Best Regards, Oliver
Surely everyone loves a notebook! Couldn’t do without several on the go!
I like notebooks! It’s really helpful when you need to plan a lot:)
Great post! I have a slight notebook obession so loved reading through your recommendations :-)
Love all these notebooks especially the vinyl printed ones! I am a stationery addict – I have more notebooks than I need but I still manage to use them all!