Exacompta Nostalgie Journal by @Exaclair

I've been using various journals and notebooks for daily record keeping, and when my last one ran out I dug out this Exacompta Nostalgie Journal with Frank Lloyd Wright's May Basket illustration on the leather-like cover.

That this is not leather is a tribute to the faux-textile manufacturers everywhere. It looks and feels like leather, while the tan color and saddle-stitch needle work bring to mind a leather journal made from saddle leather. The May Basket design, originally intended for a magazine, is embossed and appears on both the front and the back. Inside you have a brief description of May Basket's original date and purpose as well as Wright's signature. Overall, an impressive cover.

The journal is an Exacompta Basics Forum blank refill, with 200 pages of 64gsm Clairefontaine paper. If you are a regular user of the 80-90gsm Clairefontaine and Rhodia papers you will feel the difference in this blank refill's paper right away. It's smooth to write on, but much thinner and easily see through using fountain pen, rollerball gel ink, or ballpoint oil-based ink--but especially the first two.


I've been keeping a daily record of my consumption habits, both food and money, to get a better sense of what I'm doing and why. I like the size of the Basics Forum blank refill (4.75 by 6.75, plus a few extra millimeters for the cover), as it gives me the room I want to write out notes as well as accounting. The above, with some details buffed out, is an example of one day in the life ("pigeon" is a notation on an injured pigeon I found outside my building, and took down the street to the guy who raises pigeons hoping he could help--don't know the outcome yet, haven't had the nerve to go back--Schroedinger's Cat, anyone?).




But entries can be seen through from day to day, making this a very busy page. On the one hand that's great, as I only have to use one side to mark the page in half (such as above, the line divider shows through on the left page while I've made a line on the right). On the other, I have to read my current writing over my older writing which makes the page seem too busy.

All in all this is an excellent cover and a very good refill journal. If you're looking for something decorative and functional, check out the Exacompta Nostalgie Journals.

Review: FAF Un Bloc Pad

My FAF Un Bloc Pad arrived last week from Design Within Reach and I had a few quick thoughts, mostly I was surpised and very pleased that this is an Exacompta product. It is a top quality, elegantly spare notepad with a lot of thought put into the design. If you happen to be looking for a stylish and minimalist present for yourself, this is something to consider (maybe in the smaller size, which is more purse/tote/bookbag friendly.




The first thing to notice is the packaging: a sturdy presentation box that opens to show off the notepad and it's wrapper, with lots of French to let you know this is one elegant import. Many of the items at Design Within Reach are sleek and unpretentious. Their stores are spare and modern, but they only sell furniture--no paper or notepads. When I stopped by one on West 14th Street I did get to see the small notepad that the sales manager was using, and it is a great size for mobile writing.





Anyway, it's available in large and small sizes and the steel back has rubber rounds on it to prevent slipping or damage to surfaces. There are 200 sheets of roughly 10 inch x 10.5inch two-hole paper, held in place by a metal bar and two brass washers.


One detail you notice when you take the washers and metal bar off is that the paper is both notched on the side and scored along the length When everything is put back, the side of the metal bar now fits into the notch of the paper, allowing the sheets to be ripped off the notepad smoothly and evenly.

Here's another view of the notepad without the metal bar or washers, you can see the scoring along the length and the notch in the side. The top of the steel notepad curves over and acts as a stopper so the paper is even when it is placed in the two metal spike/tacks.

Another side view, this time from the front of the notepad. One interesting point that you can see in a few of the pictures above is that the paper has four holes punched into it although there are only two spikes The other two holes are in-between the spikes, and I'm not sure what use they might have.

I love that the Exacompta name is right on the metal bar above the left washer. On the right is says "Un Bloc Pad."





Put it all together and you get this, a beautiful and functional notepad that turns heads at meetings. The paper is actually better than I had originally thought. It's very light and feels like regular copy paper--definitely not Rhodia or Clairefontaine, but sturdy nonetheless. What was surprising was how much my gel ink and fountain pens liked it. They pretty much glided over he paper with no resistance, although when I was writing with the fountain pen that was the first time I actually heard myself writing. There was a definite shadow on the opposite side but not bleed through, making this paper a good choice for the notepad. I'm not sure if I'll be ordering refills or looking for alternatives. I have a few MiquelRius notebooks that have paper that will fit this with a little tinkering, but it's really not the same.