The Perfect Moleskine (And you can’t have it)
May 7, 2007 · 11 Comments
Categories: Mazzuoli · alternative to moleskine · black · black book · black notebook · blank book · cahier · hardcover · journal · mini journal · miquelrius · moleskine · moleskine notebook · molskine notebook · notebook · perfect notebook
11 responses so far ↓
speedmaster // May 7, 2007 at 5:02 pm |
Those REALLY look nice!
Top Posts « WordPress.com // May 9, 2007 at 8:02 pm |
[...] The Perfect Moleskine (And you can’t have it) According to legend, when famed travel writer Bruce Chatwin learned that his favorite notebook, a moleskine […] [...]
Vramin // May 11, 2007 at 3:40 pm |
This looks interesting, almost interesting enough for me to take some kind of a roller to the cover of a Moleskine and see if I can recreate the creases. However, what I notice in my back pocket is that it’s the bending of the spine itself that eventually causes the book to break, not the flexing of the cover. Perhaps if the cover gives some it will spare some of the stress on the spine – I’ll have to try it. But the Ru journal, case bound with a soft latex cover, broke at the spine as well, and its cover did nothing but give.
I think I finally found the perfect pocket notebook, and it’s a Moleskine! I have carried both regular and report style Moleskine’s in my back pocket, and the spine broke in both cases. My latest one, which I’ve been carrying for a couple of months not, still has a pristine spine. The answer, while counter-intuitive, is to always put your Moleskine in your pocket with the spine UP, the loose pages pointing down into your pocket. The lower part of the covers bend (gaining “character”) and the pages flex along, but the spine remains virtually untouched.
I won’t know if it was really the right answer until I finally fill it up, but so far this has worked better and lasted longer than any other notepad I’ve carried back there.
The Poor Man's Moleskine: The Colored Edge Notebook « Black Cover // May 18, 2007 at 10:20 am |
[...] that makes this sort of notebook special. Mazzuoli found a brilliant middleground in their perfect Stifflexibles line, but until that rises from the grave, we’re stuck looking for [...]
Giuliano Mazzuoli // May 31, 2007 at 8:32 am |
I am happy that you appreciate our products. Let’s play a game. We produce the Stifflexible notebooks and for us to make them with the black cover is easy as snapping our fingers. Our product is entirely made in Italy and not in China like our BIG competitor. Who will help us find a distributor for the US market? Please note that our Stifflexible notebook/agenda book is the best selling agenda book at the MoMA Store in New York City (10,000 units a year). Who will help us find a distributor.
Kelly Stinnett // July 6, 2007 at 2:48 am |
I just found this, and noticed the date, May,2007. Please tell me that you are working on a US distributor. The “Man” himself wrote back, and said they would make them in black. What is happening now? Please let me know, these are fantastic—I do believe you found the perfect notebook. Thanks, Kelly
Will the Stifflexible Rise From The Grave? « Black Cover // July 10, 2007 at 12:38 am |
[...] I reviewed what I consider to be the absolute best little black notebook I’ve come across: Mazzuoli’s Stifflexible journal. The Moleskine-esque cover has two creases that allow it to be folded back, giving the notebook all [...]
Phoebe Wu // July 11, 2007 at 11:07 pm |
I would also love to know if Mr. Mazzouli is currently selling the black cover version.
Phil // July 22, 2007 at 9:33 pm |
I’ve recently obtained one of Mazzuoli’s tarted-up Stiffies, one with a banana on its cover, and I just wanted to record here a brief description. The paper is not creamy, as Nick described the old black-cover to contain, but a very ordinary white. Thicker paper, though, than the Moley, and no bleedthrough with a very wet pen. Not spectacular to write on, I’d say, to be honest, but okay. The cover on this book is more a very dark grey, and the texture seems different to that in Nick’s photos. Finally, the overall look is not, to my mind, as pleasing as the Moleskine’s, and I would even say that the cover seems less sturdy (because the textured layer is glued onto the cardboard and doesn’t wrap around to the inside cover like the M. does). However, time might prove me way out on this durability aspect. That’s it. Just a few odd observations which may or may not confirm Nick’s thought that the quality MAY be different on these new books.
Happy Holidays from the new Stifflexible! « Black Cover // December 22, 2007 at 5:53 pm |
[...] Mazzuoli company in Italy, the manufacturers of the Stifflexible line of notebooks I continually rave about. Over the past several months, there have been rumors that their line was going back into [...]
The Stifflexible…Resurrected! « Black Cover // March 19, 2008 at 1:53 am |
[...] finding the perfect black notebook. I related the story of how I had, in fact, already found the perfect black notebook, but that it wasn’t being produced anymore. The Italian company behind it, Mazzuoli, had come [...]