moleskinerie

Moleskine as a fashion accessory

"it wouldn't be the same without the moleskine in his left hand...!"

From "The Sartorialist"
On the Street...The Shorter Shape Of Outerwear

© 2008 The Sartorialist

[Thanks Shannon]

The Last Calligraphers

"For centuries, handwriting was the definitive mark of social status, education and liberal values in India. Calligraphers mastered the swooping Urdu script in ivory-tower institutions and penned copies of the Koran for wealthy patrons. The pinnacle of a katib's achievement meant a seat at court and a chance to earn the sultan's ear." - Scott Carney

The Musalman is the only handwritten newspaper in Asia and has been operational since 1927. Here is their story.

LINK

[via Design Observer]

Sighting: "The Namesake"

The Namesake describes the struggles between two first generation Indian immigrants, from West Bengal, to the United States, Ashima Ganguli (Tabu) and Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan), and their children, Gogol (Kal Penn) and Sonali (Sonia) (Sahira Nair). The featured locales are Kolkata, India, Queens, New York, and the New York City suburbs of Nyack and Oyster Bay.

The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima leave Culcutta and settle in New York City. Through a series of miscues, their son's nickname, Gogol (named after Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol), becomes his official birth name, an event which will shape many aspects of his life. The film uses Gogol's struggles over his name as a jumping off point to explore large issues of integration, assimilation and cultural identity. The film chronicles Gogol's cross-cultural experiences and his exploration of his Indian heritage, as the story shifts between the United States and India. Gogol eventually meets and falls in love with two women, Maxine (Jacinda Barrett) and Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), while his parents struggle to understand his modern, American perspectives on dating, marriage and love.

More at WIKIPEDIA

[Thanks Johnny]

Exhibition: 4(•J•)s

Our friend, 4(•J•)s opens an exhibit of his works at the Escuela de Arte de Mérida.
More at his blog.

The Moleskine Exchange

A new collaborative site using Moleskine notebooks has opened:

This blog will follow the adventure of a group of artists around the world, in a Japanese fold Moleskine sketchbook exchange.

Each artist will set off with a small Japanese (accordian) folded Moleskine. Creating a drawing, collage, or painting, then send on to the next artist. Each artist will draw on a spread (2 or 3 pages) then send it on to the next artist. When the artists book is filled, it will be returned to the owner with images created by artist around the world. Each artist has a month to make an entry. The outcome will be a pleasant and surprising adventure, as artists are encouraged to interact and merge their art with others.

Project begun by Marty Harris, Minnesota, USA.

Good luck Marty & co. Visit the Moleskine Exchange

A somewhat similar initiative is here.

Etsy Find: Covered Moleskine - Three Blind Mice

Very cute Moleskine cahiers by Innocent Girl

64 page Moleskine, covered in 'Three Blind Mice'

LINK

© 2008 by the artist

"Powered by Moleskine"

Kelly Amabile sent us this cool link:

Thought you guys might like this for the blog, cool digital use of a Moleskine:

http://shorttermmemoryloss.com/

tons of links to lots of creative things being done by James Bridle, who also runs http://booktwo.org

[Thanks Kelly!]

Independent film "Helvetica"

If you haven't seen Helvetica yet:

The film features on-camera interviews with such type design giants such as: Wim Crouwel, Herman Zapf, Erik Spiekermann and Massimo Vignelli to name but a few.  However, the film goes much further:

It is a remarkable essay that illuminates how the complex and dynamic interactions of modern typography and visual design incorporate aesthetics, legibility, iconography, and artistic expression within our post-modern graphic mass communication medium.

The film is currently available for instant viewing on Netflix and more information, including some clips of the film can be found on its website.

[Thanks Christopher]

Featured Artist: Italo Rota

Italo Rota was born in Milan in 1953. He studied architecture at the Polytechnic Institute of Milan and worked in the studios of E. Albini. In the 70s he worked with Gregotti Associati studios and for “Lotus international” magazine. In 1979 he was the curator of an exhibition on “The instruments of design” at the 16th Milan Triennial. In 1980 he worked with G. Aulenti and R Castiglioni on the winning project in the competition for L’aménagement intérieur del Musée d’Orsay then moved to Paris to oversee the work on the Musée d’Orsay. In 1985 he won the competition on invitation for the new French School rooms in Cour Carré del Louvre, in 1982 he Worked with the director Patrice Chéreau; designed and conducted renovation of Théàtre des Amandiers (1982-83) and a film production centre with a set studio in Nanterre (1982-86). In 1984-88 he Worked with director Bernard Sobel on sets for productions staged in Paris and Berlin ; designed and conducted renovation of the theatre in Genevilliers (1987-88). On 1985 he was the Curator of the “L’lmage des Mots” exhibition at Centre Pompidou. Learn more.

Play video

Learn more about the new Moleskine City Notebook.

Learn more about Detour Exhibitions.

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR, FACEBOOK and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it.

A little Moleskine movie

A little movie of my Moleskine with Lamy Scribble and calendar.

Latenightblogger
© 2007

(Love that leather case!)

Lined Card Insert

Here's a classic by Molly from '06:

I can't write straight without lines, and there are the times I need to. Especially when I am using a dip pen and shellac based ink. So I printed a card with lines that can be seen thru the moleskine journal page and keep it in the back, along with the blotter paper card.

molly1216 @ FLICKR

© All rights reserved. Used with permission

Andrea Musso: “Music on my Moleskine”

An unusual exhibition of illustrations by Andrea Musso: portraits of international musicians taken during concerts, festivals and performances; both the drawings and the music are “live”.

“I’ve never played any instrument nor sung, I can’t read a score; on the contrary, I don’t know music at all, and I’m not even sure I’m able to appreciate it. I do love listening to music, particularly I love watching musicians because I’m convinced that music is in the body and in the face of people who play it: the passion, the enjoyment, the strain, this is about music but has nothing to do with scores, technique (even if, maybe, technique is a form of strain, too). Therefore I listen and watch, I let myself go to melodies I don’t know, and I do the most natural thing for me: I record those faces, hands, instruments in my sketchbook so I can look at them later and re-live them, in peace and quiet. From an abbey to a smokey club, from a castle to the square of a village, from a church to a street where strolling musicians play, my Moleskine is always with me: it has travelled throughout Italy, half of Europe and a pretty big piece of the world. And it loves music, maybe more than I do.”

andreamusso.it

Exhibition of 2005:
http://www.exibart.com/profilo/eventiv2.asp?IDelemento=24650

Virtual gallery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreamusso
http://www.jazzitalia.net/disegnifoto/andreamusso/

The Art of Tomás Hijo

Tomás Hijo works making books or parts of them. He can write, illustrate, design or compose one (althought he prefers not to do the last thing). His client list include the most important spanish editors, like Anaya or Edelvives, some movie producers and all-size institutions.

He teaches what he makes at the Pontificia University from Salamanca (Spain), the city where he lives. Nowadays, he prepares some illustrated children books.

Tomás Hijo web
Salamanca, España

View his works on FLICKR
© All rights reserved

New Moleskine Volant coming in February!

"According to the Unilibro shop site new Moleskine Volant in different colors and size will be available in February. They'll be soft covered and available in 3 size (a new extra small size, pocket size, large site) in black, blue, green and pink color. Will be sold in a group of two and each group has different color tone (ie the green will have a lighter green and a darker green Volant). It seems that the squared are missing, only plain and ruled.

Here is the link

No image is given, though, only text descriptions."

Greetings from Italy, Benedetto

Recent Movie Sightings

Dave Bullock alerted us to a familiar notebook in this movie.

Movie link

Visit his blog.

Also, Lani Teshima and Donald Friedman alerted us about Daniel Day-Lewis' notebook in "There Will Be Blood":

There are little peeks at what looks like a pocket-sized notebook, but there is a scene where Day-Lewis's character is in a meeting with some bigwigs when he slaps his notebook down on the table. It lands, and the camera stays on the view so that you can very clearly tell the telltale signs of the pocket Moleskine, with its hardcover black cover and elastic band!

Movie link

ADC Young Guns and Moleskine® Create THE UNDISCOVERED LETTER

The Art Directors Club and Moleskine® announce The Undiscovered Letter, a creative challenge to benefit lettera27, a nonprofit literacy organization dedicated to encouraging the right to education and access to knowledge around the world.

The Undiscovered Letter is open exclusively to past winners of ADC Young Guns, a biennial competition established in 1996 that recognizes the most exciting young talent in advertising, design, video, interactive and other forms of media and visual communications. All five classes of inducte es are eligible to participate. The challenge itself has an intentionally broad scope; participants are asked to submit their interpretation of the 27th letter of the alphabet.

“The Undiscovered Letter is an opportunity to find the intersection between analog and digital and determine how oral and written communication work in the future,” said Ami Brophy, Executive Director of the Art Directors Club. “Pushing boundaries through creativity, vision and ideas in tandem with technology represents the profile of individuals who make up the five classes of ADC Young Guns.”

This joint venture between Moleskine, the little black notebook long used by artists and thinkers, and the Art Directors Club has been developed to promote the best and most creative solutions to literacy and communication issues. A jury of international designers, artists, writers and architects will determine the final 27 submissions, which will then be displayed in a virtual, public exhibition. They will also select a number of entries to appear in a limited edition Moleskine notebook, published in September to commemorate the sixth class of ADC Young Guns and with proceeds going to lettera27.

“Both Moleskine and lettera27 believe that by working with ADC Young Guns we can push unique literacy solutions to the forefront and motivate new activist networks,” said Marco Beghin, President of Moleskine’s US office. “The ADC Young Guns represent a highly creative collective of forward-thinking individuals — the kind of thinkers who can push ideas forward through concepts and communication tools that ultimately activate resources.”

Participating ADC Young Guns will receive Moleskine notebooks in which to develop their ideas for The Undiscovered Letter on February 1. They will have until March 3 to digitally submit their entries, and finalists will be announced on April 1, 2008 — the same date that the Art Directors Club begins accepting entries for the sixth class of ADC Young Guns.

www.theundiscoveredletter.com

Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination

"American artist Joseph Cornell (1903–1972) has been celebrated internationally for his boxes, collages, and films since the 1930s. His mining of far-flung ideas and traditions and elegant integration of woodworking, painting, papering, and drawing define the innovation and visual poetry associated with his work. Above all, he forever altered the concept of the box—from a time-honored functional container into a new art form, the box construction....

His lyrical, often surprising combinations of materials and ideas are usually associated with surrealism, a European art movement that emphasized dreams and poetic dislocation in the 1920s and 1930s. Surrealism, however, was just one of many resources that Cornell called upon as an artist driven by innate curiosity and creativity rather than by theories and formal art training..."

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan
PEM's Chief Curator and Curator of Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination

LINK

Book link

Featured Artist:Karim Rashid

Karim Rashid is a leading figure in the fields of product, interior design, fashion, furniture, lighting and art. Half-Egyptian and half-english, Rashid was born in Cairo, raised in Canada, and now practices in New York. He is best known for bringing his democratic design sensibility to the masses. Designing for an impressive array of clients from Alessi to Georg Jensen, Umbra to Prada, Miyake to Method, Karim is radically changing the aesthetics of product design and the very nature of the consumer culture. To date he has had some 2000 objects put into production and has successfully entered the realm of architecture and interiors as evidenced by the design of the Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia and Semiramis hotel in Athens which won a Sleep05 European Hotel Design Award. Rashid was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2006 from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Learn more.

Play video

Learn more about the new Moleskine City Notebook.

Learn more about Detour Exhibitions.

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR, FACEBOOK and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it.

What's In My Journal

Odd things, like a button drawer. Mean
Thing, fishhooks, barbs in your hand.
But marbles too. A genius for being agreeable.
Junkyard crucifixes, voluptuous
discards. Space for knickknacks, and for
Alaska. Evidence to hang me, or to beatify.
Clues that lead nowhere, that never connected
anyway. Deliberate obfuscation, the kind
that takes genius. Chasms in character.
Loud omissions. Mornings that yawn above
a new grave. Pages you know exist
but you can't find them. Someone's terribly
inevitable life story, maybe mine.

What's In My Journal
by William Stafford

[Thanks JC]

Image: "78/365 lovers moleskine" by Deb Foster
Also on etsy
© All rights reserved

Moleskine Collages by Barry Silver

"back in december of 06 armand put me up as a featured artist.

my life has been down hill from there...just kidding.
actually living and teaching ashtanga yoga in Tokyo this past year.
and still working on my moleskines collages.
i wanted share some updated pics of my journals
here's my moleskines on flickr.

wishing everyone at moleskinerie a happy new year
keep up the great work!"

Barry Silver
© All rights reserved

Update: David Navas

New artworks on David Navas' Moleskine.
He also wrote to inform us that he has started a blog in Spanish where he publishes "drawings and things that he likes". Check it out.

Most Memorable Entry for 2007

m.fotografie asked:

It's that time of year when all I see & hear on the TV and radio are countdowns and "memorable moments of 2007". So it got me started thinking, what is my most memorable entry in my Moleskine Notebook? More importantly...what's yours? 

biffybeans says:

in 2007, I documented a lot of firsts. 1st surgery, (hernia) 1st root canal, 1st time to Atlanta, 1st rental car & 1st hotel room, (by myself) 1st time seeing Van Halen w/ DLR in 23 years, first performances with the Jamani Drummers, (I think 9 performances altogether, including one at the Ritz Carlton in NYC) 1st Creme Brulee, first 4 hour solo drive, 1st time recording a CD, 1st time reading a Christopher Moore book, (and now I'm hooked) 1st workshop with Ubaka Hill.

May 2008 be even better....

Mousetrap1 says:

Every entry in a Moleskine notebook is a memorable one. I often sit and read old entries. It's like traveling back in time in a time machine. Even entries of visits to rural road house coffee and tea houses, local bars after a long hike in the woods, a truck stop after ending up in a ditch in a snow storm make memorable entries. I write a lot of stuff in my Moleskine note book with lots of photos. I print my photos on thin glossy photo paper in small sizes and paste them in my book. Like a slide show of my life. 2007 I filled out close to 4 Moleskine books. Can life get any better?

Join the discussion in progress at Moleskinerie/FLICKR

Photo: "Angoli Profumati" by Blumania
Florence, Italy
Some rights reserved.    

M.bian Moleskine Case Update

Mark was actually the CEO/investor of Timbuk2 from 2002 to 2006, who sold the company to private equity investors and left along side with Rob Honeycutt, the founder of Timbuk2, to establish a new company called Rickshaw Bagworks. Rickshaw means human power and Mark is going to launch the first bag with Rob in early 2008. The first appearance will be in TED conference, which Rickshaw sponsors the official conference bag to be handed out to attendees (each style has exactly two copies, so you will be so lucky to meet a person carrying the same bag design out of the thousand attendees). Mark is going to have 10 minutes talks to the audience about how Rickshaw uses recycle materials to create its bags - from bottle to bag.

More at Patrick's blog, Scription.

Converted notebooks

Pragmagraphr started ad discussion at Moleskinerie/FLICKR:

I really liked the discontinued 2005 weekly planner layout, and have since made my own, by converting a ruled notebook. The columns make it possible to draw boxes over several days if I have some appointment that spans several days. Also, I've left some space at the bottom for Gantt style charts (I seldom have more than four current tasks going), and every other doble page is left blank for note taking.

Join the discussion

Photo: 366.7 New DIY planner by Pragmagraphr

The Mayor's Notebook

Katrien Baetens wrote:

"Lux XL"is a cultural cross-media program on Belgian national television/radio. Every week a guest brings along some of his favourite objects. This week, the mayor of Brussels, brought his Moleskine to the show.

LINK
(Click on 'Foto', the picture in the center) 

© 2008 Radio1

The First Annual Moleskinerie Exhibit

We're excited to celebrate the fourth birthday of Moleskinerie with a retrospective of selected works from our friends and supporters around the world. We would like to recognize this group of writers, artists, bloggers and thinkers who have been featured on the blog in the last year and have consistently used Moleskine in their professional or private pursuits.

The works will be displayed in a permanent gallery on Moleskinerie, updated monthly, starting January 12th, 2008. To honor the participants, Moleskine has created for the artists a limited edition of notebooks and diaries.

This is only the first of what we hope will be many editions of the Exhibit. We hope that you will enjoy the gallery and that it will inspire creative dialogue and foster deeper understanding between cultures.

See the gallery

For the participants, the Limited Edition Moleskinerie 4th Anniversary Collection.

 

Happy Birthday, Moleskinerie! A Message from Moleskine.

As we celebrate Moleskinerie's fourth birthday, we have an exciting announcement about our Moleskinerie community.  Moleskine belongs to all – to its publisher but equally, and more importantly, to its community of friends and supporters.  Moleskinerie is a truly unique place for the spontaneous and carefree expression of your sensibilities.  We are thankful for your ongoing support and respect the love that so many have shown Moleskine. To ensure the continuity of the blog and guarantee its integrity and also to provide support for Moleskinerie initiatives, Moleskine has decided to officially acquire Moleskinerie.

We hope that Moleskinerie will continue its mission of independent expression and attract even more Moleskine friends.

Moleskine is committed to delivering high quality books and upholding the tradition of the brand. We are regularly designing and releasing new products, and would love to hear feedback from the Moleskine enthusiasts that form the Moleskinerie community!

In other Moleskine news, beginning January 2008, Moleskine notebooks are going to be distributed in the US by Chronicle Books, and in Canada by Raincoast.  You will continue to find Moleskine at all of your favorite bookstores and stationery shops!

We wish Moleskinerie a happy fourth Birthday and look forward to many more years.  As always we are very much looking forward to receiving your feedback. Stay in touch!

www.moleskine.com
www.chroniclebooks.com
www.raincoast.com

Moleskine Musings

Being social animals, human beings tend to allow their better judgement to be stampeded by the crowd's impulses. This applies not only to the followers of trends, but their critics: the bigger the icon, the bigger the kudos accorded those who accomplish its takedown.This is only aided by the ephemeral nature of popularity: both sides to laud–or criticise–things based on their aura rather than the true nature of the thing itself.

A recent example of this is the Moleskine notebook. Produced by the Italian company Modo e Modo, Moleskines are essentially copies of a French design. Their advertising copy links them to a number of literary and artistic luminaries: Hemingway, Chatwin, Picasso. Since all of these people are dead, they can't complain that they never, in fact, used the notebooks in question, although they may well have used very similar ones (Chatwin certainly did; his were purchased from a Parisian stationer, until the supplier closed down in 1986).

This is really where the trouble starts. Coupled with their good looks (the Moleskine is a very attractive notebook), the cachet of the artists and writers essentially providing endorsements for them gave Moleskine notebooks the jumpstart they needed. It's important to note that the kind of person who will spend time looking for the perfect notebook is generally the classic "early adopter" so beloved of computer technology companies, and I suspect they (we) are perhaps more vulnerable to the lure of the Moleskine's whispered promises."Buy me," it seems to say, "and you too can be inspired to write like Hemingway."

Marketing does not fool us, exactly; it hands us the lines we feed ourselves. Seduction is something we allow to happen, and investing objects with mysterious power is an old trap. We want to believe that possessing these items is what will give us power, or wealth, or inspiration; we want to deny that 'genius' is a label we apply to those who are both supremely gifted and work harder than anyone else. Olympic athletes have a genetic makeup that makes them suited for their chosen sport, but this is at best a starting point; potential will always go unfulfilled unless it is accompanied by a daily grind of back-breaking labour. Nobody wants to hear this; it's not a cheering message. The idea that we simply lack some talisman, owned by those whose powers we aspire to possess, is a far more attractive one.

The story so far: early adopters are drawn in by a combination of factors, one of which is the mystique evoked by Modo e Modo's marketing copy; the cult of the Moleskine grows, and they begin to crop up in a multitude of stationery, art and book shops, helped along by distribution agreements with several major chain bookstores (Barnes and Noble, Waterstone's). Enter the critics, with the message that Moleskine fans are clearly being taken for the proverbial ride, Hemingway and Chatwin never bought Modo e Modo products, and that the talismanic qualities that are (implicitly or explicitly) being appealed to do not, in fact, exist.

Being social animals, human beings tend to allow their better judgement to be stampeded by the crowd's impulses. This applies not only to the followers of trends, but their critics: the bigger the icon, the bigger the kudos accorded those who accomplish its takedown.This is only aided by the ephemeral nature of popularity: both sides to laud–or criticise–things based on their aura rather than the true nature of the thing itself.

A recent example of this is the Moleskine notebook. Produced by the Italian company Modo e Modo, Moleskines are essentially copies of a French design. Their advertising copy links them to a number of literary and artistic luminaries: Hemingway, Chatwin, Picasso. Since all of these people are dead, they can't complain that they never, in fact, used the notebooks in question, although they may well have used very similar ones (Chatwin certainly did; his were purchased from a Parisian stationer, until the supplier closed down in 1986).

This is really where the trouble starts. Coupled with their good looks (the Moleskine is a very attractive notebook), the cachet of the artists and writers essentially providing endorsements for them gave Moleskine notebooks the jumpstart they needed. It's important to note that the kind of person who will spend time looking for the perfect notebook is generally the classic "early adopter" so beloved of computer technology companies, and I suspect they (we) are perhaps more vulnerable to the lure of the Moleskine's whispered promises."Buy me," it seems to say, "and you too can be inspired to write like Hemingway."

Marketing does not fool us, exactly; it hands us the lines we feed ourselves. Seduction is something we allow to happen, and investing objects with mysterious power is an old trap. We want to believe that possessing these items is what will give us power, or wealth, or inspiration; we want to deny that 'genius' is a label we apply to those who are both supremely gifted and work harder than anyone else. Olympic athletes have a genetic makeup that makes them suited for their chosen sport, but this is at best a starting point; potential will always go unfulfilled unless it is accompanied by a daily grind of back-breaking labour. Nobody wants to hear this; it's not a cheering message. The idea that we simply lack some talisman, owned by those whose powers we aspire to possess, is a far more attractive one.

The story so far: early adopters are drawn in by a combination of factors, one of which is the mystique evoked by Modo e Modo's marketing copy; the cult of the Moleskine grows, and they begin to crop up in a multitude of stationery, art and book shops, helped along by distribution agreements with several major chain bookstores (Barnes and Noble, Waterstone's). Enter the critics, with the message that Moleskine fans are clearly being taken for the proverbial ride, Hemingway and Chatwin never bought Modo e Modo products, and that the talismanic qualities that are (implicitly or explicitly) being appealed to do not, in fact, exist.

Being social animals, human beings tend to allow their better judgement to be stampeded by the crowd's impulses. This applies not only to the followers of trends, but their critics: the bigger the icon, the bigger the kudos accorded those who accomplish its takedown.This is only aided by the ephemeral nature of popularity: both sides to laud–or criticise–things based on their aura rather than the true nature of the thing itself.

A recent example of this is the Moleskine notebook. Produced by the Italian company Modo e Modo, Moleskines are essentially copies of a French design. Their advertising copy links them to a number of literary and artistic luminaries: Hemingway, Chatwin, Picasso. Since all of these people are dead, they can't complain that they never, in fact, used the notebooks in question, although they may well have used very similar ones (Chatwin certainly did; his were purchased from a Parisian stationer, until the supplier closed down in 1986).

This is really where the trouble starts. Coupled with their good looks (the Moleskine is a very attractive notebook), the cachet of the artists and writers essentially providing endorsements for them gave Moleskine notebooks the jumpstart they needed. It's important to note that the kind of person who will spend time looking for the perfect notebook is generally the classic "early adopter" so beloved of computer technology companies, and I suspect they (we) are perhaps more vulnerable to the lure of the Moleskine's whispered promises."Buy me," it seems to say, "and you too can be inspired to write like Hemingway."

Marketing does not fool us, exactly; it hands us the lines we feed ourselves. Seduction is something we allow to happen, and investing objects with mysterious power is an old trap. We want to believe that possessing these items is what will give us power, or wealth, or inspiration; we want to deny that 'genius' is a label we apply to those who are both supremely gifted and work harder than anyone else. Olympic athletes have a genetic makeup that makes them suited for their chosen sport, but this is at best a starting point; potential will always go unfulfilled unless it is accompanied by a daily grind of back-breaking labour. Nobody wants to hear this; it's not a cheering message. The idea that we simply lack some talisman, owned by those whose powers we aspire to possess, is a far more attractive one.

The story so far: early adopters are drawn in by a combination of factors, one of which is the mystique evoked by Modo e Modo's marketing copy; the cult of the Moleskine grows, and they begin to crop up in a multitude of stationery, art and book shops, helped along by distribution agreements with several major chain bookstores (Barnes and Noble, Waterstone's). Enter the critics, with the message that Moleskine fans are clearly being taken for the proverbial ride, Hemingway and Chatwin never bought Modo e Modo products, and that the talismanic qualities that are (implicitly or explicitly) being appealed to do not, in fact, exist.

A pocket notebook in The Palm Beach Story

Moleskinerie friend Michael Leddy has discovered another gem:

"John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee) is buying clothes for Geraldine "Gerry" Jeffers (Claudette Colbert). Why? Because Gerry has no clothes, because she left her suitcase, or so she says, in the Ale and Quail Club's car, which was uncoupled from the rest of the train after the club's members shot up the lounge car. What John D. doesn't know is that there was no suitcase in the Ale and Quail Club's car. Gerry had to abandon her suitcase in a confrontation with her husband Tom (Joel McCrea) as she boarded a taxi to Penn Station so as to get on a train to Palm Beach and get a divorce.

But all that aside: John D. Hackensacker III is keeping track of his purchases in a pocket notebook..."

More at Michael's blog, Orange Crate Art.

Custom made datebook

Here I used a plan pocket Moleskine and drew a week on two page spread. I used a light grey pen so that it wouldn't bleed through. Note that I just put the dates. Monday starts at the upper left and Sunday ends on the second to the last box on the page. It leaves an empty box for overflow on any one day. I use a simple arrow to point to the extra box if needed. A small pen 0.5 or 0.38 works fine. Stiff bookmark post-it tabs are used for the current month and week.

After this and the previous months I still have about 80 blank pages left for notes.

Dave Terry

Month view here.
© DT All rights reserved

Sighting: Fiat 515 TV Commercial

Dayzee_M asked at Moleskinerie/FLICKR:

"There's a new commercial for the Fiat 500 (Car of the Year), which features many Everyday Masterpieces, as they call them. The commercials shows lots of objects, like the Italian espressomaker, dices, paperclip and... a Moleskine! The object flash by in a blink of an eye, but I'm quite sure I saw it ;-)

I've been trying to find the commercial on the internet, but no luck so far! There's a similar ad on YouTube, but's it's not the same one I saw on tv over here (the Netherlands). I'm not sure in which countries it airs."

pilutz says:

Ciao . you can find the spot you have seen here: www.515.it
and click on everyday masterpiece tv spot.. ciao ciao

Watch the video

[via Pilutz]

Midnight Disease

Alice Flaherty couldn't stop writing. Following the deaths of her premature twin boys, the Harvard Medical School neurologist fell into a hole of grief. But after about 10 days, she awoke one morning with an overwhelming desire to put everything on her mind on paper.

"I was flooded with ideas that I had to write about immediately," she recalls. "I couldn't do anything else for four months."

A year later, the whole sequence repeated itself. Flaherty gave birth prematurely to twin girls. Fortunately, they survived. And again, 10 days after their birth, she was hit with an irresistible urge to write about all the things piling up in her brain. She took medications to slow down, but nothing could stem the urge to pen.

"I still write much more than I did before my pregnancies," Flaherty says. She has published two books, a third is in press, and she has begun a fourth.

The second book, titled "The Midnight Disease" (Houghton Mifflin, 2004), tries to make sense of it all. Depending on how you look at it, the "disease" could be either writing or writer's block. In one case, you can't stop, in the other you can't start.

"The brains behind writer's block"
By William J. Cromie
Harvard News Office
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Photo" "Midnight Disease" by ssossatt
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Moleskine and Photography

Check out Bob AuBuchon's Moleskine photo notebook.

At FLICKR, here and here.

Inspiration: Isabel Allende

In one of the most beloved talks from TED2007, novelist Isabel Allende talks about writing, women, passion, feminism. She tells the stories of powerful women she has known, some larger-than-life (listen for a beauty tip from Sophia Loren), and some simply living with grace, dignity and ingenuity in a world that, in too many ways, still treats women unjustly.

LINK 

The Leaning Tower of Moleskine

All of my moleskines (at least I think thats all of them...) are out of the boxes and together...and if you pick through the lot you'll see some new ones...

As you can see here...here is the orginal leaning tower...
The Original Leaning Tower of Moleskine

As I look at it now (10 minutes later)...I'm missing some of the larger cahier at the bottom...um...

This gives new meaning to the one with most at the end.....

Lost in Scotland

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Shakespeare's Dilemma

Inspired by the wonderful sketches shared at Moleskinerie, I finally succumbed to buying my first moleskine....without lines. As an ardent disciple of the mantra "stay between the lines" in my journaling over the years, I seem to be more comfortable writing in a ruled journal rather than face the challenge of a truly blank page. Since I paint using words, it seemed unnecessary and somewhat frightening to lose the safety of those lines.

Perhaps it's that bane of all writers, to be stuck "staring at a blank page," that kept me buying ruled journals all these years. Somehow I always count those printed lines as page occupants, thus preventing my mind from seeing blank pages...or perhaps I thought the lined pages more accepting of my handwriting. Working past all that I still hesitated to change my process, even as I purchased my new blue-banded beauty...yet the stirring of my suppressed internal sketcher could be ignored no longer.

The last time I remember using a blank journal was several decades ago while in architecture school at UT Austin. I was a high-school architecture prodigy of sorts, and my initial exposure to "real world" architectural studies was a humbling experience. Blank sketch books were de rigueur of my first architectural drawing class, and while I can't remember the brand, I do remember the frustrations associated with those unruly blank pages. The first day we assembled in a campus courtyard to sketch stately oak trees. When the TA started to define the assignment, it sounded so simple, so basic, so "why aren't we doing some serious sketching." But to our collective surprise, he prohibited us from actually drawing the tree. Our assignment was to draw the voids existing between branches, and thus by sketching the tree's nothingness we'd in essence define its reality. Despite the Zen-like appeal, my logical mind imploded, and noting the expressions of my fellow students it seemed I wasn't alone. After that assignment, I had hoped such absurdity would be atypical and we'd soon be sketching the marvelous edifices that populated the campus. Hope proved fleeting, however, as the following week we met to sketch the modernistic use of brick, tile, and stainless steel in a campus dorm lobby. And as suspected, our Zen TA intoned that we were NOT to draw the walls, fountain, or sculpture, but instead the shadows that defined the space.

Inspired by the wonderful sketches shared at Moleskinerie, I finally succumbed to buying my first moleskine....without lines. As an ardent disciple of the mantra "stay between the lines" in my journaling over the years, I seem to be more comfortable writing in a ruled journal rather than face the challenge of a truly blank page. Since I paint using words, it seemed unnecessary and somewhat frightening to lose the safety of those lines.

Perhaps it's that bane of all writers, to be stuck "staring at a blank page," that kept me buying ruled journals all these years. Somehow I always count those printed lines as page occupants, thus preventing my mind from seeing blank pages...or perhaps I thought the lined pages more accepting of my handwriting. Working past all that I still hesitated to change my process, even as I purchased my new blue-banded beauty...yet the stirring of my suppressed internal sketcher could be ignored no longer.

The last time I remember using a blank journal was several decades ago while in architecture school at UT Austin. I was a high-school architecture prodigy of sorts, and my initial exposure to "real world" architectural studies was a humbling experience. Blank sketch books were de rigueur of my first architectural drawing class, and while I can't remember the brand, I do remember the frustrations associated with those unruly blank pages. The first day we assembled in a campus courtyard to sketch stately oak trees. When the TA started to define the assignment, it sounded so simple, so basic, so "why aren't we doing some serious sketching." But to our collective surprise, he prohibited us from actually drawing the tree. Our assignment was to draw the voids existing between branches, and thus by sketching the tree's nothingness we'd in essence define its reality. Despite the Zen-like appeal, my logical mind imploded, and noting the expressions of my fellow students it seemed I wasn't alone. After that assignment, I had hoped such absurdity would be atypical and we'd soon be sketching the marvelous edifices that populated the campus. Hope proved fleeting, however, as the following week we met to sketch the modernistic use of brick, tile, and stainless steel in a campus dorm lobby. And as suspected, our Zen TA intoned that we were NOT to draw the walls, fountain, or sculpture, but instead the shadows that defined the space.

Inspired by the wonderful sketches shared at Moleskinerie, I finally succumbed to buying my first moleskine....without lines. As an ardent disciple of the mantra "stay between the lines" in my journaling over the years, I seem to be more comfortable writing in a ruled journal rather than face the challenge of a truly blank page. Since I paint using words, it seemed unnecessary and somewhat frightening to lose the safety of those lines.

Perhaps it's that bane of all writers, to be stuck "staring at a blank page," that kept me buying ruled journals all these years. Somehow I always count those printed lines as page occupants, thus preventing my mind from seeing blank pages...or perhaps I thought the lined pages more accepting of my handwriting. Working past all that I still hesitated to change my process, even as I purchased my new blue-banded beauty...yet the stirring of my suppressed internal sketcher could be ignored no longer.

The last time I remember using a blank journal was several decades ago while in architecture school at UT Austin. I was a high-school architecture prodigy of sorts, and my initial exposure to "real world" architectural studies was a humbling experience. Blank sketch books were de rigueur of my first architectural drawing class, and while I can't remember the brand, I do remember the frustrations associated with those unruly blank pages. The first day we assembled in a campus courtyard to sketch stately oak trees. When the TA started to define the assignment, it sounded so simple, so basic, so "why aren't we doing some serious sketching." But to our collective surprise, he prohibited us from actually drawing the tree. Our assignment was to draw the voids existing between branches, and thus by sketching the tree's nothingness we'd in essence define its reality. Despite the Zen-like appeal, my logical mind imploded, and noting the expressions of my fellow students it seemed I wasn't alone. After that assignment, I had hoped such absurdity would be atypical and we'd soon be sketching the marvelous edifices that populated the campus. Hope proved fleeting, however, as the following week we met to sketch the modernistic use of brick, tile, and stainless steel in a campus dorm lobby. And as suspected, our Zen TA intoned that we were NOT to draw the walls, fountain, or sculpture, but instead the shadows that defined the space.

Featured Artist: Paolo Pellegrin

Paolo Pellegrin was born in Rome in 1964, and worked for the French agency ‘Vu’ and the Italian ‘Grazia Neri’. In 2001 he became a Magnum nominee, and in 2003 was accepted as an associate. His first major awards came in 1995, when he was awarded the first prize in the ‘Daily Life’ category at the World Press Photos for his work on Aids in Uganda. The following year the same work won the Kodak Young Photographer Award-Visa D’Or in Perpignan, qualified him for the World Press Photo Master Class, and won a Euro/Fuji Award. In 1997 his first book ‘Children’, shot in Uganda, Rumania and Bosnia was published and he received first prize at the International Photofestival in Gijon for the work from Bosnia. Collaboration with the international medical charity, ‘Medecins sans Frontieres‘ led to his book ‘Cambogia’ in 1999. Learn more.

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Learn more about the new Moleskine City Notebook.

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Dealer List (.pdf)

Discover and join our Moleskine communities on LiveJournal, MySpace,  Moleskinerie FLICKR, FACEBOOK and Meal Moles. Get out - have a life and write about it.

1st Moleskine Page on the First Day of the New Year

From Mary Duan:

"I got to celebrate New Year's Day with an unusual 68-degree day, sun, friends and my new 2008 Moleskine at the beach. I don't know if you can see the writing, but it says "We're kicking 2007 to the curb." It didn't even mind being dropped in the sand a few times..."

More at Mary's blog

©2007 MD

New Year Resolutions

dakegra says:

so, fellow Moleskinerists. What are your resolutions for 2008?

E Journeys:

I dedicate myself to the following for 2008:

* Daily work on Book #6, preparation of Deviations: Appetite (Book #2), and any other work in preparation for Aisling.
* Work on short fiction and poetry projects.
* Reading/Researching/Marketing smaller pieces.
* Keep abreast of literature and involved in SFWA activities.
* Stay healthy: exercise, healthy foods, enough sleep.
* Stay well-grounded for conventions: travel, panels, networking, etc.
* Keep on top of schedules and prioritize!
* Honor the Muse in whatever way She comes, in whatever format.
* Keep connected to readers and get out there.
* Do not be afraid to go for the gusto. Do not fear risk. You only take this ride once.
* Keep persevering and keep the faith! Keep your eyes on the prize and follow the dream.
* Give thanks daily and live each day to the fullest.

Write. Reveal. Bear Witness. Evidence the Human Condition.
Be Honest. Be Visible.
Do What You Were Meant To Do. DAILY.

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Photo: "Well hello there 2008" by Leigh Reyes
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Holiday Notebooks

My husband and I decided to use our creativity to make presents for our many friends - when cash is short, one makes do, and I've been decorating cahiers with images of my husband's paintings for a while now.

We stocked up on cahiers and let loose with papers and paints and glue.

We each did seven notebooks, and we collaborated on two. We covered them with Japanese origami papers, magazine cutouts, paint, some bright thick sticker paper thing (don't know the appropriate name). Some notebooks had the back pocket removed, and the inside covers covered in bright contrasting paper (the yellow and purple notebook on the top left-hand corner has orange and green inside covers). We then covered then in clear stick-on plastic to protect them.

They were well received, and I've no doubt we'll do it
again.

Cheers
Eva

[Note: The notebook on the left covered in red and pink isn't a Moleskine].

Check out her FLICKR photos
1   2
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Moleskine Watercolor Kit

The Watercolor kit was made using the "2006 Daily Diary". I used an Exacto knife, Cutting rail, strong paper glue and some of the blank pages to build up the paper to hold a watercolor kit cut from a travel set I have. The plastic watercolor kit is permanently fixed into the paper box but the individual wells can be removed for changing out new ones. There is a pocket for blotting paper which is the original pocket, as well as a new pocket on top of the original for a metal pan. I have also made a larger pocket next to the color wells to hold two water pen brushes so I have no need for carrying water. The whole kit is held together with the original elastic strap.

This little kit works really well and looks great for when I am out and about with my Moleskine book for the kit lays flat and holds everything I need to be used with my pen and
Moleskine.

Laird Maresch

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Check out his watercolor sketches

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The 2007 Moleskinerie Holiday Giveaways

Here is the last batch of winners for the 2007 Moleskinerie Holiday Giveaways:

RAFFLE DRAW # 5 DECEMBER 29, 2007

GOLD

Number drawn: 4301
Closest Number/below: 4301
Posted by: Angela | December 06, 2007 at 12:56 PM

SILVER

Number drawn: 719
Closest Number/below: 717
Posted by: Sharon | November 27, 2007 at 10:44 AM

BRONZE

Number drawn: 3197
Closest Number/below: 3197
Posted by: Daniel Torrance | November 26, 2007 at 11:49 AM

SPECIAL DRAWING

Number drawn: 190
Closest Number/below: 187
Posted by: Rebecca | November 26, 2007 at 09:19 AM

Thanks to Granny Kass in Peoria, IL., Kate Earnshaw in the U.K. for their enormous help and to all those who joined.

Permanent contest link