Sonnenleder pencil case Berit

17 Comments / Pencil cases, Sonnenleder / / , ,

Today you will get to know my pencil case. I only bought it recently, beginning of April this year, but it is my favourite pencil case so far. I bought it after having used another pen case from the same company for over a year (pictured in the background) and being extremely satisfied with it.

This case, called Berit, is one of many Sonnenleder pencil cases available and is made from cow leather. The leather is tanned using traditional, herbal methods and the cows came from the Allgäu region at the foot of the Alps (I used to go to the Allgäu region in winter). I bought the new pencil case in a small book shop after contacting the manufacturer, Sonnenleder, who gave me the address of this book shop. When I asked about shops that sell their products they also told me that they would ship to me free of shipping costs, because there are no shops near Preston, where I live. I was positively surprised about this because I live in the UK, but they are based in Germany. I assume they will send their products free of charge within Europe, maybe world-wide if there is no shop selling their products nearby, but I have not confirmed this.

The material used is really fantastic. Not only the leather, also the metal zip. The craftsmanship is excellent, too. Unfortunately the case is not exactly cheap. The Sonnenleder cases were actually quite cheap in the past. I bought my first one from Manufactum, but the £/€ exchange rate has changed a lot since then ..it dropped by about 30% and is only slowly recovering. If the exchange rate gets better again I am sure I will buy a third pen case 🙂

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Green Muji A5 notebook

2 Comments / Muji, Paper & Notebooks / / , , ,

Today: another product from Muji. This time a green notebook (item code 8238231). Muji’s UK website advertised it as a notebook with a 100% Cotton fabric bonded cover. With a price tag of £ 6.95 ($ 10, € 8.40) it is not cheap, especially since the main feature that distinguishes this notebook from other notebooks, the cover, is nice, but not quite as nice as “100% Cotton fabric bonded cover” sounds. The paper is white, but not too white, pleasant for the eyes. Writing on this paper using a pencil is great. Using an eraser does not create any problems either. The paper is however completely useless when it comes to writing on it with a fountain pen as it seems to suck ink in like blotting paper, even though the surface is smooth, not rough. The lines get up to four times a thick as on other paper and will bleed through (even when using Noodler’s X-Feather ink!!). This will obviously depend on how wet your fountain pen writes, but even with a dry fountain pen you will not get any joy.

Comparison Muji 8238231 / Rhodia

Conclusion:

A nice looking notebook, but not cheap. If you do not use fountain pens it might be worth having a look. Even though there are so many alternatives it is nice and has the plain Muji look.

Muji Notebook 8238231, Seed Super Gold eraser, Staedtler Mars Micro 775

This notebook is available in white, black, dark blue, light blue, red and green. There might even be more colours.

Price and exchange rates: June 2010

I would like to thank Sean from Pencils and Music for the Seed Super Gold Eraser used in the last photo.

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More East Asian stationery

4 Comments / Paper & Notebooks, Pencils / / , , , ,

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Eco Bridge Paper Pencils. I want to mention a few other things that are being sold in the same shop sell. The items are not exactly cheap, so it is unlikely that I will buy them. This means I cannot write a proper review, but it would be a shame to leave these items unmentioned, as they are unusual and, for lack of a better word, interesting.

If I had to describe the shop I would say it is a shop full of random quirky things aimed at arty, Apple using yuppies. Things are not cheap, but it will be difficult to find them somewhere else. It is a kind of hip and cool version of Manufactum.

Continuing from the Eco Bridge Paper Pencils, along the Korean stationery theme, they also sell Korean ‘notebooks’ (actually what I would call exercise books). They look nice and are labelled in French. Unfortunately importing them from Korea made them cost five to ten times the price of a similar (plain looking) notebook from Europe. If you want a really nice, thin notebook this might be it.

Another product imported from East Asia is a set of 36 squary, coloured pencils from Japan. It retails for £60 and is part of the Düller range. The Düller range also includes a pen designed by Dietrich Lubs, who is featured in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The coloured pencil set is designed by Naori Miyazaki. Unfortunately I was not able to find out more about her [1]I assume it is a female name, except that she is not featured in the Museum of Modern Art. The MoMA online shop does however sell a clock designed by her. Back to the pencil set. There is some rather strange text in German written on this pencil box about combining German taste and Japanese handiness, which looks instantly East Asian because of the character spacing. In different online stores in the UK and Australia the price of this pencil set can vary dramatically. I thought I saw it in an American online store for $96, but I was not able to find it any more to confirm this price.

Also for sale are fairly big animal shaped erasers and Penguin pencils.

You can find more information about the Penguin pencils at penciltalk.

The Lamy 2000 and other products by its designer can also be found in the Museum of Modern Art.

References

References
↑1 I assume it is a female name

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Staedtler Wopex 2B and 2H

11 Comments / Pencils, Staedtler / / , ,

I have been looking forward to receiving Staedtler’s Wopex in 2B and in 2H since I started using the Wopex HB a few weeks ago. Even though writing with this pencil is somehow strange, it is also quite nice at the same time. If the Wopex is not over-sharpened and if you write on the right kind of surface it will perform really well. Another thing I should mention is that the Wopex does not smudge, something I find quite important (others might not care).

Back to the main topic: I received the Wopex in 2B and in 2H and after trying the new pencils for a few seconds I was quite disappointed. Not because they do not perform well (they are nice writers), but because I really struggle to find a difference between the 2B, the HB and the 2H. They lay down a line of the same intensity, they ‘shade’ paper the same way, erasing them is virtually the same and they all do not smudge either.

Is selling the same pencil under different grades some sort of marketing trick?

Did I get a bad bunch?

…or does the production process mean that the different grades of lead are the same at the ‘start’ of the pencil and the real lead will appear after more sharpening?

I would be very interested to hear whether other Wopex users have the same problem.

Comparison Staedtler Wopex / Mars Lumograph

You can find a review of the Staedtler Wopex HB at pencil talk.

Lexikaliker has a review (in German) of the Staedtler Wopex HB (Google Translation of the article into English) and of the Staedtler Wopex 2B (Google Translation of the article into English).

The Staedtler Wopex was recently mentioned in the Battle of the eco pencils post.

My mother bought the Staedtler Wopex 2B and 2H from Bürobedarf Jäcklein in Volkach and sent them to me. At about €1 each they were rather dear, but you can find them cheaper online.

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