14 aprile 2021

swish swash [add a flourish to your book refill]

Hi there,

You often hear me say I hope our products make you unfold your creativity and spark your joy. These are not just words! I'd like to share with you what I see when I hand a paper republic notebook to an artist for the first time - in this little behind the scenes story:

I recently brought our brand new book refills [xl] to our friend Natascha, a well-known calligraphy artist in Vienna. Some of you might know her as "Tintenfuchs".

I love that moment when an artist feels and smells the paper before gently packing it into their grand voyageur (Natascha has a grand voyageur [xl] in petrol).

Then, the real magic starts when Natascha takes out her ink and feather and fills the pages of her plain book refill with her calligraphy art...

Not long ago we paired up with our friends at PERGRAPHICA® to select the smoothest and most enjoyable 120gsm design paper for our new book refills [xl] series.

Natascha was an immediate fan: The books open flat, which is one of my top priorities in a journal. When writing, I don’t want to have to use my other hand to hold a book open. I also love the quality of the paper. It has just the right amount of tooth, there’s this tiny amount of resistance to the pointed nib, which I love. It’s still smooth enough for fountain pens and it doesn’t bleed through.

I studied information design and was always interested in letters. Many of my peers got into font design or lettering, which wasn’t quite what I wanted. While researching techniques I stumbled upon pointed pen calligraphy and immediately fell in love. Once I picked up the pointed pen, I couldn’t stop.

Natascha uses a pointed nib in an oblique penholder and hand-mixed gold ink. The pigment dries on top of the paper, giving it a lovely, raised effect.

See more details of Natascha's book refill calligraphy magic in this little video here.

Now tell me, how do you unfold your creativity on paper? I'm curious to find out...

From Vienna with love,