For almost 20 years I work as an illustrator and graphic designer.
Each new project starts with sketches in my notebooks. To record any idea you need a good support to write or sketch out.
Over this time I have tried all kinds of notebooks; everything from cheap school notepads to premium class planners. One day I realised no notebooks existed to meet these conditions, so I created my own. The Soumkine Notebook.
Furthermore, I created a stationery company Soumkine that focuses on high quality hand-made notebooks with premium paper.
Soumkine — It's my last name in the French manner. It pronounces as [sum’kin].
P.S. Next time I will tell more about the Soumkine identity and especially about the logo. But today I can't wait to present the last collection of "A5 Slim" notebooks. By the way, they are all available in our online shop Soumkine.com, so don't miss out!
So, here is the new collection "A5 Slim" created and produced by my team and I in our Parisian studio. Each notebook is thread bound. It has 64 pages of ivory premium uncoated paper and a textured soft cover.
Label design is hand-drawn by me and inspired by XIX century graphic arts and typography. This is my favorite time when the old masters were spending a lot of time on every detail.
I believe the insane attention at every stage and high quality materials make our notebooks very special!
Features
• It comes in five colors. Cover paper has a lovely embossed texture on the outside and is smooth on the inside.
• Classy thread binding matches the color of the cover.
• 64 pages of ivory premium uncoated paper. It’s lightweight and resistant. The ink doesn’t bleed through.
• Dimensions: 11 x 21 cm (4.3 x 8.3 inches). Can be used as an insert or just as a stand alone notebook.
Cover color: Scarlet
Citrine
Mid Green
Smoke
Imperial Blue
• All notebooks come in four versions:
— Plain,
— Ruled (Line spacing: 6 mm),
— Dot-grid (Line spacing: 5mm),
— Squared (Line spacing: 5mm).
For each version I hand-drawn a label with information related to type layouts and colours. I got 25 of them. Well, next time I plan to digitalise all letters and simply create a font face.
Here is a few drawings to show how I work. No Wacom or iPad Pro + stylus at all, pens and paper only! Still in love with traditional old school style.
And a few words about the paper we use in our notebooks. This is a very interesting story. We currently work closely with one Italian paper company who happened to be a supplier for one big business player in stationery industry. A couple of years ago, this big company moved its production to China and started making their own paper. Well, good for us! Our tests have shown that the Italian paper is much better: It’s lightweight and resistant. And the ink doesn’t bleed through.
