Mesmerizing Scripts

Journalize

無論是政府抑或私人企業,近年紛紛在推動辦公室無紙化,完全向數位設備靠攏,也難怪現代人對文具越來越不挑剔。老實說傳統文具在效率方面,自然輸電腦和手機一大截,然而如果你有使用過高品質的文具,例如是用一支鋼筆,在滑順的專用紙上塗寫,隨墨水流淌形成粗細有緻的字跡;而儘管是難以言傳的體驗,但只要有過第一次,往後就很難不沉迷下去,絕對是無法從敲鍵盤、滑螢幕中能獲得的滿足感。

Most offices are paperless these days. Whether it is a private corporation or a government bureau, everything is digitalized, making us less and less concerned about stationary. Truth to be told, old school stationary is much less efficient than computers and mobile phones. Yet, high quality stationary tells a completely different story. Imagine the smooth ink from a fountain pen gliding across fine paper forming delicate cursives. If you have had this experience, it is very difficult to let go of, and it is not something that tapping across the keyboard and scrolling down the screen can replace.

Journalize文簿具社,是香港一家開業於2014年的文具店,多年來主力販賣鋼筆和筆記本。而也許是只做販售做太膩了,日前他們就推出了自家設計的筆記本,使用日本巴川製紙所的52gsm巴川紙,紙質極其輕簿,書寫體驗滑順,但不容易令墨水透背和化開。得益完優異的紙材,寫完滿滿的一頁,看著自己的字體雖然醜醜的,字跡卻擁有亮麗的光澤和深淺變化,還是一件賞心悅目的事。至於封面方面也大有文章,使用的是英國Color Plan的270gsm硬卡紙,卡紙上有白色單線線條,勾勒出香港的地圖輪廓,還醒目地把店家LOGO壓在地圖上,標示出店家所在位置,是個低調又用心的設計,不過更厲害的還在後頭。

Journalize is a Hong Kong based stationary shop founded in 2014, specializing in fountain pens and notebooks. Perhaps the many years of retailing got them to launch their own brand of notebooks. They picked the incredibly thin and light 52gsm paper by Tomoegawa Paper Japan, creating an extraordinarily smooth writing experience yet prevents ink from bleeding. Even without the best penmanship, there is an odd satisfaction looking at a full page of writing glistening on this fine paper. As for the cover, they chose to use 270gsm card paper from Color Plan in England. On the cover, fine lines map out the shape of Hong Kong delicately with the shops logo subtlety and thoughtfully debossed on the map, indicating the location.

店家在印刷筆記本時,找找來香港僅存的活版印刷廠「歐圖印刷」,並使用一台六十年前的老機器,作各種釘裝印刷、燙金和手工線裝等工序。而就像封面印刷這一環,店家在印刷前都要先人手調墨,而且是每張都要微調,可謂是一件費煞心思的苦差,最終的成品倒令人非常滿意。看著筆記本的封面上頭,那個金燙字的LOGO凹凸有緻,令人愈摸愈上癮,而其他方面像紙質也是優質得無話可說。如果最近對筆記本有需求的讀者,不妨可以試試看這本香港出品的,而雖然寫說是鋼筆專用,但沒有鋼筆也可以買,因為好的紙張,就算是用原子筆、鉛筆去寫,體驗還是會比廉價的影印紙要美好得多。

The brand also got Aoto Letterpress – the only letterpress-printing studio in Hong Kong – to produce the notebooks, using a 60 years old machine to bind, print, gold stamp, and then thread bound by hand. Just the cover alone took a village. The studio mixed the ink by hand and adjusted accordingly with every page, only such hard work and dedication yields the best harvest. Gold stamping and logo on the cover is not only mesmerizing to look at, one touch and you’re hooked. For anyone who uses notebooks, try this local brand. Although it’s branded as a fountain pen notebook, it is not a must to use a fountain pen. After all, the experience of writing on exquisite paper is unparalleled, writing on it with a ballpoint pen or pencil would look and feel just as magnificent.

w