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Super Normal Notebook and Paper


arcfide

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Hello all:

 

I've been recently inspired to explore pens, inks, and paper through the eyes of Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa's concept of Super Normal. This started because of the recognition of Jasper Morrison's design of the Lamy Aion as his attempt, I think, to create something that will prove to be Super Normal. I think you could maybe find some other examples of pens and inks that might be considered Super Normal, but in this thread, I'd like to explore something that I feel is a little harder: Super Normal notebooks and letter-writing paper. 

 

In my mind, there are three functional categories of paper that I care about: notebooks, loose paper/writing pads, and letter writing paper. Each of these is slightly different in terms of their function and purpose. I'm finding that while I can feel pretty confident about what I think are good examples of Super Normal pens and inks, I'm not quite as confident about paper. To my mind, the paper can't just be "typical" paper in the sense of the cheap notebooks that are around because such notebooks are not fountain pen friendly, and thus they fail to actually be fundamentally and foundationally useful and fit for the purpose, which I think is a requirement for something to be Super Normal. 

 

Some candidates for standard paper pads I think might include Rhodia and Kokuyo Report pads. I think both have a sort of quintessential essence to them but that elevate what might have been the archetype to something just a little bit more, but I'm not sure if, for instance, Rhodia goes too far.

 

For letter writing, a major element that I think might take the classic archetype into that next "new normal" is a recognition of the shift in what letter writing means. It's much more personal now, in a way that it wasn't years ago, and I think that means that the experience of the recipient is as paramount as anything else in the whole process. To that end, I think something like the Strathmore Writing pad or the G Lalo Verge de France paper, both of which have cotton and texture and presence in a subtle way for the recipient of a letter might qualify, in that they are not only signaling the modern romance of letter writing, but are also pulling from the classic motifs of the past, such as Laid texture and cotton rag content. But another part of me wonders whether this goes too over the top for this category? Is the paper starting to become too special? On the other hand, when I think of "letter writing paper" the classic, quintessential example to me is that of laid cotton paper. 

 

Now, notebooks are even harder. What *is* the classic notebook? What is the archetype of a notebook? What gets you from there to Super Normal? I think in Japan it's a little easier. Kokuyo Campus notebooks are fundamental icons along with Tsubame Notes. IMO, bar none, these are *the* notebooks. In some sense I think they've transcended what it even means to be a basic notebook and they've become fundamentally integrated into the very fiber of certain aspects of Japanese culture (as visible from the outside at least). It's hard to argue that a Kokuyo Campus notebook, whether the High Grade or not, or the Tsubame note, don't at least have something of Super Normal status in Japan. Most of the other big notes, such as Apica CD (standard and premium) and LIFE noble notes are riffs on the Tsubame Note. And notebooks like the Oasis Profolios or Stalogy 016's are also riffs on either the Tsubame or the Kokuyo Campus. 

 

But what about areas like Europe or the Americas? I think you could maybe make the argument for the spiralbound notebook, the Moleskin, or the composition book. I think in some ways, I feel like the Moleskin has achieved something more than the composition book or spiralbound notebooks have, but I'm not sure if the Moleskin pattern notebooks have reached a point of Super Normal. A Leuchtterm1917 seems pretty close. 

 

I'm not really sure that any of these really count, though. Thoughts? Suggestions? Anything you disagree with? 

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As an example of a class of items that I'm not sure count as Super Normal, consider Midori MD. They're definitely minimalist. They definitely take the notebook and reduce and refine it down to its constituent parts. If Super Normal can be considered lacking in definted style, identity, originality, and remarkableness, do the MD books and pads pass that definition? There is a sense in which the style of the notebooks is to remove the styling, and to eliminate the strong identification. Some people might remark that the MD notebooks lack remarkableness and originality, and maybe that seems right, but at the same time, is that overt minimalism *too* much? Does it lose something? 

 

LIkewise, is the Tsubame merely historically significant, and no super normal, since it is demarked and identifiable through its unique attention to vintage styling? 

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