FACTOR168 » Moleskine http://factor168.com Creative Event Company Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:35:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Romantic Process of Creative Writing http://factor168.com/2009/romantic-process-of-creative-writing/ http://factor168.com/2009/romantic-process-of-creative-writing/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:21:49 +0000 Darren Kerr http://factor168.com/?p=3755 I suspect the popularity of the yellow legal pad and the Moleskine is the seemingly romantic connotations they associate with the act of scribing, scribbling,  writing, and creating. True but I do draw the line at quills.

From the New Yorker online magazine comes an interview with writer John Hodgman. He provides an interesting insight into his own personal romanticism of the writing process featuring… you guessed it, the Moleskine.

moleskin.jpg Actual ideas come away from the desk, typically. While walking through the park or talking aloud in the shower. When water damage is not at issue, I will carry an actual Moleskine with me, because they are very handy, with their nice stiff backs, and I am a cliché.

Then I go to the desk and do what all writers do: get stupid, and attempt to transcribe those brilliant radio transmissions they received at one point but now can barely remember.

Occasionally, through this process of tricking oneself into just typing words, the radio transmissions will start again, and will align with the typing, and that is the best feeling in the world.

Moleskines as Functional Art.

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]]> http://factor168.com/2009/romantic-process-of-creative-writing/feed/ 0 Moleskine – Essential tool for creative scribes http://factor168.com/2009/moleskine-essential-tool-for-creative-scribes/ http://factor168.com/2009/moleskine-essential-tool-for-creative-scribes/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:47:31 +0000 Darren Kerr http://factor168.com/?p=3486 There are a number of different ‘tools’ we like to carry with us during our day – from meeting to meeting and from gig to gig. A smart phone with GPS on-board, a collection of black ink grip Sharpie pens, a charged iPod, a head full of event ideas, and a Moleskine to keep track of them. Moleskine? No skinning of moles involved I can assure you.

The Moleskine (pronounced as mol-a-skeen’-a) is a notebook made with an oilcloth-covered cardboard front and back cover. The best one’s also have an elastic band to hold them closed, a sewn spine so they can lie flat when opened, an expandable pocket (for receipts n’stuff) inside the rear cover, a ribbon bookmark and rounded corners. That’s a Moleskine.

yellowpadandpen 120x90 Moleskine Essential tool for creative scribesSome creatives that I respect can take or leave a Moleskine. Some prefer color as a creative tool. Paul Kenny, a dear friend of mine who is an Australian Events elder and currently serving as an executive director at George P Johnson is adamant that yellow legal pads are the go.

Why yellow?

Well it has been said that the color yellow is more intellectually stimulating.

And I guess from a practical perspective – the yellow paper when compared with white seems to produce a less ‘painful’ glare and is therefore ‘easier’ to write on. Perhaps. I don’t really know about that. I do concede that black ink on white paper in terms of contrast is certainly more harsher than perhaps black on yellow.

I’d read somewhere that creatives (including of academics and of course those from the legal fraternity who share/tell/create stories for a living) like yellow pads because over time white paper ages and becomes more yellowish in appearance. The thinking being that if it is already yellow then what is written on it has also aged or is ageless – depending on your perspective.

Personally I don’t like yellow legals pads for two very practical reasons. The traditional yellow legal pads are bound with red glue and as a result I am forever losing pages and the second reason, these days they are not as easily purchased as other stationary products. Tools should be easily accessible and always at hand. If not then they are not tools but toys. That’s my take on it… but I am adaptable.

The modern Moleskine products are assembled and stitched in Italy despite being printed in China. I don’t get that but there must be a reason not to print and bind it at one place… perhaps having an Italian association makes it easier to charge more… like other luxury products made in China and marketed in Italy and France.

Moleskines are stitched. This means I ain’t going to lose a page. Sure I’ve losta  whole book, but not a single page.

And I can purchase them at any good stationary and at most airport terminal news and books outlets. If you really want to quench your curiosity about these books – check out their website and the full range at Moleskine and drool.

But is a Moleskin essential to the creative process? Or for that matter a yellow legal pad? Perhaps we are simply guilty of indulging in the romanticizing of the creative process itself.

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