I’m not going to lie. If Ink + Volt didn’t reach out to me about their recent collaboration with Kunisawa, I might have missed it. Or even skipped it altogether if I did happen to see it.
Yes, I’m familiar with both brands, and have reviewed several Kunisawa products in the past. Their products are good, but not make me rethink what I already use good. With Ink + Volt, I’ve been aware of the brand for years, but never made the effort to get to know their products better. There is no particular reason why, other than there are a lot of notebooks on the market to discover.
Not long ago, Ink + Volt reached out to me, and other bloggers, to test out some new products on their shelves, made in collaboration with Kunisawa. The Executive Notebook is what landed on my desk, and I’m impressed with what these two brands have created.
You’ll notice quickly that this notebook is plain on the outside. The firm, but flexible, black cover (also available in grey and navy blue) wraps 192 pages of bronze-gilded dot dash paper. It is indeed executive looking, if that’s what you are into.
I myself would have dismissed it on appearances alone if Ink + Volt didn’t send these to me. And that would have been a mistake on my part, because I’m impressed at how good this notebook is.
Looks and construction are important aspects of any notebook, but nothing is more important to me than how the paper performs. Not just with fountain pens, but with any type of writing instrument. Ballpoint, gel, rollerball, pencil, marker - they all need to work well, too. That’s what Ink + Volt and Kunisawa executed perfectly with the Executive Notebook. And that’s what made me see this notebook in a different light than if I were solely trying to judge it on a website.
Every pen and pencil I threw at it behaved perfectly. There was no bleeding or feathering with any of the water-based inks. Gel inks were dark, ballpoint inks were smooth, pencils had some feedback, and markers were consistent. I drew some line art on one page, coloring in some of the areas as I went, with a wide stub nib and Sailor Manyo Yomogi ink. Only one tiny dot made it through to the backside of the page, in an area where I filled in the same square repeatedly.
I used the same setup for the handwritten portion of the review, and never saw a stray fiber runner on the front of the page, nor any bleed through to the back of the page. The paper also allowed the ink to show off shading and sheening properties without an extended dry time.
I’m very impressed with the paper, and the entire setup of the Executive Notebook. Could it be better if I were designing my own notebook? Sure. Whiter paper stock (they call this one cream), more format options besides only dot grid, internationally recognized sizing (this one measures a random 7 ⅛” x 9 ¼”,) and a lower than $37 price tag. That said, the $35 Apica Premium C.D., which is one of my most recommended notebooks, costs more per square inch, and has a flatter fountain pen ink performance (less shading and sheen.)
So what I’m saying is the Executive Notebook from Ink + Volt, with Kunisawa, is a heck of a good notebook. If it fits your style and your budget I think you will be thrilled with it.
(Ink + Volt provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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