Overall rating
Size: | A5 |
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Colours: | Black |
Cost: | $50 AUD |
Personalisation: | No |
Country: | Sweden |
Available from: | http://www.kikki-k.com |
For: | Minimalist Swedish design, fantastic notepad, back cover pocket |
Against: | Blended leather missing top-grain character |
First Impressions
We enjoyed venturing into our local KIKKI.K stationary store to find this A5 Notebook. The packaging and presentation on this notebook is perfect, and the Swedes haven’t missed a beat in making you feel like you’re opening something special for the first time.
KIKKI.K refers to this a genuine leather product on their website, however, this journal notebook doesn’t look or feel like the real deal. It’s alike many similar products you’d see in a large stationary store or newsagency, and has more of a synthetic feel. This KIKKI.K leather journal is definitely sporting what’s called a thin “blended leather” outer cover.
There’s a contemporary zig-zag pattern printed on the inside of the leather journal covers and it’s quite mesmerizing in a good way.
The stitching and finish quality on this journal is perfect, and the team in charge of quality control at KIKKI.K are doing a great job.
While the front inside cover pocket is standard for many leather journals we’ve reviewed, we were impressed with the outside back pocket design. There’s also an elastic pen/pencil holder along the outside vertical border.
Finally, there’s the metal “K-Stamped” button which secures the closing strap. This is refreshing after the “pin push” straps on basically every other notebook we’ve ever seen.
1 Week Review
This leather journal is a solid performer during everyday use. The pages are comfortably lined (with tiny dots) and there’s a simple Subject & Date section atop each page.
The internal notebook pages are a brilliant white, which is different to many of the cream ‘parchment’ coloured paper in other leather journals. The morning glare off these pages is a little testing, but that’s neither here or there.
You can see from the photos that the outside back pocket is well constructed. You’ll have to be mindful that unless they’re tucked right away, whatever documents you place in here are exposed and can be damaged. There’s also an internal pocket inside the front cover to save the day!
One afternoon a slightly uncoordinated table waiter spilled some water on the back cover, and safe to say it ran straight off without any damage to the outer leather or notebook pages.
The KIKKI. K leather journal’s minimalist design flew right under the radar as far as attracting any attention in a corporate setting.
Criteria Review
Quality
Features
Usability
Charm
Value
OVERALL
7.6
“Presentable, reliable and easily useful on a daily basis”
Conclusion
Purists may be annoyed this product isn’t wholegrain leather and its textured finish has more of a synthetic feel to it. There are also those who will celebrate the sleek minimalist design and usable features, in a journal notebook that will do everything they need it to do. At $49.95 AUD it comes in at a good price point, and the KIKKI.K fan-base of school kids, university students, and young predominantly female customers will enjoy this product and its Swedish pedigree!