Today I got my first notebook: a Moleskine.

Moleskine is the legendary notebook used by European artists and thinkers for the two past centuries, from Van Gogh to Picasso, from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin. I knew nothing about it before receiving this business present today from an "Italian man".

It took me 3 minutes to start getting fascinated by these several notebooks I had in hands for the first time. Yes, I know, I am leaving in a digital world for several years now, and I am writing here about a 2 centuries old paper notebook. But what a notebook... One full of history, one that you can immediately feel as he will never leave you anymore but will capture all your thoughts and ideas. A connection has been naturally build between us. It is something very special. 

To link it back to this blog, there is a great PR story to tell (quote from moleskine.com):

Originally produced by small French bookbinders who
supplied the Parisian stationery shops frequented by the
international avant-garde, by the end of the twentieth
century the Moleskine notebook was no longer available.
In 1986, the last manufacturer of Moleskine, a family
operation in Tours, closed its shutters forever.

“Le vrai Moleskine n’est plus” were the lapidary words
of the owner of the stationery shop in Rue de l’Ancienne
Comédie where Chatwin stocked up on the notebooks.
The English writer had ordered a hundred of them before
leaving for Australia: he bought up all the Moleskine
that he could find, but they were not enough.

In 1998, a small Milanese publisher brought Moleskine
back again. As the self-effacing keeper of an extraordinary
tradition, Moleskine once again began to travel the globe.
To capture reality on the move, pin down details, impress
upon paper unique aspects of experience: Moleskine
is a reservoir of ideas and feelings, a battery that stores
discoveries and perceptions, and whose energy can be
tapped over time.

... 

When you read this, you only want one thing: go to the shop and get one for you. Well at least, this is what I feel I would have done if I would not have had some already in front of me...

But the story goes one step further: this Milanese publisher has had another great idea: Moleskinecity.com: a portal of cityblogs, written by fans of famous cities around the world, sharing their views, addresses, stories and news about these cities they like. Milan, Rome, Paris, Berlin and many others are on air now which leads to this amazing situation: you can have both the paper travel notebook and the blog on your favorite city. The digital and the paper world are connected. You can read stories of the various blogs authors and at the same time, write your own via your notebook, or even participate on the blog to add your views to the discussion happening online. Crazy.

I have to say that I would have loved to be the one behind this concept of integrating in such a perfect harmony the digital and the offline world, this is a fascinating exemple of linking both worlds. And there is still another step further: Moleskine Stories...! Limited print runs and customized editions of Moleskine products produced in collaboration with companies, institutions, and various cultural, entrepreneurial, and social initiatives. Crazy...

I don't think the one who gave me this present knew about the online components of this brand, but I'll double check to ensure I am right. The amazing part of this story is that it is starting from a paper notebook, it's now published on my "online diary", it's a great PR story, and it's going to bring me back to some paper, something that probably no one could have suspected it would happen to me so early... If you add to this the fact that I've been hired here for my"online knowledge", then you have another amazing story for this "business" present...;o)

Thank you for this astonishing present.