Back in May at the National Stationery Show, I got an early peek at the new Rhodia Unlimited notebooks with their Soft Touch cover and sturdy elastic closure. On the surface, these looked really cool, but as soon as Karen from Exaclair (the official US distributor of Rhodia products) handed me one I was immediately impressed by the awesome smooth feeling of the cover. Like I said in the write up of the stationery show, the best way to describe the feel of the Soft Touch cover is to compare it to a sheet of silicone that was lightly dusted with a fine baby powder.
Although these are not available quite yet, today must have been my lucky day, because upon arriving home from work I had an envelope waiting at my door full of Exaclair goods that I had seen at the show, including the Rhodia Unlimited Notebook. As you can see in this photo, the notebook has the classic orange cover, and the inside of the cover is black. In the black version of this notebook the inside of the cover is orange. The sample we are looking at here today is in the squared format, but they are also available in the traditional ruled format.
Aesthetically speaking, another nice touch on the Rhodia Unlimited is that the elastic closure which is usually a solid color actually has a nice striped orange accent running through it. The elastic strap itself is pretty thick and sturdy so I don’t think it will lose its shape or become ineffective at holding your notebook shut.
Besides the strength and quality of the elastic closure strap, the grommets that hold it to the back cover also appear to match the usual high quality standards found in Rhodia products.
Inside the Rhodia Unlimited, you will find 120 pages (60 sheets) of 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ white 80g paper with grid ruling and a double ruled margin at the top. Curiously on this paper, Rhodia chose not to use their trademark light violet ink to make the rulings, and they also opted to use standard perforations, instead of the easier to tear out micro-perforations. Now neither of those two things is a deal breaker for me, however they are definite “nice to have” options in my opinion.
Just like the other Rhodia 80g paper that I’ve used in the past, the paper in the Unlimited holds up well to fountain pen ink, with limited to almost zero feathering and show through, however you will want to keep in mind that many inks will not dry incredibly fast on it. For me the ink drying time is not really an issue.
Overall this is a great little pocket notebook that I think is worth picking up for the feel of the cover alone, and you get the added benefit of the fantastic quality paper and materials that make up all Rhodia notebooks. Next time you are having a stressful day at work, you might just find yourself running your fingers over the Soft Touch cover to relax yourself a bit. I would suggest that you check out the Rhodia Drive Facebook page to keep tabs on when and where you can pick these up once they become available.
