Review by Laura Cameron
Like many of you, I’m sure, I was excited to receive my Hippo Noto in the mail. I ordered the Turquoise A5 with the cream dot grid paper ($33).
When my Hippo Noto arrived, I was first impressed by the packaging. The Hippo Noto comes in a beautiful sturdy black box with a cute belly band. The notebook itself has a leather cover that is soft to the touch and bears the embossed Hippo Noto logo.
The Hippo Noto lives up to its name, boasting 500 pages of beautiful 68gsm Tomoe River paper. The inside covers of the Turquoise notebook are a lovely pale lilac. The inside front cover is plain, but the inside back cover has an envelope folder in the same pale lilac as the front cover, and a turquoise elastic band. Finally, the notebook has two turquoise ribbons.
The paper is luscious. I ordered the dot grid because it’s my favorite, and I wasn’t disappointed. The paper itself is smooth, and my nibs felt like butter sliding across the page. I tried a variety of fountain pens, gel ink pens, fine liners, and I even got out the dip nib and water brush. While there is significant ghosting on the paper, there was very little bleed through.
Overall, I love this book. It will take me a while to work my way through it, but I can see it being an every day carry for all my notes and plans.
Laura is a tech editor, podcaster, knitter, spinner and recent pen addict. You can learn more about her knitting and tea adventures on her website, The Corner of Knit & Tea and can find her on Instagram as Fluffykira.
Jealous! I’m still waiting for mine to arrive. Enjoy it!
I totally agree. I have the lined turquoise Hippo and am using it as my daily journal. It’s going to take a while to get through it, but as it’s such a pleasure to write in, I won’t mind a bit.
How do I find out what the measurement is of the dot grid in the Hippo Noto? I can’t seem to find that anywhere… it looks like it’s a .5 mm. Or is it .37 mm like the Hobonichi?