Review by Laura Cameron
One of the items Ana brought home from the LA Pen Show for me to review was a new offering from NAVA, the NAVA Design Haiku Notes – A5 Notebook (240 pgs, $12.00). At first glance these notebooks are simply stunning. Ana brought me the Amethyst color, but the Haiku also comes in Blue and Black.
But the cover isn’t the only thing that’s eye-catching – the paper inside is a gradient as well. The paper starts at a deep pinky purple at the center spine and fades out to white at the edge of the page. On each and EVERY page.
The cover is white cardstock, with matte lamination and an embossed Haiku logo. My notebook is A5 (although B5 and pocket sizes are also available), and measures 5.9 x 8.3″ (15 x 21 cm) with 240 pages of 100 gr/m paper. So let’s talk about this paper.
Of course, one of my first questions is always whether the paper is fountain pen friendly. The answer, in this case, is mostly. I qualify with mostly, because near the center of the book, where the gradient color is the deepest, the paper doesn’t seem to take the ink quite as well as elsewhere. It feels like the fountain pen ink is sitting on top of the printed ink on the paper and I notice a bit of spotty coverage, as if you were trying to write with fountain pen ink on a glossy surface. I did let the ink dry, however, and it did seem to dry fairly quickly and didn’t smear on the opposite page when I closed the book. So I’d say you can use fountain pens in this book, but you may wish to stop a bit shorter of the center.
The remainder of my testing was with a variety of fine liners, gel pens, and of course a Sharpie!
I will say that there was no bleed through on anything except the Sharpie. Even the ink on the bottom right, Robert Oster Fire & Ice in a medium nib, didn’t bleed through. There is a bit of ghosting, but the camera didn’t even pick it up.
This journal is eye-catching and fun, and a great price for a thick notebook with some wow factor. I enjoyed using it and will be incorporating this beauty into my daily musings. If you’re interested check out Amethyst and the other colors (and other sizes) at Vanness!
DISCLAIMER: The notebook included in this review was provided to us free of charge by Vanness for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Does it lay flat?