According to legend, when famed travel writer Bruce Chatwin learned that his favorite notebook, a moleskine manufactured by a small company in Paris, was being discontinued, he immediately went to the shop and bought every last one they had in stock. At least he had the forewarning.
I’ve found the perfect little black notebook; in my opinion, the absolute end-all, be-all of little black notebooks. The one I could use forever and never give a second thought to the competition. One that is perfect in size, design, and portability.
So why is my search for the perfect little black notebook going to continue after this entry is posted?
They don’t make them anymore.
I first came across the Mazzuoli-brand “Stifflexibles” when I was living in Bologna, Italy, in 2003. At the time, I had been using the standard Moleskine to keep a record of my travels, and was quickly filling it up. One day, I wandered into a small stationary store and noticed three notebooks on display that greatly resembled my Moleskine – but something was different.
The cover was the same style of rigid, black, oil-cloth cardboard found on the Moleskine. However, there were two vertical creases, which allowed the cover to be bent back. In fact, you could rifle through the pages of the notebook without even opening it. And though the cover itself was certainly rigid and would protect the pages, the creases allowed it to be flexible enough to keep in your pocket.
Impressed, I bought two of the notebooks, but continued using my Moleskine to finish it. Upon returning to America, I gave the two Stifflexibles away to friends of mine as souvenirs and completely forgot about them.
Recently, one of my friends contacted me with the news that he had lost his notebook. He was devastated, not only because the notebook contained a wealth of his ideas and scribblings, but also because he considered it to be the perfect little black notebook. Durable, flexible, portable, and sleek. He wanted to know if I knew where to buy more. At the time, I was growing disappointed with my experiences with the Moleskine, and decided to search for a few more Stifflexibles.
I contacted the manufacturer, Giuliano Mazzuoli, but was disappointed to learn the notebooks were long out of print. So I turned to Ebay and after a lot of searching, found someone who had previously sold a few online. The seller happened to have five remaining copies. Feeling like Chatwin, I bought all five in a heartbeat.
As far as I know, they’re the last five anywhere. But I’m reviewing them with the hope that maybe, just maybe, what Mazzuoli did right with this notebook will stand as a lesson to other manufacturers who can’t figure out how to make a decent moleskine notebook. So pay attention!
First off, the cover – the heart of the Stifflexible. Both the front and back cover have two creases which allow it to bend back and forth, yet with the rest of the cover remaining stiff and sturdy. I simply cannot describe how amazing this system is. It allows portability and flexibility (you can keep it in any pocket, front or back, and not notice it), yet you get all the benefits of the typical hardcover Moleskine. While I liked the soft cover Miquelrius I reviewed last week, it’s just comes off as soft and flimsy when you could have the option of something like this.
Also, it is extremely more organic to use. Unlike the Moleskine, which is very difficult to flip through, the Stifflexible is all about quick access. You can bend it back to rifle through the pages like you would a softcover book and not have to struggle at all.
Simply put, if you have ever wanted to be able to keep your Moleskine in your pocket, or wished there was a soft cover option that was still as durable, you are searching for the Stifflexible. The combination of a hard cover with flexibility: who knew?
The pages are near identical to the Moleskine variety. The lines go to the top of the page (no headers here), the spacing is nice and tight (but not too tight), the page color is creamy, and the binding is of the section-sewn variety, which allow it to be opened flat on a table surface. To add a bit of style, the page edges are colored red, blue, green, or yellow. Use this for a week and you’ll wish the Moleskine had colored edges.
The notebook itself is slightly smaller the Moleskine, and as I have said before, this makes all the difference in the world. This notebook feels like it wants to be carried around everywhere you go. Forget a backpack, purse, jacket, or laptop bag – a pair of jeans and the Stifflexible are all you need.
Like the Moleskine, the Stifflexible has a black elastic to keep it shut and a small folder pocket attached to the inner back cover. However, instead of a ribbon bookmark, the Stifflexible uses a flap of black cardboard to hold your page. In terms of efficiency, this works extremely well – you don’t have to go digging for the ribbon to find your place, and it’s even easier because you can rifle through the pages by bending the cover back.
Sadly, the Mazzuoli design company has set their focus on fine pens and watches, and seems to have moved past notebook design. It’s too bad they didn’t get the distribution that Modo e Modo has had, as I’m sure they would’ve been huge in the United States (an interesting point: according to the pretentious pamphlet that comes with each Moleskine, no new moleskines were made between 1986 and 1998, when Modo e Modo went into operation; yet, strangely, the copyright date on the Stifflexibles is 1997…).
Mazzuoli sent me a 2008 product catalog, in which a new set of Stifflexible notebooks are advertised, but sadly, they’ve substituted the black cover for covers with pictures. It’s too bad that a company that could make the perfect little black notebook has lost sight of what that is. I’m not sure if these new versions are even of the same quality, but I will do my best to track them down when they come out next year and review them. In the meantime, if you’d like to see a return of the original black Moleskine-style Stifflexible, send them a letter to the company urging them to go back into production. Miracles have happened before!
However, I’ve been thinking that all might not be lost. Studying the standard Moleskine, it looks like a Stifflexible version could possibly be made with an exacto knife, tape, and some creativity. If all goes well, I will post a how-to on making your own Stifflexible shortly. Until then, I will continue the search for the perfect little black notebook, knowing sadly that I have already found it, and that it’s not being made anymore.
18 responses so far ↓
1 speedmaster // May 7, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Those REALLY look nice!
2 Top Posts « WordPress.com // May 9, 2007 at 8:02 pm
[...] The Perfect Moleskine (And you can’t have it) According to legend, when famed travel writer Bruce Chatwin learned that his favorite notebook, a moleskine […] [...]
3 Vramin // May 11, 2007 at 3:40 pm
This looks interesting, almost interesting enough for me to take some kind of a roller to the cover of a Moleskine and see if I can recreate the creases. However, what I notice in my back pocket is that it’s the bending of the spine itself that eventually causes the book to break, not the flexing of the cover. Perhaps if the cover gives some it will spare some of the stress on the spine – I’ll have to try it. But the Ru journal, case bound with a soft latex cover, broke at the spine as well, and its cover did nothing but give.
I think I finally found the perfect pocket notebook, and it’s a Moleskine! I have carried both regular and report style Moleskine’s in my back pocket, and the spine broke in both cases. My latest one, which I’ve been carrying for a couple of months not, still has a pristine spine. The answer, while counter-intuitive, is to always put your Moleskine in your pocket with the spine UP, the loose pages pointing down into your pocket. The lower part of the covers bend (gaining “character”) and the pages flex along, but the spine remains virtually untouched.
I won’t know if it was really the right answer until I finally fill it up, but so far this has worked better and lasted longer than any other notepad I’ve carried back there.
4 The Poor Man's Moleskine: The Colored Edge Notebook « Black Cover // May 18, 2007 at 10:20 am
[...] that makes this sort of notebook special. Mazzuoli found a brilliant middleground in their perfect Stifflexibles line, but until that rises from the grave, we’re stuck looking for [...]
5 Giuliano Mazzuoli // May 31, 2007 at 8:32 am
I am happy that you appreciate our products. Let’s play a game. We produce the Stifflexible notebooks and for us to make them with the black cover is easy as snapping our fingers. Our product is entirely made in Italy and not in China like our BIG competitor. Who will help us find a distributor for the US market? Please note that our Stifflexible notebook/agenda book is the best selling agenda book at the MoMA Store in New York City (10,000 units a year). Who will help us find a distributor.
6 Kelly Stinnett // Jul 6, 2007 at 2:48 am
I just found this, and noticed the date, May,2007. Please tell me that you are working on a US distributor. The “Man” himself wrote back, and said they would make them in black. What is happening now? Please let me know, these are fantastic—I do believe you found the perfect notebook. Thanks, Kelly
7 Will the Stifflexible Rise From The Grave? « Black Cover // Jul 10, 2007 at 12:38 am
[...] I reviewed what I consider to be the absolute best little black notebook I’ve come across: Mazzuoli’s Stifflexible journal. The Moleskine-esque cover has two creases that allow it to be folded back, giving the notebook all [...]
8 Phoebe Wu // Jul 11, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I would also love to know if Mr. Mazzouli is currently selling the black cover version.
9 Phil // Jul 22, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I’ve recently obtained one of Mazzuoli’s tarted-up Stiffies, one with a banana on its cover, and I just wanted to record here a brief description. The paper is not creamy, as Nick described the old black-cover to contain, but a very ordinary white. Thicker paper, though, than the Moley, and no bleedthrough with a very wet pen. Not spectacular to write on, I’d say, to be honest, but okay. The cover on this book is more a very dark grey, and the texture seems different to that in Nick’s photos. Finally, the overall look is not, to my mind, as pleasing as the Moleskine’s, and I would even say that the cover seems less sturdy (because the textured layer is glued onto the cardboard and doesn’t wrap around to the inside cover like the M. does). However, time might prove me way out on this durability aspect. That’s it. Just a few odd observations which may or may not confirm Nick’s thought that the quality MAY be different on these new books.
10 Happy Holidays from the new Stifflexible! « Black Cover // Dec 22, 2007 at 5:53 pm
[...] Mazzuoli company in Italy, the manufacturers of the Stifflexible line of notebooks I continually rave about. Over the past several months, there have been rumors that their line was going back into [...]
11 The Stifflexible…Resurrected! « Black Cover // Mar 19, 2008 at 1:53 am
[...] finding the perfect black notebook. I related the story of how I had, in fact, already found the perfect black notebook, but that it wasn’t being produced anymore. The Italian company behind it, Mazzuoli, had come [...]
12 The Stifflexible…Resurrected! // Apr 10, 2008 at 12:58 pm
[...] finding the perfect black notebook. I related the story of how I had, in fact, already found the perfect black notebook, but that it wasn’t being produced anymore. The Italian company behind it, Mazzuoli, had come [...]
13 Happy Holidays from the new Stifflexible! // Apr 10, 2008 at 12:59 pm
[...] Mazzuoli company in Italy, the manufacturers of the Stifflexible line of notebooks I continually rave about. Over the past several months, there have been rumors that their line was going back into [...]
14 Will the Stifflexible Rise From The Grave? // Apr 10, 2008 at 1:01 pm
[...] I reviewed what I consider to be the absolute best little black notebook I’ve come across: Mazzuoli’s Stifflexible journal. The Moleskine-esque cover has two creases that allow it to be folded back, giving the notebook all [...]
15 The Poor Man’s Moleskine: The Colored Edge Notebook // Apr 10, 2008 at 1:03 pm
[...] that makes this sort of notebook special. Mazzuoli found a brilliant middleground in their perfect Stifflexibles line, but until that rises from the grave, we’re stuck looking for [...]
16 The Rhodia Webnotebook: Bad Name, Great Journal // May 20, 2008 at 3:51 pm
[...] webnotebook is definitely worth a test run, and it’s the second notebook after the original Stifflexible that’s made me realize there’s more than one way to skine, er, skin a cat (sorry for [...]
17 Notebook Reviews at Deeplinking // Sep 2, 2008 at 8:12 am
[...] Only available in Japan. Stifflexible by MazzuoliPhoto by Black Cover Hailed by some as the perfect notebook, the Stifflexible was the inspiration behind the Black Cover [...]
18 Mark Wilson // Jan 8, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Any chance of the Stifflexible being available in the UK?
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