For 70 years, Belgian manufacturer Atoma has been making these notebooks/sketchbooks with removable pages.
The binding is kinda nuts: No wimpy spiral wire here, just individual aluminum rings that have not had their centers machined all the way through; the circular plane left in the middle prevents the rings from distorting.
If you want to make your own pages and/or cover, they sell their proprietary punch.
The covers on the ready-made notebooks are made from Texon, a leather and cardboard substitute. "The paper-like material made of latex coated cellulose fiber is waterproof and insensitive to moisture," the company writes. "It is also highly resistant to mechanical stress, and after long use it will not 'deconstruct' into its constituent layers like conventional open edge cardboard."
So what does all this run? At retailer Manufactum:
- A4 notebook, €24,90 (USD $29)
- A5 notebook, €18,90 (USD $22)
- A6 or A7 notebook, €9,90 (USD $12)
If you want to go the DIY route:
- Hole punch, €149,00 (USD $174)
- 24 large aluminum rings, €24,90 (USD $29)
- 33 standard aluminum rings, €19,90 (USD $23)
While the system is pricey and overbuilt, the notebooks are cool as hell. I hate how much I am coveting these.
By the bye, on Atoma's website they offer less expensive configurations with cardboard covers and plastic rings.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Overbuilt Notebooks/Sketchbooks with Aluminum Rings and Removable Pages
I wonder if The Rook & The Raven are licensing this system. Their TTRPG notebooks look eerily similar... https://shop.therookandtheraven.com/