Trends in the Field: Upsetting the status quo...

Embossed logo on a Rhodia Webnotebook

Regular readers of Field Notes will know that we've been keeping a close eye on the progression of Rhodia. It's incipient rise to the top of the Australian market is interesting to watch, as one after another gets converted to the Orange & Black.

Image courtesy of An Inkophile's Blog - great reading for fountain pen fans!

The hardest heathens to convert? Moleskine fans. That's why we love anything which compares the two legendary Europeans (such as our 2010 Diary review), a little competitive rivalry can only be good!

Ink on Moleskine paper thanks to An Inkophile's Blog

So I was pleased to come across a great review at An Inkophile's Blog comparing the Moleskine Classic Notebook with the Rhodia Webnotebook. To sum it up - if you use a fountain pen, it's Rhodia hands down. If you like impeccable form, Moleskine takes the cake.

Ink on Rhodia paper thanks to An Inkophile's Blog

Have a read, grab your favourite pen and let us know - which do you choose?

For the record, i have to go with Rhodia on this one...and a Lamy Scribble Ballpoint...

Field Notes Icon: The Rhodia Pad

One of the things we love about the Rhodia Pad is that that's all that needs to be said about it. Those who know and care about paper barely even need to include the Rhodia when talking about it - it's the pad, the only pad they would ever care to use.

And whilst we all have our favourite Pad size (I can't leave the house without a Pad 12 in it's cover, of course), at the end of the day we are all the same - lovers of 'The Pad'.


It's not just the paper, it's the design - the perfect, unaltered since 1934 functional design. In particular (to quote BookofJoe):

"The cover of the pad is indented all the way across in three places toward the top to let you fold the cover up and back over the pad such that the cover sits perfectly square and flat against the top and back. You have to use one of these pads to appreciate the elegance of this feature."


And so we love when our trawls through the great blogosphere lands us some Rhodia love. Check out this fantastic (Part 1 and Part 2), detailed and inevitably glowing review of The Pad thanks to Damaged Goods.'


In fact, these Pads are so good, they're starting to turn Moleskine fans!