In a recent review of our Texagenda planner, a reader from Des Moines, IA, wrote:
“I think it is unfortunate that you do NOT carry the refills at Barnes and Noble, where I purchased my textagenda. If I buy the refill online, it will cost me $4 more than buying a brand new cover AND planner at Barnes & Noble.”
To clear up any confusion, let me first explain that it’s Barnes & Noble who chooses which products they carry—not us. (If it were up to us, they would carry everything we sell!) If you shop there, and you don’t see what you’re looking for, you can always try asking the customer service department.
Secondly, we do take pricing seriously when it comes to our online vendors—though keep in mind that they shoulder an additional expense for the product’s shipping and handling. Nonetheless, we’re going to talk around and investigate rates and carriers…
Looks like I’m not the only one who’s grown irrationally fond of Rhodia pencils. Blogger Michelle Krell Kydd recently posted her own ode to the quirky orange writing utensils: “a pencil for the senses,” as she put it.
As a side note, Michelle mentioned that she thinks “deleted words and phrases from my computer documents are sent to a hidden folder and rearranged to tell a tale I will be held accountable for in the future.” Oddly enough, a friend of mine, an artist, created a computer program that did just that for a piece he made last year—appropriately titled “Lost Words.”
In a recent “Talk of the Town,” playwright David Mamet revealed his dedication to Clairefontaine notebooks—and longhand composition: “I hate the computer… I hate their spell-check. I won’t ever do e-mail.”
(He does sometimes use a typewriter.)
“I’m afraid of only two things,” Mamet said, “Being lazy and being cowardly. I get up early in the morning and go to work.”
Many thanks to everyone who wrote in with comments and questions about our new Habana notebooks…
By way of update, I’d like to announce that we will be importing the French Habana into the U.S. late this fall (rather than manufacturing it here with U.S.-made paper and French-made covers, as we’d initially planned). France, meanwhile, is going to start producing the Habana with 80gr ivory paper, instead of the 60gr they’re currently using. So there won’t be any difference between the notebooks you’d buy here in North America vs. the ones you’d find in Europe and the UK.
Please let us know if you have any further questions, of course!
This time, I’d like to share some work from NYC choreographer Sarah Johnson, who uses journals made by another QV sister company, Exacompta, to record her dances. You can check out a video of several past projects above; more recent videos and photographs of this athletic, fluid work is housed on Sarah’s website.
Do you know of any other cool or unusual artistic projects based on Quo Vadis, Clairefontaine, or Exacompta products? Please share them in the comments!
How cool is this: Karen just sent me a sample of a new product called Exafolio, a nifty little black binder that holds a Rhodia pad (or a President planner), offers 6 slots in which to file papers, and even has a couple of pen/pencil holders and some miscellaneous zippered pockets. I tote it around to meetings and feel like the slickest kid on the block.
It’s currently sold out at Pendemonium and Vickerey, but with enough interest, perhaps they’ll restock…
Once a year, representatives from Quo Vadis-U.S., Canada and France meet to discuss product development, innovations and customer feedback. Over the course of the year, I collect customer emails requesting specific changes and enhancements for Quo Vadis calendar year and/or academic editions.
In the past year, this is what I heard from Quo Vadis customers:
- more space for Sundays
- Executive - add a notes insert or notepad
- Space 24 - need a month-by-month planning calendar for next year as well as the current year
- begin academic planners on July 1, not the end of the month
- want to purchase online directly from us
-Â Â develop a zippered cover style
- want option to purchase a planner made from recycled paper
Anything else? Please let me know. This year’s meeting is scheduled for May 28-29.
I depend on my little Sapa X to help me organize my work-week, but when it comes to weekend planning, I don’t tend to do much more than jot down notes about parties and social engagements.
Many of our readers, however—students in particular—have requested more space for Sundays. Since we just got another email to this effect, I thought I’d reiterate a comment I posted here last fall… There’s good news for Sunday planners: Quo Vadis’s sister company, Exacompta, is currently in the process of finalizing a new format called the Horizon 7, which has a full seven days’ worth of planning space (8 am - 9 pm), a daily contact area, and space for more notes on each page. It’ll be introduced in the 2009 calendar year, so you don’t have to wait much longer!
Speaking of procrastination, here’s a topic I’ve been meaning to blog about for months: the new Habana notebooks, which aren’t yet available in the U.S. (the Euro’s insane right now… we’re working on it) but have already made quite a splash in Europe and on the Internet.
The way we see it, diary-style notebooks are a natural extension of our product lineup; we care deeply about the physical pleasures of writing, and that passion extends to both date- and notebooks. Also, no company has a monopoly on attractive, portable notebooks! Moleskine has wonderful products, and their marketing should be taught in business schools (read more about the company’s history here—contrary to popular belief, modern Moleskine notebooks were first made in 1998 and are only similar to the notebooks used by Picasso, Hemingway, and Chatwin).
When Moleskine moved their production to China, however, we feel that the quality of their paper fell. Our paper, which is made in France by Clairefontaine, is much better, especially for fountain pens.
Personally, I love the little orange Habana that Karen sent me earlier this year. Surely there’s room for both…
2008-2009 Quo Vadis Academic planners started shipping to retailers and college bookstores early last week. They should be on the shelves by early June.Â
If you don’t see the one you want, ask the bookstore manager to order it for you.Â
Our Academic planner sales continue to grow every year, and this year has seen the biggest jump so far, almost doubling the number of college bookstores around the country that carry Quo Vadis.
Retailers located near colleges and universities have also started to stock academic planners in addition to calendar year. Why? Primarily because many college students like to shop off-campus for stationery supplies, local high school and junior high teachers buy them, and other education professionals prefer a pocket or desk calendar on the academic year.
Once a year, representatives from Quo Vadis-U.S., Canada and France meet to discuss product development, innovations and customer feedback. Over the course of the year, I collect customer emails requesting specific changes and enhancements for Quo Vadis calendar year and/or academic editions.
