38 posts tagged “stationery”
It's time to gear up for lots of store visits, there will be a lot of layout changes, one more new store and multiple phases of Xmas promotion happening from this week onward. My gears will change from office setting (mind.depositor, Moleskine diary, fountain pen, calculator, camera) to field setting (pocket Moleskine, camera).
One of the indispensable tool is this "Holder for M" from Vintage Revival Productions. It is an ingenious two piece product made from a combination of leather and denim label material. One piece acts as a holder which allows you to insert your M into your jean's back pocket (8,800 yen), the other is a pen holder (4,500 yen). Both pieces are looped so that you can slide to the front and back cover of you M easily without permanent damage.
Where did I found this you asked? It was last July when I thought I was having the last meeting of a business trip in Tokyo, Mr. Doi from Sweetroad (a great store to visit mind you) told me about Mr. Iwata and his shop Iwata Denki. I had to rush to that store in Setagaya before it's closed. Full of sweat and unable to communicate in Japanese, I was signing and nodding a lot and had a great "conversation" with Iwata san, a designer himself, who published 2 design books called GOALD (goal of design), and constantly working to create new products. Do visit Iwata san's blog to get a glimpse of his works and product collections from his friends.
Iwata san made some very nice leather Moleskine covers. They are like stickers, only in leather, which are removable and probably can last several uses when you change your Moleskine. I was about to buy the brown snake skin embossed or the wood imitation cover but too bad they were out of stock. He also made those cute little leather photo clips which look like smileys, they are put into recycle film cans and sold in stores like Tokyu Hands and Loft.
Iwata san was very keen to show me his collection of great products in the shop, wooden iphone case, his leather credit card holder, coin pouch etc. "Holder for M" was the one thing I got from his shop, then I was out of cash in Tokyo :)
So if you are going to Tokyo, I suggest you to dig up these interesting small shops to go, it is far more rewarding as a journey. As for myself, the connection and sense of discovery always give me the thrill.
The world has become so small now. 10 years ago it seems so impossible but now I'm trading from Hong Kong with Kelly from a horse farm in Walla Walla!
The last 2 days of my family trip we went to Sea Paradise in Yokohama and Kidzania in Lalaport.
Not long ago I said PoGo is No Go, particularly for serious photo journaling people. I decided to use up all the ZINK photo paper and sell the unit fast. Then 5 days ago when I received the self-inking stamps for the Travel Photo Cafe 2009, I played with the stamps on the opposite page of 2 PoGo prints I sticked on my notebook. 3 days later, I found that the colors on the PoGo print faded in areas in direct contact with the stamps!
Took me a few tries to get the right sunlight for a key photo to be used in the Travel Photo Cafe 2009 event (19th June - 2nd July).
Looking at these beautiful masking tapes, can you believe they originated from fly catching paper from 1923? Any company survives over 80 years deserves certain admiration. Kamoi is a Japanese company started to produce fly catching paper in the 20's and gradually changed its business nature to paper adhesive tapes, recently supplying masking tapes for the auto industry.
Thanks to an online friend Kelly who sent me these Gfeller Casemakers' Moleskine case, in pocket and large sizes. I use them every day and I absolutely love them because the appearance changes all the time and I'm often being asked to disclose where I got them. Steve showed me how to customize it using shoe polish to create a distress look.
After secretly injecting my personal interest of photography in our merchandising for the past 4 years, I was finally granted to have such a real section in the new APM LOG-ON store. If I were to propose such section on day 1, it wouldn't be approved, it would be subjected to a series of scrutiny, inquiry, doubts and attacks, eventually became an unfinished project on corporate earth.
I can't believe we have so many new projects, like we are not supposed to rest. I'm all excited about this new store in APM mall however. Talking about 63 shelves and 2900 products for stationery department, a new photography corner (which I'll talk about in the next post), travel corner, cosmetic, fashion food, gadgets, etc. Every single product in the stationery department was hand picked by our stationery team to compose the whole section, only the best, the funniest and the most efficient products are there (well, I did put dozens of low performers there but they are very nice products and thought people would like to explore). It is soft launched today at noon, press tour will be on 19th May 2009 while it will be officially opened on 20th May 2009.
As you all know, Moleskine has been associated with artistic and creative professionals for a long time, but there is the other side of the Moleskine brain that is not being tapped into since the beginning. It is the GTD/Hack/Productivity side of the other hemisphere. So last year I tried to work with Moleskine to generate a brand new promotion about this unexplored terrain. Too bad the content was not good enough so we gave up until this year.
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