Review: Maruse A5 Leather Journal Cover

Review sample provided by Maruse

Maruse is a company that sells leather products made in Italy. They make portfolios, desk accessories, document holders, wallets and corporate gifts.

I've received a leather journal recently from them for review purposes. The price is USD 75 and it comes with a ruled notebook. There's mention of free shipping for purchases above $85 but that probably applies to USA.

The leather journal comes in five colour options: rope, black, burgundy, brown, blue. The one I have is Rope. The journal definitely looks well made.

The leather has this obvious grain texture which surprised me as I was expecting something smoother where the grain pattern isn't that visible. It is listed as pebbled leather on their website though.

The stitching looks perfect and durable.

The leather journal together with included notebook looks thick.

The included journal also has some sort of leather cover, but the surface is more cloth-like.

The notebook is only available with ruled lines, so no blank pages.

I prefer blank pages but I'll have to make do with drawing on lined pages.

The paper quality of the notebook is good. Fountain pen ink works well, and lines are solid. There's a certain satisfaction looking at the wet ink dry, so ballpoint pen users may not get the same satisfaction.

There's no mention of the paper weight on the website. From what I can see, the paper is not too thick, and seems to be the typical weight of writing paper, so maybe around 70gsm. I can see the ink impression from the previous page but it's not too distracting.

I'm using this journal to keep track of little miscellanous items that I buy. It's a fun project. The included notebook is quite thick so this will take a long time for me to fill up.

I've tried putting a hardcover A5-sized watercolour sketchbook in the journal but the cover cannot go into the back pocket. So instead I had purchased an A5-sized watercolour booklet which fits nicely. Then I realised if I am to use watercolour, the journal will likely be stained with watercolour paint and water.

Availability

This leather journal is available for sale from the Maruse online store.