Before I start, I have to profusely apologize for the bad quality of the pics. Sweden is so dark at this time of year that it is almost impossible to get enough light for a good photograph. It never gets light beyond twilight and that means it is too light for a flash but too dark for no flash. When there is no snow to lighten things up photos do not come out well at all. So these photos in this post leave a lot to be desired.
My navy blue Kensington from bouteia arrived yesterday. I now have a black and a blue in personal size. I love navy blue binders and I don’t feel there are enough of them. Navy blue is a forgotten neutral and that goes for shoes, boots, accessories and jackets. I feel a bit the same about green but there are way more green binders than there are navy blue.
This is a very dark blue and, apart from the popper looks almost black, so I gave it some contrast by putting it with my black one for some pics.
I cannot praise these binders enough. They are light, well-made, reasonably priced, good quality and very well designed for use as a wallet. There is no stiffening in this model and the rings are always nice and tight because this is an older model. You can find them new for between £11 and £30 on eBay and they are really worth it.
I never treat my binders as handling them and using keeps them in good nick. But this one did need a bit of moisturizing when it arrived which is rare as that almost never happens. I put some beeswax on it overnight and it came up smiling this morning. The only other binder that has needed this treatment has been my Shark Winchester.
That is lovely, Janet!
I am still very much enjoying my black one & everyone liked the leather when I attended the London meet up.
That was very interesting. I agree, navy is quite neglected as a base colour nowadays. I wear navy more than black, it goes so well with most other colours I wear.
I got an old planner very cheaply on ebay a few months ago, made for ‘Next’. Externally it looks (and feels) like a Portland apart from a small metal plate with the store’s name on the front. Internally the layout is exactly the same as a Kensington. I hadn’t realised that until just now!
Ooh you are lucky! It is so nice when things like that happen!
Yes I love navy blue but battle to find it. It is not as harsh as black for very pale people like me but it is so classic and goes with almost everything.
I’m currently looking into getting a deskfax, and one of the ones I’ve seen is a Kensington. Do you happen to know if the unstructured nature of the Kensington binders is common across the different sizes? I did also wonder if it would be worth emailing bouteia to see if there are any NOS deskfaxes lurking in their old stock!
There is no harm trying. A little birdie told me they have lots of new NOS coming soon!
I have Kensingtons in A5 and B5 Deskfax, and both are VERY structured, very much like a hardcover book. Only Personal and smaller are unstructured.
That is nice to know Alan. I love the floppiness of the personal and was considering an A5. I am glad I know now that they are hard as I wouldn’t be keen on one in that case. Do you have any with round corners (if that is not an oxymoron)?
“Round corners” is not an oxymoron – I have two corner rounders and round almost all my page corners. None of my Kensingtons are the variety with the round corners.
As I have posted before, the difference between the brown and burgundy Kensington is quite subtle and needs good light to photograph well. That makes two pairs of colours of Kensingtons that are like that.
Your navy blue is a lovely planner.
Thanks for that Alan – winter in Sweden is definitely not that time then!