On its way to me is this gorgeous Van Der Spek Nomad in standard size made to fit 4 refills. It is a combination of the same red, yellow and green ‘LV’ leather as my three binders. This means I can use it by itself or with any one of the three as a beautiful matching set.
I chose all three colours because I just cannot choose between them – they are all gorgeous! The thread the same colour as the leather because the leather already has patterns on it. I think the red goes nicely with the yellow so I chose red and yellow for the inside and green for the outside. This leather is lovely and soft but durable and does not show marks.
According to the supplier (and this may or may not be true), it comes from a Famous French design house – Louis Vuitton. Big fashion houses often sell overruns or offcuts onwards. Dolce & Gabbano often do this with their leather, as do certain tanneries in Sweden. The leather has had a second hatch added to it, creating a crosshatch/saffiano effect and making it impossible to recognize or sell as LV leather. This is the same as labels being cut off or scored on seconds of designer clothing and accessories before selling them further.
This is the more elaborate of the Van Der Spek Nomads, and can be found here. The specs are:
- Size: 223 x 122 x 35 mm
- Left hand side: 1 full height slip pocket | 2 vertical creditcard pockets | 2 horizontal slip pockets.
- Right hand side: 1secretarial flap | 1 horizontal slip pocket | elasticated leather pen loop
- Van der Spek NOMAD size is compatible with TN cover 210 x 110 size inserts.
There is also a good video made by Petra Van Der Spek explaining the VDS Nomad, how it is made and how it works.
Mr Philofaxy, Steve Morton has a Traveler’s Notebook Times where he has written about his version of the Nomad, in green Janet Leather. The interior and exterior of this one is absolutely stunning. The leather is sublime. Steve, in the article, also describes a little of the background to these notebooks.

Nomads can be made in any of the custom leathers and also in Touch Me leather. For any options not available on the website such as other leathers or more complicated stitch requests, you can contact Petra at website@vdslederwaren.nl – or you can join us in the Facebook group to see other beautiful Traveler’s notebook covers, Hobonichi covers and organisers.
So pretty!
Lovely:)
The Nomad notebook cover is stunning! Thanks for sharing the pictures and information and Van Der Spek rocks for their awesome customer services!
They most certainly do! Thank you commenting!
That is beautiful, what a lot of craftsmanship goes into it! Love the colours, they really go well together.
Thank you!