Faber-Castell organiser review

In this previous post, Steve discussed other brands of ring bound organisers and I found that I hadn't heard of most of them. As mentioned on my own blog, I have recently agreed with Cult Pens to write some reviews for them and I jumped at the chance to receive a Faber-Castell organiser to cover for Philofaxy. Wikipedia says that the company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of pens, pencils, office and art supplies, as well as high-end writing instruments and luxury leather goods. I'd only heard of the brand due to browsing lovely pens and pencils online (normally out of my budget range) and had no idea that they made organisers as well. More details can be found here about the company. Thank you to Cult Pens for supplying this review sample free of charge for me to post about.

This model is the pocket organiser in orange patent Italian calfskin leather, and it also comes in other colours and sizes. The first thing that I noticed when removing the organiser from the box is the colour! I love the intense orange, but I'm aware that it might not be to everyone's tastes and it may be more aimed at female customers.

I was trying to think of how to explain exactly what the colour is like and then remembered we had some oranges:

These organisers lie flat out of the box as the spine is made from a separate stitched piece, and I think this is something that Filofax could consider more in their design process as 'flatability' makes a big difference as you're all aware. The brand name is embossed into the leather and on the press stud, and the clasp feels bigger to me than on most Filofaxes, but I like it. The spine and the interior are made from non-patent black leather, and I like the contrast as it may have been a bit much all in bright orange.

On the left there are six credit card pockets (cards fit in vertically) with a full-length pocket behind. and the left-hand side has one pen loop which will accept full-size pens! (yes, you read that right)

One thing that struck me when opening this was that the paper size seems small in comparison to the size of the organiser. I think this is as more space is needed to accommodate the larger sized pen loop. For a comparison, the dimensions are 110mm x 155mm, compared with a pocket Malden at 115mm x 147mm.

And onto that pen loop... I searched through all my pens, trying different ones in turn and they all fit including my Lamy Safari fountain pen! This may be a bit of a revelation for any owners out there trying in vain to squeeze their favourite pen into the normal skinny Filofax loops. You can see that the extra space means that my Lamy fits well and doesn't poke out of the bottom or the top.

Inserts included are a transparent flyleaf, a ruler, year overview calendar, 2 pages to the month diary, address book (ruled A-Z sheets) and ruled paper.

I have small writing but think that 2 pages to the month would be too limiting, so I picked up a cheap Collins week on 2 pages and that looks much more usable. The paper size is 81mm x 120mm, so normal pocket Filofax refills will fit.

I could see the Faber-Castell working well as a wallet-organiser combo with the inclusion of a zip-lock envelope or pouch and maybe an additional credit card holder insert. My only concern is how well the patent leather would cope with being chucked into a bag regularly or being used on a daily basis. I like the styling of this organiser which feels modern with its simple lines, and that it lies flat out of the box and can accommodate any pen in the loop.