Cordwain Higgler organiser review

Following on from my previous introduction to the company, Cordwain Higgler (run by Guy and Pat) kindly loaned me both a pocket and a personal organiser to review. On opening the packaging, the first thing that I noticed was the wonderful smell which reminded me of horse riding tack. The organisers were nicely packaged in white tissue paper in a hand made velveteen pouch. These are made by Pat and can be either plain or with an embroidered flower sewn on.

Each organiser comes with a starter pack of papers (40 sheets printed on 100 gsm recycled paper) which includes address, name and number, to do, notes, lined and plain inserts.

Other specialist inserts are available to purchase separately for the gardener or wine taster and cost £4.00 each.

First up is the personal size organiser with a Napoleonic bee design in cordovan colour. The colour is a rich dark brown with burgundy and red in it as well.

The main body of the binder is made of one piece of 2 1/2 to 3mm leather, with no padding or cardboard, as you can see from the plain inside.

There are no pockets in the interior, but as the leather is quite substantial I think that they would probably add too much bulk. The finish inside is fairly smooth and this one had some slightly rougher areas, which I would guess come from the grain of the leather. The ring mechanism, pen holder and front loop are attached with brass rivets. The ring mechanism, made by Bensons, has a nice loud snap on closing with no gaps or misalignment. The personal ring size width is 22.5 mm.

The pen loop is again made from one piece of leather and has quite an interesting design.

The leather has a slot cut out of it and then it feeds through itself to loop round to allow a pen to be inserted. This means it's not fixed and can be adjusted in size, so that my chunky Lamy Safari will fit. The end of the strap feeds through the loop on the front and the nicely snug fit would do a good job at keeping the organiser closed. I think due to the size of the loop you'd probably need to use top tabs as it sits closer to the inserts.

I was also sent a pocket organiser with a dandelion design in the buckskin colour.

Out of two colours, this is definitely my favourite. It's a warm golden brown which is a little less orangey in real life. Again the pocket mechanism is perfect with 18mm ring size width. The leather on the pocket is less lined than on the personal.

I really like the rustic simplicity of these organisers, and it's possible to personalise your binder or pick another colour or design from their different items on the website. Due to the amount of interest they have been receiving, any organiser requiring personalisation will be made to order with a wait time of 4-5 days for shipping. Neither of the organisers lay flat out of the packaging and I asked the owners if they knew if they would over time. The answer was that the leather will soften over time, but unfortunately they couldn't give a definite answer on that. However, I like them so much that I think I'd be willing to find out.

Here are some other examples of their binders.

As a special offer valid until 31st December 2013, enter the promo code PR1 at the checkout to get 10% off your order (postage not included in discount).