My first A5 Van der Spek after 7 years of use

I did my original review of this particular organiser in July 2014 

There is also a 'making of post' 

Looking at that post makes me almost feel like I'm back at the workshop in Puttershoek with the Van der Spek family, watching them put together my actual organiser and it drives my memories to remember the sounds and the smells of the workshop. 

I did a post after using it for three years in 2017, 

Almost 4 years further on I was reminded by someone in the Facebook group asking about this particular leather, so it was time to do another update. There is sometimes no short cut to see how a particular leather will withstand daily wear and tear other than actual long term use.

The leather colours are 6202 (Ciocolatio) on the outside and 6208 (Cuoio) on the inside.

Here are the photos taken this week. 

Whilst this particular organiser hasn't been in constant use for the last 7 years, it has certainly travelled a lot of miles/kms. I used it for our North American trip back in 2015. 

The outside has become quite 'shiny' the interior nappa leather shows 'finger scratches' easily as you can see, but these disappear with a gentle rub with a damp finger tip.

The Krause rings are still perfectly aligned and show no signs of any gaps.  

Overall it continues to be a useful organiser. 

Further Information.

Web Site: https://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vdsshop/

Van der Spek Custom Layout Update

In co-operation with Petra Van der Spek, I came up with a new internal layout that I liked better than their standard layout for A5 organisers. 

Here in the photo below is the new optional layout on the left and the normal layout on the right for a Custom A5 Van der Spek.

The first obvious difference is the change to the number of card slots, these are replaced with other slots. 

The image below shows the full internal layout. 

The rear inside pocket arrangement is the same as the normal layout with a full height slip pocket and a full height zip pocket, with the zip on the outer edge so it doesn't get under your pages. 

The new optional inside front layout has:

• Three vertical card slots
• A business card horizontal slip pocket behind that. 
• A deeper booklet slip pocket above the business card slot. 
• Two full height slip pockets. 
• Elasticated pen loop.

The revised front layout has become so popular, it is now an option for all Custom A5 organisers on the Van der Spek website.

Source:Instagram @vdsshop 

You can now specify the 'Steve Layout' as well as Janet Leather! 

Further Information.

Web Site: http://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vdsshop/

Van der Spek Touch Me A5 Manager - Short review

I've wanted to try out a Van der Spek Touch Me A5 for a while, there has recently been a restock and some new releases of the Touch Me range, so I ordered one quickly before they sold out!

The organiser arrived via FebEx quite quickly given the current state of lockdown! 

The Touch Me range is Van der Spek's 'ready to ship' range, you can choose silver or gold rings or size of Krause rings they fit. You can have your initials embossed on the cover. You can also add a flyleaf if you require one, but that is the limit of the options/customisation. 

Otherwise you select the organiser size and colour from a limited range of leather colours and you order it and it will be shipped to you within a few days. 

The organisers are made from leather sourced from a French tannery. They are assembled in a workshop in India that Petra and her father set up a few years ago. They went over there to train the staff in the use of the machinery they had shipped to India. 

The result is that the organisers are made to a high standard from good quality leather and they are then fitted with Krause rings. 

The design is very good, I have 'Touch Me' organisers in other sizes and I've found them to be very good. 

I opted for silver 35mm rings for my A5 Touch Me.

The inside cover and rear cover feature secretarial flaps, and the inside cover continues the full width behind these, unlike on some more expensive organisers where it becomes synthetic leather. 

The inside front cover features one of two elasticated pen loops, a full height zip pocket, a full height vertical slip pocket, two horizontal slip pockets, and a secretarial flap tops this off. 

The rear inside cover has the other elasticated pen loop, along with another secretarial flap which also features six horizontal card slots, with a larger horizontal slip pocket at the foot, and a full height vertical slip pocket. 

The Van der Spek A5 Manager Touch Me doesn't have any stiffener in the cover between the layers of leather, so it quite floppy and soft. 

It also includes a full width back pocket which can hold full size A4/Letter size paperwork. 

I've moved all my pages in, this includes this years and next years diary inserts! 

See the Van der Spek website for full details. 

Thank you to Petra Van der Spek for supplying the organiser for this post. 

Further Information.

Web Site: http://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vdsshop/

My Set Up - 2019

I forget the last time I shared my set up here on Philofaxy. I don't think my set up has changed dramatically in recent years, but I'm often asked for details and photographs of my set up, so here it is.

Currently my sections are housed in these two Van der Spek A5 custom organisers.

On the left is the 'compact' clasp-less A5 with 25mm rings, that was originally created to go with the Gillio A5 outer jacket, but I now prefer to use it on its own, as I will explain in this post. Full details about this organiser are shown in this earlier post here.

On the right is my recent acquisition the custom A5 in Dark Brown and Yellow leather, with 35mm rings. Full details about this organiser are in this recent post.

The contents of the organiser is the key part of my set up. How they are carried in a way is secondary to the contents. So this post will concentrate on the contents rather than the actual organisers themselves.

Splitting up the contents in to sections. It goes like this:

Notes In (Inbox)
This has one or two sheets of the following:

• Blank note paper, ideal for drawings etc.
• Lined note paper.
• To-Do list
• Address/Contact page

I use these for gathering information quickly as it is the front section and I can move the pages or copy the information to existing pages when I have more time. 

Planner

This contains my main Enhanced Time Management Week on Two page planner, which tends to be my main focus on a daily basis. I use this for all my appointments and tasks, reminders, notes of forthcoming things etc. 

Also in this section I have a Month on One Page planner which is only used for planning blog posts here on Philofaxy. I find it easier to plan these on paper rather than looking at dates on a calendar or the edit page. I tend to use pencil to plan these because there is often changes of dates etc. 

To-Do

This section is used for my longer term task lists, I tend to review these lists at least once a month. Tasks are moved in to the planner section as and when the time is right etc.

Notes
I use this section for additional lined paper notes, copies of my blank packing lists that I use for most of my travels. A5 size: Weekend Travel Packing List - .docx .pdf

Information
In here I have the following pages:

• Popular Paper and Page Sizes
• Conversions and SI Units
• Electronic component colour codes
• International Dialling Codes
• Weights and Measures (Conversions) - Old Filofax Information Page
• World Temperature Guide - Old Filofax Information Page
• Clothing Size Equivalents - Old Filofax Information Page
• Map of France including departments 
• London Underground Map - TFL
• London Street Map (A3 size) 
• Local French Road Maps 
• World Time Zones
• Travel Insurance Information

Contacts

I have devised a method of being able to print my Apple Contacts in a suitable format for my A5 Filofax, I don't have every field on the print outs, just Name, Address, Tel, Mobile, Email address. 

A typical address looks something like this:

I will do a separate blog post on how I create these pages if there is enough interest. It took me a little while to get it right and there is some manual editing required. 

Normally all of the sections are kept together in the Dark Brown A5 as that one has the larger 35mm rings. I can carry that if I'm using my laptop rucksack, but I prefer to use a smaller bag for day to day use.

Therefore when I need my planner and I'm just using my smaller messenger bag, I take the first four sections out (Notes In, Planner, To-do, Notes) and put them in to the lighter brown clasp-less A5 which slips in to the back pocket of the bag like this.

As both organisers share the same inside front layout  I can easily transfer any paperwork across easily too.

I don't miss the other sections when I'm using my 'portable' A5 set up, I can move individual pages in to the portable set up, if required, there's plenty of ring space still even with only 25mm rings on the 'clasp-less' A5. 

If you have any questions about my set-up, please post a comment below and I will endeavour to answer them.


Further Information.

Web Site: http://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vdsshop/

Van der Spek - Custom A5 Manager

I weakened... again! Yes I ordered another Van der Spek Custom A5 Manager organiser.

I spent several weeks deciding on the design of this one and Petra Van der Spek was very patient answering my questions about what was possible and what leather was available etc.

So here it is. The details of the leather colours etc are as follows:

	Outside	Inside
Leather	Dark Brown JL 101	Yellow JL 106
Stitching	Ivory	Dark Brown

The Dark Brown JL (Janet Leather) is a reserve list leather. It is a gorgeous vegetable tanned leather. I saw it on another custom order late last year and although I had to wait for Petra to get it back in stock again, it was worth the wait.  I have a similar combination of dark brown and yellow in another leather planner from another brand and I really like the combination.

As you can see from the table above I went for contrast stitching on both the outside and the inside.

On the outside, this Van der Spek looks like any other, there are no alterations or hidden pockets.

The organiser arrived in this very smart black box with their logo in the centre.

And here is the inside of the A5 organiser. I've removed the flyleaf to show you the details.

I once again opted for 35mm Krause rings. Despite pruning the contents of my A5 to the bone, it I put all of the sections in one organiser, it is a little more than a 25 mm ring mechanism can cope with.

The first obvious change is the inside front cover, I opted for the Van der Spek '454' layout, I have this same layout in another A5 organiser and I really like it.

The photo below shows the comparison between the layout I chose compared to the regular one. I don't need that many card slots, I find three slots more than enough.

Looking in detail at the inside front layout, it has as I have just mentioned three vertical card slots. One slip pocket behind those. A slightly deeper horizontal slip pocket above that as well. There are two full height vertical slip pockets as well.

Overall there is an excellent amount of storage in the front cover alone to store maps, brochures, tickets, documents etc. And based on previous experience of this layout I make full use of it.

Additionally there is an elasticated pen loop on the front cover.

The addition of the embossed logo is a nice touch, this was added at my request, but I don't believe it will appear on all custom orders. It is due to appear on the limited edition planners announced at PlannerCon EU.

Whilst in close up, note that all pocket edges are stitched, rather than just cut.

The A5 flyleaf is in the same leathers. One colour on one side.

And the other colour on the other side.

The rear inside layout includes a gusseted zip pocket with a full height slip pocket behind that. There is also the second elasticated pen loop.

I use both loops, one with a mechanical pencil the other for a pen.

I also requested the addition of the full width back pocket. This is useful for full size A4 sheets, such as print outs of travel confirmations for hotels or trains etc. This pocket is very nicely lined too.

The gusset of the zip pocket is at the top and it gives this pocket quite a large capacity as well as making it easy to get things in and out of it. 

The zip has a small leather flap to cushion it and stop it denting your inserts when the organiser is closed. When open it doesn't interfere at all. 

Another requested option was an extended clasp. To make sure it didn't look 'untidy' when the organiser was not so full, I requested an additional popper on the clasp. This seems to work quite well. 

I've seen similar arrangements on other brands, sometimes with two poppers on the cover rather than the clasp 

Thank you to Petra and the team for making this organiser for me.

Further Information.

Web Site: http://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vdsshop/

Van der Spek A5 Manager - 3 years on.

I took my A5 Manager with me to the Van der Spek meet up last weekend. I have had it now for over 3 years, it arrived on 22 April 2014 (after checking the date in my journal).

It is made from Napa leather inside (6208) and outside (6202).

Here are the photos taken when I received it in April 2014.

Petra was quite surprised to see how shiny the outside had become and asked if I had put anything on the outside leather. No, nothing just been handled quite a bit. The outside appears to have got darker in colour, as you can see from the photos below, but this might just be the camera being fooled by the nap of the leather a little.

Here it is now.

Here are it is with some leather samples so you can see a slight difference.

It has not been in constant use for the last 3 years, I do occasionally swap in to other A5's. However, this has been my main A5 for a good proportion of the time. It did all of the USA/Canada trip in 2015 and has travelled with me on most other trips.

These days it serves as my reference organiser, always to hand on my desk with another smaller ringed A5 Van der Spek being used as my main planner.

You can discover more about my A5 Van der Spek organisers by going back through the following posts:

• Van der Spek A5 organiser - review
• How to make a Van der Spek A5 Organiser.
• New 2016 Van der Spek Touch Me Leathers and a Custom A5

Further Information.

Web Site: http://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vdsshop/