Nomads on a roll

by Scribble Monboddo
Driving past WOMAD the other day, I realised it was time to review some Nomad - and there two of their books were nestled in my rucksack, having survived trekking around the South West Coastal Path in sweltering heat. They like the outdoors, those notebooks. Here they are hanging-out by St. Michael's Mount, ready to capture the detail if an archangel happens to pop down and visit the mortals - well, one should always be prepared.
These are, as you've probably gathered, books for having fun with. The Sea + Air + Space pack contains three slightly zany themed notebooks, with about five different types of paper each. Now, it has to be acknowledged that this level of wilful eclecticism is going to drive some writers nuts, but I love it; every type of paper included can take fountain pen ink, and there's definitely no mistaking the experience of using one for a day spent at work.
The packaging is brilliantly creative too, with inside covers featuring some expected heroes of exploration (e.g. John Glenn) and some more surprising ones - yes, that is JFK, but remember he was in the Navy before his subsequent career, so fair enough. If you're a true explorer, these notebooks even invite the breaking of that awful taboo; writing on maps. How very dare you?
It's a great package, and for planning or recording some fun in the great outdoors it's hard to beat. So it's perhaps logical enough that Nero has also taken-in a stock of Nomad's Canvas Utility Roll - and promptly sold out of the first consignment, too, but here's hoping that more make their way across the pond.
The name sounds like a tent, and it could probably serve as one for a very small family pet, but its real genius is as a double-decker pen roll. The material looks very sturdy indeed, but that two-ply storage system seals the deal for me, and since Nomad positively encourage breaking the rules I even filled it with pencils to show how it all works.
Clever, isn't it? It's always encouraging to encounter things made by actual designers who think-through the experience of using the product.
But, as the pen roll is out of stock just for now, let's finish with another shot of those notebooks, which want to travel in your pocket to whatever wild corner of the galaxy you have in mind this summer...