This Embossed Campus Notebook was an entry of the 2015 Kokuyo Design Awards. Each of the ruled lines on the model submitted for final judging was created by hand by the creator Takashi Kubo. The amount of time and effort that went into creating it even made Mr. Kubo himself remark that he “will definitely not want to go through it again”. It did win him the 2015 Merit Award. 

His protoype was rated highly not only due to the beauty of its minimalistic design that only retains the bare essentials, but also as a design that gives new value to notebooks that goes beyond convenience.

The designs on this notebook are expressed solely through embossing instead of printing. While regular notebooks are printed on large rolled paper, the Embossed Notebook requires ruled lines to be carefully pressed onto each page and cover page. They have to be perfectly aligned. With the large surface area of the B5-sized paper, the Kokuyo team had doubts as to whether the pressure was adequate for the finer details, and how much of the finer details could be expressed. While the commercialization project for this design started amid much anxiety, the first prototype surprisingly exceeded all expectations. It was a new type of Campus notebook that had a completely different expression from usual commodities.

The designs on this notebook are expressed solely through embossing instead of printing. You can also feel the movement of the light falling on the pressed ruled lines.

Details:
Measures 17.9 x 25,2 cm
Won Kokuyo Design Awards Merit Award in 2015
Made in Japan

Kokuyo Design Awards: Making things from the perspective of the people who use them.

"Kokuyo Design Award" started from 2002 and aims to make commercial products from the entries. From the award-winning artwork in the past, a total of 18 entries have gone from the contest to the market.

Kokuyo

sk a Japanese person and chances are he or she has used a Kokuyo Campus notebook throughout his student years. In this Kokuyo is a big name, but it goes beyond this. Kokuyo was founded in 1905, soon becoming the industry leader in paper products (from account books to letter paper, forms and notebooks). In 1960 Kokuyo has ventured into a transition "from paper to metal", producing their first filing cabinet. With the economy of that day and age (increasing complexity of administration x economic growth), there was a growing demand for know-how (filing systems) and office supplies (paper products) to manage the ever-mounting pile of paperwork effectively.

Kokuyo x Misc-store Amsterdam

Imagine an Office Depot catalogue, ranging from office supplies, filing system to facility management. Think of the total number of brands and suppliers in this Office Depot catalogue. Kokuyo's Catalogue is exactly this, but all items fall under their own brand. The product range is huge.
Here in Amsterdam, we flicked through the pages of this catalogue, in awe of its magnitude, smiled by some smart office solution and stationery items and surprised by the variety of products. From this catalogue, the Think of Things selection in their Harajuku, Tokyo store, and the Kokuyo Design Awards, we realized Kokuyo is true to its heritage, but also constantly thinking and moving forward.

At Misc-store, both in our Amsterdam shop as online, we proudly carry some of Kokuyo's earlier steel desk items. The designs have not changed since their product launch. We also carry their famed Campus notebooks and some of their contest to market entries form their Kokuyo Design Award, such as the beetle tip marker and the Kadokeshi Eraser.