The Midori World Meister’s Note series features collaborations between Japan and other countries. The Dainel is the first in the series which Midori describes as ” A marriage of French leather paper and Japan’s MD paper, developed for the best writing comfort”.
Let’s start with the cover and then make our way inside. The cover is made in France out of “French leather paper” and according to the packaging:
“[Dainel] stands for ‘suede’ in France. In a town some 200 km east of the capital, Paris, 30 years of experience with suede work have created a one-of-a-kind technology unique in the whole world. This unique technology has crystallized in this gorgeous leather paper.”
To me the cover looks a bit like suede but I was disappointed when I touched it; it feels like a mediocre felt. The more I use the notebook the more I like the cover; it is a lot nicer than a paper cover but it certainly isn’t leather. The cover has “Dainel” pressed into the front of the cover and “The World Meister’s Note” pressed into the spine. This cover is the light brown color and I believe they come in four or five other colors.
This notebook is extremely well made and dare I say, better than anything else I have seen in its price range. The notebook is nicely stitched this notebook lays flat.
The inside of the notebook features 91 A5 pages of Midori’s exceptional cream colored MD paper which holds fountain pen ink beautifully. There is no bleed through even with juicy pens and almost no feathering.
At around $13 this notebook is not cheap but the combination of the quality and the branding make it a winner. I look forward to getting my hands on the other notebooks in this series; I believe they are up to volume 3.