A great piece of copy can be foundational for a brand giving it extra heft and a context in the grand scheme of things. Moleskin notebooks are a great example of this.
With each notebook comes a small piece of paper lodged in the folder at the back that sets the scene for how it fits in with a history of creativity.
The Moleskine is an exact reproduction of the legendary notebook of Chatwin, Hemingway, Matisse. Anonymous custodian of an extraordinary tradition, the Moleskine is a distillation of function and an accumulator of emotions that releases its charge over time. From the original notebook a family of essential and trusted pocket books was born. Hard cover covered in moleskine, elastic closure, thread binding. Internal bellowed pocket in cardboard and canvas. Removable leaflet with the history of Moleskine. Format 9 x 14 cm.
After reading this, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Moleskin company had been around for generations, providing the tools for creatives of the past to produce art and literature that is still around today.
Not so.
In my head, I have always associated the Moleskin brand with Hemmingway and the creatives of the Paris scene in the early Twentieth century. That’s where the brand ‘fits’.
It came as a bit of a shock to discover that the actual Moleskin company was founded in 1997 and simply based it’s product on a generic design from the past.
That bit of copy hidden in the back folder to be ‘discovered’ by the owner is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Like all good copy does.