All I ever wanted, all I ever needed

Alan Wilder started out as a flautist, astonishingly enough, but music leads in surprising directions, and later on as a member of Depeche Mode it was Wilder who reset Martin Gore's dirge to turn Enjoy The Silence (from which today's blog title is borrowed) into a thumping electronic floor-filler. The rest, as they say, is history, but founding a stationery line to honour his fine contribution to British culture was highly commendable. Apparently there's an alternative back story to the stationery brand, featuring camper vans or some such whimsy, but you know better now. 

Moving swiftly on, let's talk about the notebooks. They major on simplicity; apart from the logo and a URL on the back, the attitude is evidently that words are very unnecessary - they can only do harm. But really, that's enough Depeche Mode already. Minimal is the word.

Sturdy is another term which leaps to mind. The binding is both sewn and glued, and the card outer looks ready to withstand a fair amount of abuse. Just as well, if it's got to survive life in a touring rock band... or a camper van. Whatever floats your boat. The orange version looks just right for autumn, too.

All that presentation would be for nought if the paper wasn't up to the job, but there are no worries there either. It handles fountain pen ink fairly well, and graphite superbly. Go and treat yourself.