It has always been on my mind to buy a One Star Leather Hobonichi leather cover. I didn’t buy it when I purchased the Hobonichi Techo Cousin last year because I wanted to try the Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter and I also ordered a custom leather cover from Astrida, a local leather worker. Those I buy, I try and in the end I sold all of them. This year I chose to go with the Hobonichi Techo Original form factor and I know it was time to go with my gut.
I opted to customise my order instead of buying ready made ones on the store. I wanted to choose the leather for the interior and exterior. It was a simple matter of dropping Keegan of One Star Leather an email to make arrangements. Once everything is confirm, I pay via Etsy by purchasing the custom listing made my order. After that it is the waiting game for my order to be hand made, it took a few weeks for that. And more waiting while it winged its way over to Singapore.
I’ve opted for the blue Horween exterior with a chestnut interior and golden stitching. I even got my initial stamp in the interior front cover. The blue exterior leather is really thick and smooth. The blue is really dark and it is only obviously blue under strong light. Otherwise most of the time it looks like midnight blue. The interior chestnut leather is thinner but just as durable. The cover fits the Hobonichi Techo Original perfectly and the stitches are nice and even. The edges are nicely finished.
The sleeves which the front and back covers slip in are deep and it secures the book within the cover. One thing to note is there is a best way to slip the cover over the book. How I did it was to bend the book such that the covers are touching and slipping the covers into the sleeve in that way. Do not slip one side in and then attempt to squeeze the other into its place. I remember see a video of that on Instagram, possibly posted by One Star Leather, I can’t for the life of me find it to link to it.
Through constantly use for the past 4 months, the exterior suffered scratches though it lives on my desk most of the time. However, that’s the beauty of leather as a material. It ages and get worn and that’s how I make it my own. There isn’t any other cover out there that is exactly like mine. Yes, leather isn’t the cheapest material around. Horween leather is also not the cheapest kind of leather around. However, I enjoy suppleness and texture of Horween leather. This a cover that I expect to last for years to come. I probably wouldn’t need another one in my lifetime if I treat it right.
