In classic All Things Stationery style, here I am talking about the product that everyone is talking about…. Except I’m talking about it about a month later. Gah. I can’t keep up. Baron Fig’s Askew seems to have been a bit of a contentious one, and a lot has been said about it already. It’s a limited edition of Baron Fig’s Confidant notebook, and if you don’t know already, what’s so interesting about it is that they gave designer Debbie Millman the task of filling every page of the book by hand, based on some work she had previously done.


The box gives a clue as to what is inside, as you can see that it’s been drawn using only a classic blue ink ballpoint pen.


And inside is this beautiful, vibrant blue, clothbound notebook. This is my first experience of the Confidant and I’m really blown away by the quality of the book.


I especially love the detail that the page marker ribbon is red, and this teamed with the blue matches what’s on the inside. Speaking of which…


Every page is different, but here’s an idea of what’s inside. Pretty out there, right?! Now, I’ll be honest, the idea of this is a little tough for me to get my head around and it’s certainly not something that would ever work for me for everyday use. I was kind of nervous to open it up because I thought I might hate it… But, as Baron Fig have thought outside the box, I thought maybe I should too.


So, I started by testing out a few different pens and I must say the paper quality is brilliant. No feathering at all, a tiny bit of bleed through using a flex nib (which is totally forgivable) and still enough teeth on the paper to make it enjoyable to use a pencil with.


And then I started writing and discovered something interesting… It kind of made me slow down and think about what I was writing and my writing style, and I kind of enjoyed following the lines and seeing where they took me. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a very practical notebook, but I guess they don’t always have to be practical. I won’t be using this for to-do list and notes, but I can imagine myself using this if I want to write down my thoughts, or doodle, or test pens out, or practice calligraphy.

So there you go, the Askew different and it’s not a very “sensible” notebook but I think I can find ways to fit it in to my life. Oh, and a few useful bit of information – it’s 5.4″ by 7.7″, has 192 pages (including 12 perforated in the back) and has lay-flat binding.

You can get your Askew directly from Baron Fig for $20 (they’re shipping rates to the UK are really reasonable too).

I was sent this free of charge by Baron Fig but all opinions are my own.