Roterfaden Wk-12

Roterfaden Wk-12 Leather Cover

In this post, I will tell you about a different Roterfaden product, Wk-12. But first, some background…

When I posted about Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A5 along with various notebooks I was using in it, I really thought I found my perfect system. After a while though, I began to crave more space to write in my planner than Midori’s weekly insert can provide. So I jumped on the Hobonichi bandwagon and bought a “Cousin Spring,” which is the A5 version with April start (so, I didn’t feel as guilty about buying a new planner mid-year.) With it’s daily pages, I had all the space I could want! The yearly, monthly, and weekly views are great for planning. And then I use the daily pages for tasks, reminders, meeting notes, etc. It’s working as a planner and a notebook combined. It’s great!

But, here’s the problem: Carrying it around inside the Roterfaden A5 cover along with my other various crap made it too bulky. The solution? Roterfaden Wk-12 with a slimmer profile.

In wk-12, the leather material is quite different from the regular Roterfaden covers. Instead of the suede-like texture, its leather is shiny, and has wrinkled (?) texture. Probably the picture above tells it much better than I can describe… Also, instead of an elastic to keep the cover closed, wk-12 has two pen loops so that inserting a pen through them keeps it shut (see the picture at the top.)

The inside cover is made of dark gray suede with pocket configurations as you can see in this picture:

Inside pockets

The front cover pockets are perfect for keeping business cards and sticky notes. The back cover has one large pocket which I stuck the back cover of my Hobonichi as well as a thin notebook.

Wk-12 only comes with 2 clips, and so I used a rubber band around one of the clips to accommodate more inserts:

I have been using this set up for a month or so, and I quite like it. I have sheet protectors and business card protectors in the front (which are secured with rubber band around the clip), a Midori insert which I’m using as a personal journal, a Hobonichi cousin for work/school needs (without it, my life would fall apart), and an A5 notebook from Roterfaden for miscellaneous notes. (As an aside, this Roterfaden notebook is great in this setup. But I won’t be purchasing it again, as I find it too flimsy for general use.)

There’s something addictive about Roterfaden products. I love it so much that I ordered an A4 size, so that I can carry full size notebooks and print-outs. I believe it’s a combination of the ingenious clip mechanism — so simple yet so functional! — and the high quality but unpretentious design. Normally, an uncomfortable guilt overcomes me whenever I spend more than $100 on any product (doesn’t matter how well-justified, and doesn’t matter how much I earn), but spending on these Roterfaden products creates less guilt than usual. Could it be the fact that this is not some huge corporation, but a small business run by a few individuals who make products that actually go through their hands makes me feel like my purchase is more meaningful? Who knows…

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this review. More posts coming when I receive the A4 cover!

~meow~