Traveler's Notebook Regular Size olive

The Traveler's Notebook Regular in Olive is a vegetable-tanned leather cover in the characteristic Regular format – hand-cut and handcrafted in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The Olive colour, a deep, earthy green with warm brown tones, draws inspiration from the colour palette of primordial rainforests. The leather is deliberately left without heavy surface treatment: scratches, water marks and signs of use are part of the concept – each piece develops its own unique patina.

Features

• Vegetable-tanned leather, hand-cut: The leather is treated entirely with plant-based tannins – no synthetic coating. The surface feels rough-soft, with a natural grain that varies slightly from piece to piece. Colour and texture are never identical.
• Patina by design: On first opening, you'll often see a white powder – natural leather oils that work in with a soft cloth. With every use, the leather's surface changes: darker at the grip points, glossier at the edges, richer in tone. This isn't a flaw, it's the goal.
• Modular insert system: The inserts are attached to a sealed internal cord and can be swapped out effortlessly. The same cover stays in use all year round – with changing contents as needed.
• Elastic closure band with tin clasp: An elastic band runs along the spine to hold the inserts, a second one closes the notebook. The tin clasp adds a tactile detail to this simple mechanism.
• MD Paper in the blank insert: The included booklet comes with the Traveler's Company's original MD Paper – 80 g/m², acid-free, ink-resistant and compatible with fountain pens. Nibs glide smoothly across it; ink dries without smudging and shows minimal show-through.
• Olive tone with depth: The colour is a muted, earthy green with a noticeable brown element – along the spine and edges, the green often stands out more prominently than on the flat surfaces. Over time, the tone shifts further towards a weathered, living natural colour.

Use & Tips

• Travel journal with variable inserts: Blank inserts for sketches and free notes, grid for maps and patterns, lined for diary text – multiple booklets can be held in the cover at once if a connector band is used.
• Tickets, boarding passes, postcards: Inserts with clear sleeves or adhesive strips are designed for gluing in travel documents and flat souvenirs. The cover itself has slots at the top and bottom of the spine through which strips or bookmarks can be threaded.
• Writing with a fountain pen: The MD Paper works well with aqueous inks – bleed-through is barely an issue with normal fountain pens with medium to fine nibs. Stub nibs and freely flowing inks need a bit more drying time.
• Leather care: When wet, dab the leather with a soft cloth and allow to dry in the shade. If you'd like scratches to be less visible, you can work in leather care oil – this deepens the colour noticeably and makes the surface look richer.
• System expansion: Pen case, zip pouch, brass clip or stamp pad – Traveler's Company accessories can be integrated directly into the elastic system without modifying the cover.

For leather and system notebook enthusiasts

The Traveler's Notebook deliberately works without perfect binding: the inserts hang from a sealed internal cord and can be swapped in seconds – a system that has remained unchanged since its market launch in 2006 (then still under the name Midori). The leather is hand-cut in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, and is neither calendered nor lacquered – accordingly, grain, thickness and colour intensity vary considerably from piece to piece. The Olive colour originally belonged to a limited edition in 2017 before being added to the regular range; colour and texture were adjusted accordingly. The MD Paper of the included insert is produced by Designphil in Japan and weighs 80 g/m².

Technical Specifications