Thursday Salute to Originals: The Napkin Sketchbook
The quintessential architect is always equipped with the right tools: stylish spectacles, a tailored black outfit, a fine tipped pen, and a Moleskine sketchbook. But what happens when the avante-garde are caught off guard, finding themselves unarmed in a coffee shop or informal lunch meeting with an urgent need for impromptu sketching? No need to panic. Meet The Napkin Sketchbook.
As calculated as designers tend to be when diving into a drawing set, the napkin eases the pressure as a less-intimating canvas: readily available, easy to discard, and limited in area. Perfection is not required here. (Let’s be honest, it’s pretty easy to doodle and draw freely on something normally used to wipe ketchup off your face). But by providing a space for both completed and blank napkins within a leather bound sketchbook, now our napkin ideas can be eternally preserved and protected from wear and tear – just in case those squiggles morph into a masterpiece worth saving.
Aside from the interior “canvas,” design of the case deserves some attention as well. As a detail most designers can appreciate, the drawing pen slides into leather straps locking the sketchbook closed; a simple (yet genius!) solution. Made from untreated leather, with repeated use, the leather continues to age gracefully, acquiring a prized patina over time. High quality materials and detailing encapsulate the essence of our ideas – scrawled in black ink over the surface of a napkin.
Today, we salute those designers who brave the empty napkin in sketching to their heart’s desire! Because, after all, it’s not the glasses, the blazer, or the pen that defines a good idea. Sometimes the best and most groundbreaking concepts arise from the simplest means – a doodle on the corner of a napkin.
Source: Baum-Kuchen, Arch Record