A Review - Oberon Design Large Journal Covers

One of my favorite companies is Oberon Design, a family-owned leather workshop based out of Santa Rosa, California. They’ve been in business for decades and hand-produce a variety of products, including gorgeous journal covers, phone and tablet covers, bags and wallets, guitar straps and more, all using domestically-sourced leather, and also many types of pewter products like jewelry, charms, and hair accessories.

Camelot in chocolate, Cat in Window in orchid, and Da Vinci in walnut

 

Before I get into the reviews of my own covers, I’ll quickly go over the specs. Oberon Design’s large journal covers measure 6”x9”, just slightly larger than A5 size. Though the covers include a heavy, hardbound insert which measures an inch thick by itself, it is possible to instead use a variety of A5 notebooks, including Leuchtturm, Rhodia, and the Seven Seas notebook, if you don’t mind a little bit of wiggle room. As a side note, I would not recommend the included sketchbook insert unless you use pencil or ballpoint, as fountain pens and even rollerballs will feather and bleed on the paper.

 

The journal covers close via a black leather thong, knotted in the back of the cover and reaching forward to wrap around the large pewter button on the front. Personally, I removed the leather thong on my most used cover since it kept coming undone and knotted a hair elastic through the holes for a slimmer look and more secure closure.

Leather thong left; knotted hair tie right

Oberon Design offers a ridiculous amount of designs, leather colors, and buttons to choose from for their journal covers. Most designs (of which there are nearly a whopping sixty!) are offered in up to three colors and come with a matching themed button. For example, the Cloud Dragon cover comes with an Asian-style dragon button, while the gorgeous Celtic Braid cover comes with a Celtic-style button.

 

The awesome part about all of this is that you are allowed to choose whatever color you want, as well as any button! Though customization is an extra fee, and only available on certain products, this really opens up the possibilities available to you. Plus it’s a blast to brainstorm all the options!

 

So I currently have three journal covers from Oberon Design. My first purchase from them was a custom combination Da Vinci design, which as you can see resembles an old book cover. It is made in the walnut leather, a lovely earthy brown, which was shortly discontinued thereafter, with a pewter “labyrinth” button. This design wraps around the spine and has the same image on the back cover.  

Da Vinci in walnut with labyrinth button

 

My next splurge was a custom combination Camelot design in chocolate, with the dragon button. This leather is so deep and rich, the name fits really well. Like the Da Vinci cover, this design also wraps around the spine, but continues to depict a different image on the backside of trees and rolling hills.

Camelot in chocolate with dragon button

           

My third cover (and current favorite of the three) was the Cat in Window design, which was an archived design. Oberon Design every so often brings old designs out of the “vault” and offers them for a limited time, typically about a month at a time. I had missed out on the cat design the first time it came around and kicked myself for not grabbing it, but as soon as it was offered again (maybe a year or so later) I jumped right on it and custom ordered it in the orchid color, a deep, rich, red-purple. I am in love with the tiny little details in this design, especially the birds. Look how beautiful this is! 

 

So let’s get into the details.

           

First, the leather. The leather Oberon Design uses is drum-dyed, which means the dye goes through the leather completely, so if you scratch it, it will scratch the same color instead of white like some cheaper leathers. It’s a thick, chewy leather, but with time wears into a more supple and smooth feel. My newer covers are still somewhat chewy, but my Da Vinci in walnut is soft and supple and sporting a nice patina. The pewter buttons are excellently cast, as well. Here you can see the detail in the dragon button on my Camelot cover. 

 

Like I said earlier, this journal cover is slightly larger than A5, but easily and comfortably holds a variety of A5 notebooks. I use Leuchtturms exclusively for journaling and either a hardcover or softcover fits nicely. A Rhodia webbie is smaller, but because the cover is thicker fits a tiny bit better, in my opinion. The Seven Seas Tomoe River notebook fits very well, also, and really any other A5 notebooks are going to work with this cover, remembering always there will be a little wiggle room.

 

These covers can also, to some degree, be further customized. They are not like traveler’s notebooks, made to hold more than one notebook. You can, however, string together two softcover notebooks, as you would with the traveler’s notebook, and insert the front cover of the first notebook into the front slot, and then the back cover of the last notebook into the back slot. You can also add pocket stickers to the smooth black leather insides for extra storage, and even an adhesive pen loop for pen storage.

Two softcover A5 Leuchtturms connected with elastic

 

Oberon Design makes other cover sizes, as well, including composition and pocket, the latter which are able to fit smaller notebooks like Field Notes. They also make a “notebook” cover, which is thinner than the large journal cover and sports a vertical elastic closure instead of the pewter option and are great for Moleskine notebooks.

 

My only gripe about this cover is the pewter button. Though I love the look of the button on the front, they do stand up from the leather a bit and can cause an annoying bump while writing on a hard surface. If using a hardcover notebook, it’s not as big of a deal, but a softcover will pose some problems. Writing on a soft surface or your lap will solve this issue, however.

 

This review is just my long-overdue opinion on a wonderful little American company who produces beautiful, impeccably-stitched leather products. I’ve been thrilled to pieces with everything I’ve ordered from them, as well as their customer service whenever I had questions or problems. If anybody owns an Oberon Design cover, I’d love to hear what you think of it and how you use it! And if you don’t, I highly recommend checking Oberon Design out at oberondesign.com. One could easily spend an afternoon browsing their website and oogling all the colorful goodies. I highly recommend them!

Nanami Seven Seas Tomoe River notebook in Da Vinci cover

 

If you’d like to see more on these covers, feel free to watch my video over at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6KmCKOYDcs&t=254s

 

Thanks for reading!

 

--Cass.