23 Jan 2013

smythson bond street organiser

So, the Aspinal didn't work out. A Filofax is no longer in use. And I haven't migrated to Midori. Where the hell have I ended up? I know a few of you are curious.

The answer is.......

S M Y T H S O N



Whaaa? With their Bond Street organiser costing the wrong side of £200, they may seem like a pricey alternative, but nope, that doesn't have to be the case if you wait until the post-Christmas sales! I have had Smythson bookmarked for months leading to Christmas and have been lusting after one for way too long, so the sale presented me with an ideal opportunity to get the one I had been after, for a far cheaper price. In the end, I paid a similar amount to an Osterley. However, there is a notable quality and design difference between the organiser I got and the Osterley.

Look at the lovely blue hue of this card!

The organiser came with this envelope, and inside, was a piece of card with 'Smythson' imprinted on it. Ideal if the binder were to be a gift.

There is no lizard/croc print. Here is the organiser I opted for - it is made of calf leather and has a fine grainy print (finer than the Finsbury):



It is a lovely, girly, bright pink. I thought that, if I am going to be getting a Smythson binder, I want one that is something different. Not one that could be passed for another brand or one that fits in. And this one is just that - it is girly, the texture isn't overly garish and the contrast between the bright pink of the outer part of the binder and the lighter pink of the interior makes this binder what it is. 



The binder came with some dividers (three blue ones, made of lovely, thick card - at least twice as thick as Filofax dividers), clear A-Z dividers, a few sheets of address inserts (on their lovely blue paper) and also some lined notepaper (again, on the blue paper). Because this was all that was included, and because I love the blue notepaper, I haven't done a pen test on the paper yet as I'm one of those who saves luxurious stationery for when I have a better use for it. Once I pluck up the courage, there will be a pen test, I promise!



The left hand side of the binder has a two slip pockets (one, approximately, the size of a credit card; and the other being a smaller secretarial pocket, all within a larger secretarial pocket.



There is also a pencil holder for the lovely 'Smythson gilded pencil' that came with the binder. It takes Yard-o-Led refills.



Then, the right hand side is another secretarial pocket and a pen loop.



This pen loop can hold quite a large pen, but I don't want to stretch it so I haven't tried yet. It holds my Muji gels and Erasables fine and it also holds my thicker Pentel Energel pens ok too. 



At the bottom right is the Smythson gold-coloured text stamp:

It says: 'Est 1887 Smythson of Bond St'

The gold ring mechanism:



In the middle of this mechanism is the word 'Smythson'.

Finally, the clasp has a quirk about it. It has two buttons - one if the binder is stuffed full and one if it isn't quite so stuffed; almost like a belt. I love this quirk, though I have experimented with the outer popper button to see how full it has to be in order for it to be in use but I haven't managed to fill the organiser enough for that yet.



The binder doesn't quite lie flat yet, but with a bit of use, it lies flat enough for my liking. I love the colour contrast (I didn't at first! But it grew on me) and the gold detailing. And the quality really is fantastic - but you'd expect that with an RRP of what it had (a lady never tells).

Having not used a personal sized organiser for a long time (and this one appears to have 23mm rings - I did a quick measurement), it might take me a while to figure out what set-up I require.

Ironically, although I am unveiling this binder today, it developed ring problems yesterday! The ring's don't close properly now (there is a gap of about 0.5cm between each of the six rings!) and I have contacted customer services about this. This is an unnatural thing to happen to such a new binder so I am quite shocked and hopefully it will be sorted soon as I do love this binder.

What are your thoughts? Is the pink too bright for you? Do the gold rings tickle your pickle? Does it look too impractical (only one proper card slot!)? Do you know of any other Smythson binder users? I did a pretty thorough Google and I couldn't find anyone, blogger or otherwise! My next goal now is to save up for a set of Smythson diary refills for 2014 - I have a whole year so it should be do-able!

15 comments

  1. WOW I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

    but ring issues already???

    Has it been sorted!?!?!?!

    The pink is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!

    How exciting this was!!!

    xxx

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    1. I love it too but the ring issues are so weird. Like, yesterday, it wouldn't close properly (0.5cm gap) and I took pictures of this, but then today, after opening and closing it a few times, it seems to have fixed itself? I've contacted customer services about this anyway because I don't know if this is normal :s xxx

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  2. I believe the flaps are called secretarial pockets?

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    1. I believe you are correct! Off to amend the blog post now :D thank you! x

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  3. I love the color! And the golden rings! But shocking to hear of ring issues on such a high-end binder. Any note in the packaging where the binder is actually made?

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    1. No clue as to where it is made on the binder, or on the packaging as far as I can see but I will double check after I've moved and unpacked the packaging.

      Although the rings have developed that fault, the customer service I have received has been brilliant. They are collecting the faulty binder today and will be sending me a replacement for this one :) so all is not lost. I hope the new one isn't faulty too...! x

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    2. My bad! I just looked back up at the pictures above and the blue card it came with says 'Made in Spain'. I'm not sure what that refers to but it looks like it could be where the binder is made x

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  4. Pretty! There's so many brands of planners out there in the world that I have yet to discover. So lucky! I wish they had more options like this in the U.S.

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    1. If I'm not wrong, Smythson have a store in New York and as a guess, I think they would also ship within the US as a result. Either way, no harm in browsing their site, right? ;D x

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  5. That is a beautiful binder; I'm jealous. I'm in love with the gold rings. I hope you can get them fixed soon. I also really like that the one pen "loop" is more like a pocket. I can't wait to see your layout. :)

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    1. The gold rings are lovely :) I'm being sent a replacement - not sure when it will arrive as the faulty one was only picked up yesterday :-) x

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  6. I have a beautiful smythson bijou organiser too. The quality is brilliant although I do save it for 'best'. I can give you some reassurance that I have never had any problems with the rings.

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    1. Ah, I was looking at the Bijou size but I knew it would be too small so opted for the Bond Street size :-) That is definitely reassuring about the rings - it makes me even more eager to receive my replacement! Thanks for letting me know x

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  7. It's beautiful. I love Smythson. Perhaps I should start saving for the 2013 post-Christmas sale.

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  8. I'm having a look at the post-Christmas 2013 sale AND NO PINK BOND ST DIARIES! :( waaaahhhh but they do have some other nice ones! haha your review has being very helpful in my decision process with Smythson products (as I'm from Australia so I have to order online). Thanks!

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