Moleskine Blogs the Little Black Book

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Rather, they're modern-day versions of the originals, which look identical but, if you want to be really picky about it, aren't authentic at all. Modo&Modo resurrected and trademarked the iconic format—and nowadays the notebooks are produced in China.

Deliberate Design

"In 1998, Modo&Modo chose this literary name to bring back to life the little black notebook and decided to make a trademark of it," writes Maria Sebregondi, vice-president of brand equity and communication via e-mail. "It was Modo&Modo's smart and lucky idea to make a trademark of the unusual and literary word 'moleskine,' taking up a dense tradition, renewing notebookism, and sensing that mobile technologies needed to be accompanied by essential, self-standing tools." It raises an interesting question: In a time when authenticity has become a crucial quality of brands, can such creative fudging play out in the long term?

Does it even matter? In this case, the product itself is great—well-made, sturdy notebooks with decent paper stock available in a variety of styles, suitable for writers, musicians, animators, artists…. They're handy, and their discreet format makes a powerful statement in a market crowded with generic, less well-designed products.

They're more appealing and sturdy than other run-of-the-mill notebooks—so what if they're not, strictly speaking, the very same ones beloved by Chatwin, et al? So far, the company's cavalier entrepreneurial spirit seems to be paying off. Last year's turnover from notebooks sold through 14,000 retailers in 40 countries was €100 million ($135.3 million), up some 50% from 2005.

Happy to Customize

And that's just 65% of the company's income. For the past four years, there has also been a thriving subsidiary business, solely designed to collaborate with other companies to produce unique, customized notebooks. Two companies, Promemoria in Italy, and Black and Write in New York, are focused on this "premium" business.

"Where Moleskine is focused on developing new products and thinking about distribution, retail, things like that, we are open to external companies and organizations—corporations, nonprofits, educational establishments, and the arts," says Marco Beghin, President of Black and Write in Manhattan, which opened last year to concentrate on opening up the North American market. So the essence of the little black book remains unchanged—but subtly customized on behalf of the corporate client.

For instance, in honor of a recent series of events and film screenings by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, the Museum of Modern Art in New York commissioned a notebook featuring some of his still images and a calendar of the various events taking place. Goldman Sachs (GS) commissioned notebooks embossed with its name and logo to hand out at a financial conference. Adobe (ADBE) commissioned a collection of three different types of notebooks to help promote the London launch of its CS3 software.

"Every case is different," says Beghin. "It really depends on what the client's perspective is. It's about creating a series of Moleskine stories for the individual brands." With these projects costing clients anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000, and with the blogs intended to spread goodwill toward all things Moleskine, these are also smart, lucrative ways to stealthily spread the allure of the humble, modern-day notebook.

Helen Walters is the editor for BusinessWeek.com's Innovation and Design Channel.