The time has come that I can share about the Hobonichi preview party!
This is my second year attending the in-person preview. I have thoughts on the lineup, and on the preview experience itself. I’ll start with my takeaways from the lineup!
Porter Yoshida covers are finally available outside Japan! I’ve been hoping for this for a long time and never understood why these covers were Japan only. They’ll also be shipping the mini ones to the U.S.
Stappo lovers may be excited to see they unveiled a mini Stappo! It’s just a narrower version of the organizer, and it’s pretty cute.
The Hiroko Kubota designs this year do not disappoint, they’re adorable and I want them all. Only problem is, they chose to go with a glossy dark cover for the HON versions, which are fingerprint magnets. I was ok with it with the Weeks because it was small—but an A5 book with smudges all over it every day would drive me crazy. The fabric covers are fantastic.
My unexpected favorite last year was the PAMM cover, and there’s another one this year. This time it has a pretty shade of blue as the accent color.
The freshest designs imo were the Unsodo designs. Unsodo is “a Kyoto-based art publishing company and the only publisher of hand-printed woodblock books in Japan,” according to Hobonichi. This color palette wouldn’t normally be my favorite but the HON has a linen feel that drew me to it unexpectedly,
The Paddington Bear covers were a really nice interpretation and very adorable. My only comment is that not incorporating the surprise black ears somehow in the design was a missed opportunity.
They had a number of interesting plastic trifolds, that I think are the same design as the yellow Opanchu Usagi covers released previously. I particularly liked the sage green one.
The Keiko Shibata covers were in a different style that has a border and they are so cute. Though I don’t know that anything will ever top the floating bread cover from the spring,
The Yumi Kitagishi design from last year was one of the most popular but it was not my thing. This year’s though, I think has broader appeal and imo, a more interesting layout,
The Taut, Liberty Fabrics, and Mina Perhonen covers were underwhelming to me this year, with the exception of the tambourine. Also not my favorite: this shiny yellow/gold fabric.
I’ll either update this post or publish a new one on the event next!
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