Review: Paper Republic Le Porte Crayon Leather Pen Holder

ABOUT

Open: 19 x 19 cm

Rolled up: 19 x 5 cm

Color: Cognac

Holds 4 - 8 pens/pencils

Price: €60.00

Where to buy: Paper Republic

APPEARANCE

This wrap appealed to me as soon as I saw it on the website of Paper Republic, because the color of the leather is so rich and warm. The Porte Crayon has a square shape with pointed corners. The edges and pockets are stitched with a medium thickness, light brown waxed linen thread. There is a t hick, raised knob with a brown cord attached to it, for tying your wrap shut. There is a brass-colored rivet securing it in place on the other side - it looks seamless and sits tightly in the leather.

The inside has a short flap on the top, to cover the tops of your pens/pencils, but also to prevent them from falling out. Across the bottom, there are four pockets. I think the spacing should be smaller between the pockets and the flaps. As it is set up, pens and pencils fit into the pocket, but a fair amount of the body of each is exposed.

The color of this leather looks delicious. It's a rich, warm, yellow-brown. In addition, mine has been personalized with one of my favorite quotes. The quote is a little faded, which I think adds to its character.

As the Porte Crayon is rolled and folded, the leather acquires a fantastic pull-up effect - changing color where it is bent. As it flattens out again, the color returns to its original state (or very close to it). The inside of the wrap is soft, smooth, and flat leather. The finish matches the outside well, in color.

I think it's a really nice looking leather wrap.

PERFORMANCE & FEEL

My new Porte Crayon was firm and stiff. It needed to be broken in, in order to be rolled up easily, and to accommodate pens in the pockets. I really enjoyed the rather sensual experience of breaking it in. I did so by folding and rolling it while it was empty. It felt like breaking in a new baseball mitt! Breaking in your own leather item makes it really feel like it belongs to you and you alone.

I love rolling the wrap up and tying the cord around it - sometimes messy, sometimes tidy. Since the leather is stiff, the wrap does not roll up very tightly. At least, not yet. From when I first started breaking it in, I have been able to roll it more and more tightly.

The pockets, although I find them low (too low for the average pen clip to reach it), they are very snug. I have stuffed in a pen as thick as the Delta Dolcevita Oversize fountain pen into a pocket, and it fit. Larger pens certainly stretch the leather out a little, so consider what you want to carry. If you stretch a pocket out, a thinner pen won't be held as tightly afterwards, of course.

For the average-size pen/pencil, the pocket holds about a third of the utensil. The top flap covers either the top bit of the pen/pencil, or doesn't reach it if it's a short pen/pencil. The flap stops any pen covered by it from falling out, once it is rolled up.

The stitching is tight and clean - no stitches have broken or pulled in my use of my case. I expect it to hold. The ends are burned closed where they are double-stitched, and those have remained snug as well.

PROS

• Beautiful color.
• Portable, convenient size - either open, or rolled up. 
• Can be personalized with your initials (no additional cost).
• Fun and personal to break it in to your heart's content - whether a little or a lot. 
• Snug pockets for smaller pens, but can stretch to hold pretty beefy pens (but this will make the roll thicker when rolled up)
• Pairs really well with the Grand Voyageur in cognac. 
• Perfect for dip nib holders (of normal length, not the magic wand kinds).
• Definitely gets even better with use - as all good leather goods do. 

CONS  

• Low pockets and high flaps.
• Shorter pens and pencils are not covered by the flap and can move around once the Porte Crayon is rolled up. 
• Full-sized/new pencils don't fit. 
• Rivet for the closure knob is flush with the leather but I am careful not to put a fountain pen in that pocket so as to not scratch the body.
• Not supple and soft - for those who prefer wraps like that.
• Expensive, but I think it has a lot of nice features and is really nice overall.

OVERALL 

I'm not an artist, a traveler, or a (real) writer. The Porte Crayon is pretty, smells wonderful (as proper leather goods should), and it feels really nice in hand, either open or rolled up. I prefer using this for my machined pens, or for me dip nib holders. It's a nice way to keep four dip nib holders (or more, but in my case, I use four) together - a flourishing holder, an oblique, and two straight holders.

I love that it can be customized with your initials, and I'm totally crazy about mine because it has a Tolkien quote on it. I hope that system rolls out soon because it's fantastic. I really like this and I think, although it's expensive, I have found several uses for it that make me happy. It's also just a beautiful leather case.

I received this item free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion.