You're reading: Handmade paper notebooks that come with a history

In the noisy hall of Arsenal Book Fair a small table tucked into a corner is easy to miss. But the young man behind it doesn’t seem bothered.

Despite being hidden from the crowd of booklovers, his unusual paper notebooks still get a lot of attention.

Three years ago Pavel Suslyakov would never have guessed he would be presenting his products at the country’s biggest book fair. That’s when he made his first designer notebook cover out of a checkered tablecloth as a birthday gift for his friend.

“We bought a pretty tablecloth, which turned out to be too big for our kitchen table, so we cut away half of it, and I used the material for the notebook,” Suslyakov recalls.

The friend was happy with the present, but it took several months more for Suslyakov to get an actual sale. “You know, a friend is a friend, he would say he likes it anyway. But when a stranger buys your product, that’s true success,” he explains.

Now he and his wife Iryna Suslyakova run a small workshop that produces notebooks with covers made of old shirts and tablecloths under the cute brand of Papinarubashka (Dad’s Shirt). They’ve sold more than 800.

The couple’s notebooks start at Hr 180 and go up depending on design and place of purchase. Papinarubashka offers six designs, including covers with buttons, clippers and shirt collar parts. Suslyakov says their most popular item has a shirt sleeve cuff on the cover, which can also serve as a pocket.

Checkered and striped, red and blue, all of Papinarubashka’s notebooks have one thing in common – their covers are never made of brand new materials. Shirts and tablecloths used for their production are carefully picked at Kyiv’s flea markets and second-hand shops. While a children’s shirt can be made into one notebook, an adult XXL-sized shirt can provide enough material for three or four covers.

“These were made of a tablecloth,” says Suslyakov, pointing to three striped notebooks piled on the table at Arsenal Book Fair. He continues showing other notebooks, caressing their covers to show how smooth or rough they are. “Texture matters a lot. This fabric is very cool. This one, too, its woolen.”

Pavel Suslyakov, the co-founder of notebook producer Papina Rubashka.

He seems to adore all the notebooks, but the one he personally uses combines two fabrics. “People keep saying our notebooks are for men, judging from their appearance, but actually most customers are women,” he says.

Suslyakov admits that not everyone likes the idea of owning a notebook made of used clothes. At first, he says, the couple avoided mentioning where the fabrics come from, but soon understood that it should be positioned as their special feature instead.

“Some may think we do it because it’s cheaper this way. But think of it – when we find a shirt at the flea market, it’s an adventure, and the shirt is unique. We’ll never find one with the same pattern again. In this way the notebooks are unique,” he explains.

Papinarubashka also offers a special service. A notebook can be decorated with artistic drawings related to the customer’s personal features. The special service costs Hr 500, notebook included, and can take up to several months. Also, one can order drawings of fictional characters or historical figures.

Papinarubashka notebooks in Kyiv:
www.papinarubashka.com
Divan bar. 2 Bessarabska Square
Shtuki. 8 Velyka Vasylkivska Street, Metrograd, Home Block.
Chulan. 21A Pushkinska St.
www.djournal.com.ua

Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected].