Hobonichi Preview #9: tanakadaisuke

Absolute insanity on the 9th collection of this year. Designer Tanaka Daisuke, of self-titled brand tanakadaisuke, collaborated with Hobonichi on A6, A5 covers and a Weeks. The craziest are the A6 and A5 covers which feature velvet, white handkerchief material, lace, and hand-made beading of various sizes and materials (for every cover!). Yes, it's absolutely gorgeous but also kind of crazy. I respect doing too much though so this is quite cool in my eyes, but also unattainable. I'm scared to see what the price for these is going to be.

The appearance of the covers is near identical to tanakadaisuke iconic 'white handkerchief handbag', a very unique piece of fashion. Daisuke makes mention of making the Techo covers practical and I'm gonna be real I have no idea how this can be in anyway practical unless you do not move your Techo often. I'm certain the beading work is of the highest quality but moving it around in a bag is sure to do some damage to such intricate work. Or maybe I'm just a careless person? I have no grace, that is true! Regardless, it's exceptional design and very beautiful.

The Weeks is probably going to be the only affordable thing in the lineup as its a print of a sequin-beading design onto a hardcover. It's very pretty, of course, but not a design that is very interesting to me personally. 

Either way this is a very cool and unique looking set of covers! It's very much the opposite of the Natal Design covers which are sturdy and have these big and bulky patterns. Sorry to keep bringing up the Natal Design covers every post but the camo is worming it's way deep into my mind, I need to keep a neutral and pragmatic air about it but I can't help but really like it!

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Hobonichi Preview #8: Yumi Kitagishi

Yumi Kitagishi is having her fourth collaboration with Hobonichi this year. Last year's Weeks featuring her designs in neat postage stamp squares was one of my favourites.  

 

The A6 cover features a house with some rooms being visible. We can spy on what her cute cats, rabbits, and squirrels are up to. As a kid I was obsessed with drawing interiors from this angle, paper-doll house style. Also a very beautiful interior side to the cover!

 

The A5 cover has a whole town! It's very pretty and I think my fave feature is actually the inside pattern which looks like vintage wallpaper. Or maybe the hill with the tree.

 

The HON gets a unique cover this year too. Very pretty house and tea room illustrations, I think she is a real master of colours that burst with vibrancy. You would think mustard yellow and a muted pink wouldn't go together but they really do!

The Weeks may be my favourite, even though I love the red of the others, the calm teal is beautiful. Also the little cat maid is very adorable and kinda looks like my cat Simona, who would never stoop so low as to wait on me...

In the stationery aisle, there's a very cute ballpoint pen, with the decorative part mimicking a clay figure. Very adorable.

I also really like the clip set. I bought clips last year and though I use them occasionally I don't think I use them often enough to have justified the purchase. So while these are cute I don't think they would be very practical for me regardless.

Very cute strap with an adjustable buckle. A strap is something I do use a lot. It's why I'm kinda tempted by the camo from Natal Design, with those buttons a strap is unnecessary. The pen loops can be useful but I feel like they would get in the way for me personally.

I think Yumi Kitagishi's work is always very inspired and cute. I realized it's not exactly for me but I appreciate her work a lot and I'm sure many will enjoy this newest collaboration. Otherwise, I saw on the Hobo reddit that apparently many people did not like the Natal Design covers, especially the camo. Muahaha! Perfect, more for me! If it's an affordable price I would like to buy it to use in 2028 as I already have a A5 planner ready to use for 2027. 

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Hobonichi Preview #7: Natal Design

I wasn't sure at first...but as soon as I saw the camo print!! Dammit, I'm afraid I fuck severely with the A6 cover and if I was a Hobonichi user that would be my definite pick. It's so beautifully nostalgic and that makes sense as designer Koji Tsukada and director Shinsuke Goto of Natal Design mention that a lot of their design principles originate in retro sports gear and fashion. You guys know that retro sports wear, especially surfing, is my Achilles' heel. I was also taken camping, against my will, often as a child. Not the fun kind, but the very serious kind with water filtration, tents, traveling exclusively by bicycle, and kilometers from civilization. If it sounds like I hated it it's because I did but I can't help but also have some good memories of then too.

The camo is a little more 90s/2000s retro compared to some of their other prints, and Natal Design was started in 1999 with this being one of their earlier prints. Makes sense to me! It's like my dream cover, I guess. The camo, the purple strands and the teal lining, it all works seamlessly.

I don't love the nautical print as much but it is very much outdoorsy Americana, a true vintage that calls back to the 70s. I imagine these covers are also incredibly durable so if you have one maybe try smacking your Techo around and seeing how it survives?

The swallow design, in the inverse-like colours, is very beautiful but I'm not too tempted.

Next to Akiko Miyakoshi's collection, the Natal Design covers are gorgeous and so far the best.

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Hobonichi Preview #6: Yoshie Watanabe

The sixth line-up from Hobonichi features a collaboration with CACUMA art director Yoshie Watanabe. There's 2 textile covers, a Weeks, 3 clear covers, and some stationery. I'm gonna start straight away with the fact that I personally find the design a bit too plain and boring but I can totally see someone who enjoys very minimal 20th century design may get a kick out of these prints.

 

The A6, A5, and the Weeks all have the Petit Bloom print, a series of colourful flowers in very simple shapes paired with a tasteful red stripe, either on the spine or the cover and back. It reminds me a bit of Khokhloma, probably just because it's a floral print on a dark background, which I enjoy more because of it's narrow colour palette.

I think the clear plaid-dotted covers are quite cute, this is probably more of the retro style that I enjoy.

I think I'm not a big fan of gold-foil stickers so i feel pretty neutral about them, though I think they do give the flowers a bit of an art deco flair which is pretty. I think this print works pretty great with the sticky notes and the deco tape because of how simple it is. Then again maybe it's just my sticky note bias once more...

Am I being to harsh on this collection? I think Watanabe's work is very good, I'm just not personally very drawn to it. 

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Hobonichi Preview #5: PUPPET SUNSUN

Series 5 stars a character called SUNSUN, a boy who lives in a puppet world and loves baked goods. Me too, dude. Well, not the puppet world thing. He reminds me of Flat Eric, the French DJ puppet. Also appreciate the tasteful use of Cooper Black.

Very cute A6 cover, I love the white outline, it looks quite retro. I think the oranges ate the back kind of outshine the SUNSUN print at the front.

 

My favourite of the collection is the A5 cover. I love the pocket at the front, with the little tag and everything, it's very cute. The flannel pattern is awesome.

I like that the banana Weeks is nearly life-size banana sized. It's fun but I guess I'm not that bananas about bananas.

 

Cute boards but as usual I don't really use the boards.

 

Very cute deco-tape, I think bakery-themed things are so cute so this really works for me. Probably my favourite out of the stationery.

I think I have a bias to memos and sticky notes because I do love these even though they are quite simple.

Love the idea of a 31-day sticker collection, not the most exciting stickers chosen but still very cute.

Do you know SUNSUN? Who is this guy?  

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Hobonichi Preview #4: beautiful people

The fourth series is a collaboration with fashion brand beautiful people, a brand I don't know anything about and having checked out their site I think it's not really in my taste but their stuff seems cool. Quite an expensive brand. The theme of these covers, along with some items like wallets sold on the beautiful people site, is 'nothing to hide'. The covers are colourful but transparent, with a crocodile skin texture.

I'm gonna be honest I really don't like the crocodile thing, I don't like it on bags, I don't like it on anything. Faux crocodile is ugly and the real stuff is evil so in general I don't like it on any fronts. However, I love transparent stuff. As a someone who grew up in the 2000s, we had so much candy-coloured transparent tech it's hard for me not to be fond of the design. I guess if the texture was different, maybe a little more sci-fi, I'd like it way more.

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Hobonichi Preview #3: Akiko Miyakoshi

The third line up of this Hobonichi season features an A6 cover, a Weeks, and a notebook with art work by Akiko Miyakoshi, an illustrator of children's books. This is a set I'd be most tempted by because Miyakoshi's work is phenomenal as is her lithography technique for the creation of the drawings. I looked up how lithography is done and it's an insanely intricate and difficult process, but you can see the benefits of it in the colours. I feel like if you enjoy the visuals of Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox you may really like Miyakoshi's work. 

First, the A6 cover is probably my favourite piece. It's an airport setting which I feel like many people have strong associations with, it's a place of great liminality no matter where the airport is. The separation of the night sky and the dark boarding tunnel is very creative. 

The Weeks is also very cute, it features an image of Miyakoshi's daughter, as a rabbit, finding a new friend. It's very sweet.

There is also a landscape notebook, the glow and the grain of lithography is especially noticeable and beautiful.

There is also a set of boards , my fave of which is the Weeks Lazy Morning illustration though I never use a pencil board so I don't think I'd ever buy one.

I do love when such amazing artists are given a spotlight like this, Miyakoshi's work is extraordinary and so is her work process. Check out what she has to say in her interview on the Hobonichi site for yourself, and her gorgeous studio too. Here's some of my fave works of hers: 

I have a feeling this is gonna be my fave series from the line up, but we'll have to see. 

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