Review: Menorah Square Sketchbooks

Handcrafted, 180 GSM acid free paper, sturdy binding, cute square shape, vegan leather cover, elastic band closure, Flatlay, and silk ribbon bookmark... where else would you find a better sketchbook at such an adorable price?

Before I begin the review, I want to thank Menorah for sending me such beautiful sketchbooks (but this review is in no way sponsored).

I wanted to review Menorah journals since long and you can already find me talking about them in my previous posts regarding journaling. But I planned on reviewing sketchbook instead.

Menorah journals and sketchbooks are eco friendly premium quality stationery made by Menorah Stationery Pvt Ltd, a family owned bindery with more than 50 years of heritage.

The quality of their products speaks for themselves and their expertise in the field. I am totally in love with Menorah.

You won't find any negative reviews of anything on my blog because I only review the products or books that I love. And so are Menorah sketchbooks and journals. 

Why I love Menorah Stationery?

It's actually weird that I ended up buying Menorah last year instead of another brand. I wanted a bullet journal for 2020 and I had chosen a brand that had great reviews. But they didn't deliver it, neither did they tell the estimated delivery time. So, I cancelled my order after a week of placing it, and then, Menorah caught my attention. I went for it because the simplicity and decency of its cover attracted me.

It turned out that the people behind this brand are sweeter and nicer than any other brand I have ever worked or interacted with (not just stationery brands). And brands become brands when they value their users/customers.

Besides, I cannot talk enough about the quality of Menorah products. With this price, it's the best you can get in India.

My search for Moleskine in India ended at Menorah and I could not be happier.

My Menorah Journals Collection

Currently, I am using their square 180 gsm sketchbooks, A5 dot-grid leather journal, A5 ruled leather journal, and Krafts A5 journals.

Since this is a review of Menorah sketchbooks (180 gsm), let's talk about it.

Sketchbook Cover and Binding

To be honest, Menorah's covers are the main attraction for me! I am such a huge fan of classy plain cover journals.

The square sketchbooks have a Royal Blue Leatherette Cover. It makes the sketchbook pretty sturdy. You can even customise it as pretty much all the fineliners and markers work well on it.

The stitch binding allows the sketchbook to open perfectly flat. The elastic band closure with just the right amount of tautness keeps your journal safely closed. And the orange silk ribbon makes such a hassle-free bookmark. 

The square sketchbook comes in three sizes (in centimetre):

10.5 x 10.5 (fits into your palm)

15 x 15 (around the size of A6 journals in length)

21 x 21 (around the size of A5 journal in length)

You may now also order them from their website: www.menorah.in

Paper Quality

Menorah square sketchbooks come with 180 gsm, acid-free, natural shade paper which is pretty amazing and it feels wonderful  to work on them.

I have done a pen and watercolours test on 21 x 21 Menorah sketchbook (Sorry, went overboard with spreading markers in this image).

You can see in the second image that there is just a little bit ghosting of Sharpie permanent marker and Uni Paint Marker (All the images are unedited). That too happened because these two pens usually bleed through and imprint on the third page not just the second one. These are really strong and I expect more than just faint ghosting.

You can easily work ok both sides on a page and not worry about your artwork getting spoiled.

The next is a 10.5 x 10.5 sketchbook and it's so small that its cuteness has no bounds. I fell in love with it when I saw it. My watercolours blend so beautifully on it that I regained my lost interest in water-colouring. 

Though their 180 gsm sketchbooks are ideal—as mentioned by them—for Doodling, Pencil / Chalk, Oil Pastels, Crayons, graphite, and light water colouring, I didn't have any difficulty working with wet on wet technique on it. They also has a separate range of watercolour sketchbook with 240 gsm Italian watercolour paper.

Overall, every penny you spend on these journals is an investment. This combination of price and quality is hard to find. Whenever I am asked for the best journal recommendations, Menorah tops my list.

I look forward to future product launches by Menorah. You may get their products from Amazon or from www.menorah.in 

You may also find my other posts related to Journals here.

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