The Analogue Comeback: Why We're Reaching for Leather Journal Covers Again

Gemma Gilleard

There's a word doing the rounds in stationery circles this year: analogue. Notebooks, paper calendars, letters with actual stamps on them, all making a return, not as pure nostalgia, but as something closer to a considered choice. On the bench, we can't say we noticed it leaving.

What's actually going on

Search data for 2026 shows a sharp swing back toward paper-based habits: journaling, letter-writing, planning by hand, led largely by the generations some would least expect; Gen Z and millennials, choosing notebooks and pens over another app. As I sit on the cusp of Elder Millennial (hey there, 1986), I've always understood the power of analogue. For me, it's the only way I can work. Sit me in front of a screen, and the ideas don't flow in the same way, but a scrap of paper? Try and stop me.

The reasoning for this "new trend" tends to be less about looking backward and more about looking for something that works and reduces our reliance on screens. A page doesn't notify you. A leather cover doesn't need updating.

Trade voices in UK stationery have called it the defining theme of the year, and the language they use to describe it is telling: quality over quantity, longevity over novelty. Less about buying more stationery, more about buying stationery that's built to last, and built to be used, not just photographed once and shelved.

Where leather fits in

This is, handily, most of what we've been doing since 2011.

A refillable leather journal cover isn't a notebook you replace; it's a notebook you keep and refill, for as long as you're writing. That's the whole idea behind the Personalised Leather Notebook Cover and the Reusable Leather Cahier Cover - the leather ages, softens and marks with use; the inserts come and go, get archived, and what you're left with is one object that's travelled through however many notebooks you've filled. Ten years in, that's a cover with more history in it than the paper ever held on its own.

The World Map Travel Journal does the same job for people who'd rather carry one notebook between countries than start a new one every trip. And if you're already committed to a particular notebook brand, our cahier covers are built to hold Moleskine cahiers, and our journal covers are made for Leuchtturm1917 notebooks — stationery that's been made for over a hundred years. That being said, I've pattern-cut journals for other books before, so it's worth getting in touch to see if we can make one up for your favourite go-to note or sketchbook.

If you're just getting into it

You don't need a full system on day one. A cover and a notebook you like the feel of, and you're most of the way there. The rest tends to work itself out on the page.

There's one thing that trips people up before they even get that far, though.

Blank page paralysis

Yes, it's a thing. I've suffered from it too. I collected lots of stationery over the years and feared ruining its pristine state. Luckily, that's been solved for me with the refillable journal covers, and it was part of why we created them in the first place.

What causes it

It can be how pristine something is, and the potential to ruin it or the expense of the sketchbook or notebook adding unnecessary pressure that you'll "mess up." Another issue? The first page is the first impression you make from your book, and what if it doesn't match your skill as a writer, illustrator, poet, or artist?

Ways to overcome it

• Skip the first page
• Intentionally make that first page a test page
• Keep it simple with your name and contact details
• Intentionally make a playful mess
• Get yourself a HÔRD refillable leather journal cover — it works. "Ruined" your notebook? Put another one in it. It's amazing how you won't feel as precious about the insert as you will about that cover, and the cover gets to be used again and again.

If you're after a handmade leather journal in the UK that's built to outlast whatever you put inside it, we've got you covered. Made in't North, refilled as many times as you need.

Shop our Refillable Leather Journal Covers in A5 - suitable for lie-flat sketchbooks, notebooks and more. Shop the Inserts here.

Shop our Reusable Leather Cahier Cover made for Pocket Moleskines, with pen loop included. Shop the Inserts here.