Cool Hunting

by Tisha Leung

Swedish paper manufacturer Whitelines's new collection of handsome notebooks feature white-ruled lines instead of standard blue or black on a light gray, non-glare paper. Their concept is simple: dark lines distract, white lines don't.

For those who like to sketch as well as write, the set-up eliminates visual competition between the lines, the paper background and and the pen color, allowing the artist/doodler/wordsmith’s work to stand out. Available with either graph lines or straight lines, they disappear if copied or faxed.

Not only does the collection support the creative process, but Whitelines labels all of their notebooks with their C02 footprint (professionally calculated by North Environment & Weather Agency) with a near zero carbon footprint in producing their paper overall. Their state-of-the-art paper mill reuses CO2 in a process where more carbon dioxide is absorbed than emitted. To minimize emissions from transporting the product from Sweden to its destination Whitelines ships large batches which also act as ballasts to control the ship's buoyancy and stability for the ship. Nevertheless, the company offsets the pollution it does create by planting trees in Uganda. Its goal ultimately is to prevent CO2 rather than compensate, and move to a zero footprint.

They're available from Amazon.