Breles Kempen Notebook Review: Charming Design, Solid Paper

Introduction

The Kempen notebook from Belgian maker Breles packs a surprising number of design features into a fairly standard package. It is named after a region of Belgium, and the brand leans into that heritage with some genuinely charming details. There is one frustrating catch: pricing information was nowhere to be found, on the maker’s site or anywhere else, so this review focuses on how the notebook actually performs rather than on value for money.

Design and Build

The notebook holds 192 pages of 90 gsm paper in a 17x22 format, and Breles also offers a smaller version. The cover is a smooth faux leather that feels pleasant in the hand, and a bookmark ribbon is included, which works well in practice.

Two design touches stand out. The frontispiece page features a decorative pattern inspired by the historical technique of marbling with oil on water, a method once used for books like this. Related pieces in that style are reportedly on display in a national museum in Turnhout. The corners of the front page are also cut off, a throwback to old Breles misals that carried reinforcement in that spot. It is a small detail, but a thoughtful one.

The binding is the real functional highlight: the notebook lies completely flat when open, which makes for a very comfortable writing experience across the full page width.

Writing Test: How It Handles Ink

The paper has a slightly cream, peach-toned color that is noticeably easier on the eyes than bright white stock. It is very smooth to write on, with no obvious coating; a coating would likely reduce feathering, but the writing experience is pleasant as is.

Testing started with a fine steel nib and a saturated blue ink. The result was clean: no feathering, and the line looked sharp. Moving to a medium nib with a brown-green ink, a small amount of feathering appeared. It stayed tight to the writing rather than spreading out, which is the encouraging kind.

Broad and Extra-Wet Nibs

Broad and wet writers are where paper usually shows its limits, so the testing deliberately leaned on gushers. A very wet broad nib with a ruby red ink showed only slight feathering. An 18K broad nib paired with a watermelon-style purple ink, which put down a heavy flow, also produced visible but restrained feathering.

A double broad steel nib with purple ink added a little more feathering, and a stub nib with yellow ink showed some feathering as the ink dried, though the pale yellow is naturally hard to read on cream paper. Throughout every test, the feathering remained close to the line. Ink that wanders far from the stroke is far worse, and this paper never did that. No flex nibs were tested, so that scenario remains unverified.

Bleed-Through and Show-Through

Flipping the page revealed the results: only tiny bits of bleed-through here and there, with definite shading or show-through where writing from the other side is faintly visible. For a 90 gsm uncoated paper pushed hard by wet broad nibs, that is a solid result. The first branded page appears to use the same stock as the rest of the notebook given how it is bound, so the results should be representative.

Things to Consider Before Buying

This is not perfect paper. There is a little feathering with wet inks and a little show-through, so buyers wanting absolutely zero feathering and bleed-through on every nib should look at premium coated stocks. The unknown price is also a genuine obstacle: without it, judging value is impossible, so check current availability and pricing before committing.

Buying Advice

If you want an attractive, fountain-pen-friendly notebook with a flat binding, cream paper, and characterful design details, and you can tolerate minor feathering with very wet broad nibs, the Kempen is easy to recommend, provided the price turns out to be reasonable. It is clearly not cheap copier paper that feathers and bleeds everywhere; it performs well above that level.

Conclusion

The Breles Kempen is a likeable notebook with a smooth faux leather cover, a flat-lying binding, a useful bookmark, and cream paper that handles a wide range of nibs and inks capably. Its imperfections are minor and honest, and its design flourishes give it personality that most notebooks lack. The main open question is the price, which remains unlisted. If you can find it at a sensible cost, it is a pleasant everyday writer.