Cuadernos Rubio

In digital times, this store in Spain mirrors our growing hunger for ink on paper

Purveyors of slow-made and slowly-used products are doubling down on their roots to distance themselves from tech omnipresence – and thus become more attractive to consumers in need of digital detox. But as this notebook store shows, there might be a way of doing believable heritech – technological add-ons for heritage products that still feel on-brand.

Nostalgia strikes again: as digital communication has become omnipresent in the industrialised world, the notepad is making a comeback – sales of Moleskines, for example, have tripled in the past decade. In Spain, heritage player Cuadernos Rubio is betting on the pull of penmanship by opening its first flagship store in its hometown of Valencia.

Contrasting neon and methacrylate with traditional mosaic tiles on the walls, meant to emulate the look and feel of a paper page. On one corner, some highly tactile rotating shelves double as blackboards, while on another, a time machine booth leads visitors through an AR-enabled goggle-and-mobile tour through the company’s history.

Another highlight is the lucigrafía room – the term, which can be loosely translated to ‘writing with light,’ There is a backlit vinyl panel, a flash pointer, a dark room & a series of baseline words and figures.

Source | Frame