Say hello to my Patent Filofax!

I don't know why there aren't many blog posts about the Patent, it is a really nice compact Filofax.  If you google it most of the results are actually about the Original organiser which came in a few patent colours as well as the standard leather finish.  Filofax announced yesterday that they are releasing some new colours in the Patent range this Spring so I thought I would tell you about mine.  

My Patent Filofax

First of all I will say how I ended up with a compact size organiser.  It wasn't another downsizing experiment, I am still very happy in personal size.  Just before Christmas Filofax ran a photo competition on their Facebook page, they wanted photos of people's filos with their Christmas trees.  I submitted this picture of my Ochre Malden nestled in the branches of my tree and won!  The prize was the Patent organiser.

My winning entry

I was really surprised when it arrived two days later.  I thought with it being Christmas Filofax would have taken a lot longer to post the prize but it was sent the same day as I won (thank you to the powers that be!).

Inside the Patent

It comes with the usual contents:

* week on two page diary

* Flyleaf

* white note paper - plain, lined and quardrille 

* coloured lined paper

* contacts

* to do lists

* top opening envelope 

* frosted ruler/page marker

* six dividers (I took mine out and now can only find three of them when I wanted to put them back in for these photos)

You are also supposed to get a nice front page in the same colour as your binder but mine didn't have one.  I think it looks great with the cover but I will probably make my own anyway so I didn't mind.

On the left

On the left there are two card slots, a flap pocket and a pen loop.  The loop is made from elastic in the same colour as the organiser, great for those chunky pens!  It is also lined in a nice matching fabric.   

On the right

On the right there is a full length vertical pocket.  As you can see from my photos the binder doesn't lay flat yet.  I haven't tried training it but I think it might get there over time with continued use.  It is better when you have pages on both sides of the rings as the weight of the paper helps push the sides down.

The view from above

The 15mm rings mean the Patent is a skinny girl and the PU leather look material doesn't add much bulk to her size.  Now I know "PU leather look" does not sound appealing but the material is quite soft and gives nicely under your touch.  It is not hard and does not feel like plastic, it's feels a little padded is quite tactile.  It reminds me of the patent black shoes I used to beg my mom for when I was little.  I loved how shiny and pretty they were and always felt great when I wore them, until I scuffed them at any rate and then there was tears.  This filo seems a little more hard wearing than those shoes, it has been carried around in my handbag for the last 5-6 weeks with no special care taken and there are no major scratches and certainly no scuffs! 

Look at that shine!

I love this shade of red and when Filofax described these organisers as "high gloss" and "high impact" they were right.  The shine on the Patent is pretty amazing!  I have never really been a red kind of girl but this Filofax has converted me.  I think of my yellow Original as a little piece of Summer that I carry around with me, this Patent has become my little piece of Christmas because the red makes me feel festive... yes even in February!  Carrying on with that theme I have just realised my ochre Malden could be my piece of Autumn so all I need now is a Spring organiser, maybe I should go and take another look at that press release I was talking about at the start of this post and see what I can find!