One interesting manufacturing start-up we met in Durham last week was Bound. This small printing company offers notebooks in multiple styles (including a vegan leather Moleskine-esque number) but with a twist. You can, if you so desire, have something different printed on every page. You can make a little notebook for just a range of dates or add a map, some tic-tac-toe boards, and a musical staff. You can pop in an iPhone design template or some graph paper.
I met the CCO, Michael Faber, in Durham and he introduced himself by saying “I heard you’re an asshole” which, while true, was quite hurtful. Luckily, he followed up by showing us his great little notebooks and the fistfight that was brewing between us turned into a video interview.
CEO Joel Sadler created the company when he decided he needed a custom notebook for a trip out West but realized none were to be had. Thus Bound was born.
The cheapest model costs $10 for 48 pages. The Vegan notebook costs $50 for 140 pages and is completely animal free. Non-vegan models are in the works once they find a good, solid source for koala and panda skin.
Each notebook is made by hand in North Carolina. This model – a sort of “artisanal manufacturing” – is really the way forward for web-savvy businesses. Incidentally, they’re offering 17% off with the coupon code PEOPLEPOWERED in honor of their launch of two new world maps.