Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather Zippered Case

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

I’m back! I had to take a Owl Ink hiatus due to my life catching up to me– friends getting married, graduations, and travels. If you have any travels on the horizon, then this is a must-read review.

This is the Galen Leather Zippered Case, and it’s one of many quality wares offered by Galen Leather. Based out of Istanbul, Galen Leather is a brother-sister duo founded on their love for natural materials like leather, wood, and metal. Zeynep and Yusuf create every single article by hand in their workshop, and their small business story is truly inspiring!

Zeynep kindly reached out to me and asked if I’d like to try one of their cases. After browsing through their impressive selection, I decided to go for the Zippered Case. A few weeks later, a small box arrived at my door!

 


Details and Specs

  • Price: $49.00
  • Dimensions: 6.69″ x 5.03″ x 0.82″
  • 5 Pen Loops and 1 Notebook Pocket
  • Notebook Size: A6 Slim

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

The packaging is impressive– before you even open the box, you just know that it houses a high-quality item. It’s made of durable cardboard and can definitely be repurposed as a box for stamps, stickers, or used Field Notes.

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

In addition to the case itself, the box also includes an information card, a coupon towards a future purchase, and an Evil Eye charm for luck! According to my card, my case was made by Yusuf. Thank you Yusuf!

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

Let’s take a look at the case! In addition to a rich genuine leather smell, it also has a lightly pleasant smell of wax or oils. I assume this is from the burnishing process, which seals the leather edges and leaves the entire piece luxuriously smooth.

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

The zipper feels sturdy and zips smoothly without catching. The little zipper pull is also made of leather, which I thought was a small but nice touch.

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

Upon opening the case, you see that there are five pen loops on the left and a deep pocket on the right. The interior of the case is a soft felt-like material, which should be sufficiently soft if you are holding expensive fountain pens.

I thought about how I wanted to use my new case, and I decided to turn it into a portable lettering/sketching kit!

 

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

This particular model is designed to fit pocket notebooks likeĀ Field Notes or Word Notebooks. I inserted one of my Field Notes Shelterwood books and it fit snugly.

Next up: pens! The case is designed to fit fountain pens, but since I’m more of an artist/letterer/calligrapher than a fountain pen collector, I decided to add some of my favorite lettering pens.

  • Pentel Fude Touch Brush Pen
  • Kuretake CocoIro Lettering Pen (review here!)
  • Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gel Pen
  • Zebra Brush Pen (review here!)
  • Kuretake Fudegokochi Brush Pen

Even though the elastic loops are designed to accommodate larger-barreled fountain pens, they still held my slimmest gel pen.

 

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

Now I have a portable note-taking/brainstorming/lettering kit! I can bring it with me on travels, or simply do some sketching or lettering while away from my desk.

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

I realized that I could also put some small memorabilia, like tickets, receipts, or business cards, into the notebook pocket.

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

Zipping up the case with no difficulty. You could probably stuff quite a lot into this case, the zipper feels durable and should be able to handle heavier use.

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

The compact size fits easily into a small purse!

 

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

Many thanks to Zeynep and Yusuf of Galen Leather for letting me review your work!

You can find this specific model here, and similar zippered models here. Be sure to check out their other case offerings! They create covers for all your favorite notebooks– Hobonichi, Traveler’s, Leuchtturm, and more.

 

Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather

 

4 thoughts on “Owl Ink Review: Galen Leather Zippered Case

  1. Nice review. Unfortunately this case has a major flaw, it only has one elastic loop per pen. This means the pens can knock and rub up against each other, something that is OK for $1 school pens, but not OK for fountain pens costing 100’s of times more.

    A second (lesser) flaw is that the pens can rub up against the cover, or whatever you have inserted in the right side. A fold-down flap made of soft cloth or leather would fix this.

    Overall, I like the concept and apparent quality of this case. But the design falls short when it comes to protecting the pens. I hope a Version-2 case comes out to replace this one.

    1. Thanks for reading my review David! Though I don’t personally own any $$$ fountain pens, I see where you’re coming from and I think that’s great feedback. You might already be familiar with Nock Co. cases, which have some of the features you suggested. http://nockco.com/cases

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