Continental ring binder (black)

Paper intelligence. In praise of the index card.

Two major works of the 20th century – one literary, the other scientific, and both testifying to the prodigious reading and cast-iron memory of their creators (Arno Schmidt and Niklas Luhmann) – were born out of the card index: Both authors, favoured by temperament and the grace of an early birth, did not run the risk of being drawn to the computer and thus escaped the information technology attack on their creativity, which lies in the fact that the tool absorbs a considerable part of the attention that should actually be paid to the ‘workpiece’.
For planning and structuring work, we therefore actually recommend a return to the index card. While electronic outliners, schedulers and calendars reduce the user to a ‘form filler’, a card index forces you to form structures and look for cross-connections. The mobile, structured memory on paper has significant advantages: As you fill it, you can reflect (and you can scratch your head with a pencil to boost your ideas). And when you need to access it, it's right there, without having to boot up a device, open an app or connect to the internet. It's always in sight and at hand.

Made to last: File binders made of real hardboard.

The first big difference between our Continental file and ring binders and the products available in other stores lies in the base material: while conventional binders are made of recycled greyboard laminated with paper, we have ours made of real hardboard, a former top product of the paper industry that has long since be used industrially in sealing, luggage, footwear and car bodies. The material is resistant to bending and splitting, and our binders made from it are far more stable, thereby protecting the closing mechanisms that are sensitive to pressure.