Paper

Giulio Giannini e Figlio has bound books and marbled paper in Florence since 1856, run today by the same family six generations on - their notebooks wrapped in soft, natural-tanned leather with a leather tie instead of a clasp, the ivory paper inside left plain for whatever the owner needs. Fratelli Bonvini has done the same in Milan since 1909, on century-old letterpress machines still in daily use; its Quaderni d'Autore series pairs the shop with living artists - illustrator Beppe Giacobbe's Slow Thought notebook is Singer-stitched and printed on recycled Italian paper - while its 1930s Fausto Gallico typographic ornaments still get reused, most recently redrawn by the letterpress collective Cabaret Typographie into a moka pot for a holiday card.

What connects a Florentine bookbinder and a Milanese letterpress house is less the paper than the archive behind it - patterns and type ornaments kept for decades, still being put back to work rather than retired to a drawer.

Both are exclusive to Australia through The Leopard.

Read our guide to spotting real marbled paper.