Koval is a workshop that produces mainly hand-made, high quality sketchbooks.
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Idea
Many artists like to use the best quality papers, because only such allow to achieve the desired artistic effects. Our workshop was established to produce sketchbooks from such materials. We do not want to compete with large brands that produce medium products on a mass scale, but to create for a narrow niche customers with high requirements.
Hundreds of tests
In order to create a perfect sketchbook I tried dozens of papers and did a lot of tests. I have produced a lot of prototypes to create a sketchbook that will not only be of the highest quality, but also will be simple and at the same time will be different from all those that already exist on the market. That’s why from the very beginning I was looking for non-standard solutions, such as non-integrated, solid rubber, cut corners or pages from cover to cover. Veneers with which I decorate sketchbooks have been carefully selected and tested. I also tried out various adhesives and gluing methods, and developed my own hand sewing method.
300 gsm is a real challenge
Paper of such a high weight poses a real challenge to hardcover. Such weight is a high stiffness of the paper. In addition, high-quality watercolor cotton paper is extremely hard. These two factors make the place of bonding is prone to tearing. There is a much greater breaking force than thinner papers, and the adhesive does not penetrate as well in cellulose papers. And since most sketchbooks available on the market are produced in production lines designed to store books that use thinner and softer papers, the unlucky place often looks like this:
Therefore, an important element when creating 300 gsm sketchbooks was the improvement of gluing in this place. The hand-made production process has led to improvements that have significantly improved the quality of gluing and tear resistance.
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Legal
Koval Sketchbooks is legal company registry in Polish. You can find us in official Polish registry: https://prod.ceidg.gov.pl/ceidg.cms.engine/
This document is a confirmation of entry in polish goverment registry of companies - CDIDG - DOCUMENT
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About me
My name is Tomasz Kowal, born in 1978, and since my early childhood I have always been interested in fine arts. After secondary school I studied at the University of Arts and Crafts and then at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Silesian University in Cieszyn. For about 25 years of my creative activity I was involved in analog and digital photography, computer graphics, sculpture, painting, iconography, illustration, wickerwork, ceramics, urban sketching and many others. Above all, I have always loved drawing. It really inspired me to make my first sketchbook. Although it was possible to buy various sketchbooks on the market and I tried almost all of them, I found that they always lacked something. There was a MOS project (My Own Sketchbook) and in order to find a suitable solution I made dozens of prototype sketchbooks by hand. This small private project gradually turned into a workshop called Koval Sketchbooks.