I’ve been a binder for over 10 years, and all my prints are done in-house. I print the finest wedding & portrait albums and discovered the best paper mills that I have worked with are Canson (which produces Arches papers) and Hahnemuehle. I have been importing Canson’s range of paper for several years but unfortunately, Canson was recently acquired by F.I.L.A and have made restrictions on their exports. Fortunately Hahnemuehle range of watercolour papers are on par with Canson’s and I am very pleased with their wonderful papers that form my handmade sketchbooks.

Hahnemuehle was founded in 1584 and is one of the oldest paper mills in the world. They are also only 1 of 5 paper mills which possess a mould paper making machine as they are no longer being built.

The pages are made from papers that I import from Hahnemuehle in Germany, and comes in various large sheets. They are cut down to form the pages of the sketchbooks with zero waste, which is why they are not made into regular size such as A5, A4 and so on as there will be wastages. 

For the cover, I use a specialty canvas book covering material that’s made and which I personally import from Japan. The hardcover boards are acid-free Swedich made boards and the adhesive used in the binding are all acid-free. Even the fine details such as the red elastic band is sourced from Japan.

I only use either Bristol papers (from the US) or Italian made papers that are acid-free, archival and extremely resistant to aging in cream colour.

Note: The Bristol papers which are imported from the US are only for a limited run, unfortunately these wonderful Bristol papers are no longer being manufactured, and I bought all the remaining stocks which were very limited. The Bristol papers have a high cotton content, are cream in color and plate (smooth) surface. They are extremely bleed-through resistant.

The Italian made papers are what I sourced to be as close as possible but are no less inferior in quality. As I only use the finest materials in my sketchbooks and would never compromise on its quality. 

As with all things handmade, there will always be inconsistencies (what I prefer to call uniqueness) between each and every sketchbook. These are not defects, however they are the beauty that makes each sketchbook different from one another. No handmade product will be perfectly identical, unlike machine made products. Nevertheless, when you receive the sketchbooks, I am confident that you will love them, especially when your precious works of art graces each page. 

Absolutely. If you have a particular size you’d like done or even a specific paper that you’d like to work with, please get in touch with me. The beauty of being a binder that specializes in traditional bookbinding methods is that many things are possible!

You can send in your actual artwork over or send the digital file which will be printed and mounted onto the cover.

After placing your order, you can send your digital file to j@jaredl.im with the title ‘Your Art-Custom Sketchbooks – Order #’ (# – being the order number).

For physical artwork, please courier it over to 108B Jalan SS24/2, Taman Megah, 47301, PJ, and leave a note inside with your order number.

1) For starters, your artwork will be laminated with a clear matte-velvet lamination for protection and waterproofing. The lamination will have a slight effect on your artwork, making the colours or intensity just a touch lighter or very slightly muted. This however is normal and is the nature of lamination.

2) The paper you use must be 200gsm or less as thicker papers will not be suitable as covers. Yupo papers are not suitable. For digital files, your artwork needs to be in .jpeg format at a recommended 240ppi.

3) The size of your artwork is based on the sketchbook size ordered and needs to be as shown in the guide here.

Shipping charges are as follows:

WEST MALAYSIA – RM7 flat rate per order (via Qxpress Courier or similar)

While some of the sketchbooks are made ahead, most of them are made upon order. As such, there are no returns accepted after your order has been placed. 

If you’ve placed an order and would like to change it to a different size/type, please send me a whatsapp text ASAP to check the exact status of the order. If the sketchbook is not yet in the making, you can make changes to your order. If it’s already in the making, please note that no changes can be made. 

The sketchbook must be unused when the defect is reported. Please take some photos of the defect and send it over to j@jaredl.im. You will also need to send the defected sketchbook back to me. If the defect is confirmed to be a quality issue, the replacement process will begin. You will be responsible for the shipping charges sending the defected sketchbook to me, however the replacement will be sent to you at no charge to you. Please note that any defects must be informed within 14 days of receiving your order. Any defects reported after 14 days of receiving your order will not be eligible for the replacement.