The orange notebook with a cult following! They are a favorite of artists, designers, architects, scientists and people who like to use graph paper for notes, sketching and hand drafting. The bright orange covers are scored near the top to fold neatly behind the pad while writing .
The stationer’s known as “Papeteries VERILHAC Freres” was founded in Lyon, France in 1932 by two brothers, Henri and Robert Verilhac. They came from a family of paper merchants, with two brothers from the previous generation having set up a family business selling paper mainly in the southern part of France and North Africa. In 1934, the company moved from Lyon to Sechilienne near Grenoble in the French Alps.
The brothers concentrated on producing and selling stationery, exercise books, and later on, the Rhodia notebook. The Rhodia trademark—two fir trees—was used for most of the products and especially the notebooks. It was said the two trees were a symbol of the two brothers.
The name “Rhodia” comes from the Rhone, a river flowing by Lyon and dividing the Alps from the Massif Central. Both of these places are important in the company’s early history. The word "Rhône" comes from Latin Rhodanus. It may also have Celtic origins—“to run”, “river road”, or even the name of a local tribe in ancient Gaul.
The Rhodia notebook, originally a sideline for Rhodia, was to become its most famous product. It immediately overshadowed other notebooks of the time because of its quality materials and original design of a scored folding front cover. The orange cover dates back to the 1930s. It remains unchanged to this day.
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