Archer & Olive Dot Grid Notepad Review

I’ve seen so many Instagram posts about Archer & Olive over the past few years. (Creative) Bullet Journalists rave about it on social media because of that white 160gsm dot grid paper. I get the appeal because with 160gsm, you can say goodbye to ghosting and bleed through especially when you draw a lot with markers on your planner.

Then again, I am a heavy fountain pen user.

I have been skeptical about Archer & Olive’s fountain pen friendly claim for years. As you may or may not know, paper weight isn’t the ultimate determining factor of a paper’s “fountain friendliness”. Tomoe River is only 52gsm and is one of the best fountain pen papers out there.

Read: Tomoe River Paper is One of the Best Paper for Fountain Pens (…but)

If you do a quick Google search with these keywords “Archer & Olive review fountain pen friendly”, you will read from several sources how disappointed they were with their fountain pen experience. It’s not bad but fountain pen have specific needs when it comes to their paper.

It’s been a while since I’ve last seen a review about this someone from the fountain pen world so I decided to purchase one with my own money to put this to the test.

✨The Packaging

Archer & Olive must be top tier when it comes to packaging. The box that it came with was a nice thick cardboard. The branding on the box wasn’t too much thanks to A&O’s sleek logo. Does this matter? To some, maybe. Good packaging also means that it’s easily a great gift item.

I purchased one of their notepads instead of the notebooks because I wanted something different. I believe dot grid notebooks are their bread and butter – and are often used by more creative Bullet Journalists.

😍 The B5 dot grid notepad is gorgeous

Oh wow, this notepad is just beautiful. The binding is perfection. Materials do not look cheap.

My favorite part of this notepad is that you can use it in portrait or landscape. The B5 size is perfect for switching orientation. Don’t forget that this has perforated pages so you won’t ruin the binding of the notepad.

The paper

The paper is of high quality, no doubt about that. At 160gsm, it was able to handle different types of pens without feathering or bleeding. The only exception (has always been the case for most papers) is the Sharpie permanent marker.

The white dot grid is really white. Not off white – white. I appreciate papers like these because I think they really give off the most accurate colors on paper.

OK, but is it fountain pen friendly?

TWSBI 580AL (Extra Fine) with Robert Oster Deep Sea (sheen)

Lamy 2000 (Extra Fine) with Herbin Vert Atlantide (shimmering)

Platinum Procyon (Fine) with Noodler’s Apache Sunset (shade)

Sailor Pro Gear Slim (Medium) with Monteverde Fire Opal

TWSBI Eco-T (1.1 Stub) with Diamine Tropical Glow (shimmering)

Based on my test, yes. I really had low expectations and I was prepared to take a photo of the paper as it feathered after I had written with a fountain pen. But there was a minimal feathering – and I have ink drops as samples here. However, I wouldn’t use it for heavy fountain pen use. Just because I didn’t like how my fountain pens didn’t “glide” on the paper.

I reached out to the Archer and Olive team to ask if there had been any changes in the paper in the past few years. They mentioned that nothing has changed.

A number of factors could have been at play here – like the types of fountain pens and fountain pen inks that I’ve used. TWSBI fountain pens aren’t known to be “wet” writers. The inks that I’ve used might have been too behaved.

Or maybe I just got lucky? Maybe they’ve changed something? Do I not know what “fountain pen friendly” is? 🧐

Read: Fountain Pen friendly notebooks that aren’t Rhodia or Tomoe River

If you want to share your fountain pen experience with Archer & Olive papers, please let us know in the comment section of this review.

Who should buy this?

Notepads like these are a great desk companion. If I didn’t have my Hobonichi Weeks as my work planner, I probably would have used the dot grid notepad as my scribble paper.

I wouldn’t really recommend fountain pen users to purchase this notebook because we aren’t the target market. It’s also possible that it’s a hit or miss when it comes to fountain pen friendliness.

This notepad (and other Archer & Olive products) work best for the more creative types. The 160gsm’s purpose is to withstand different types of medium other than standard writing materials.

Where to buy

This notepad is priced at $36 as of writing. Shipping + tax excluded.

B5 White Dot Grid Notepad

Other Notepads

Promo code: RDA10

Disclosure: This product was purchased by the author. Photos are ours unless otherwise stated. All opinions expressed here are the author’s own and are not in any way influenced by the aforementioned organization. For inquiries, please visit our Partnership and Advertisements page.