Dongola is proud to launch SIFR, a collection of limited-edition notebooks designed by Reza Abedini that offer different points of departure for exploration, discovery, and expression. Artists, architects, designers, writers, and all creative practitioners work in notebooks to capture and develop their ideas. SIFR notebooks are intricately made by hand in our bookbinding studio, the site from which all of our publications originate.

The name SIFR is derived from the Arabic word for zero, and the collection conveys the number’s complex nature, formally and conceptually. Zero represents empty space, the infinite, a place to begin. These notebooks embody sifr/zero through a series of unique patterns, providing myriad ways to explore ideas and express oneself. They are the ground from which you can transform nothingness into production.

To create the 4 different patterned notebooks — DEFINITION, LUMINOUS, REFLECTION, and IMPERFECTION — Reza Abedini started with a grid and experimented with lines, dots, circles, and squares. The various patterns were developed by deconstructing the standardized grid we see in high-rise buildings and conventional notebooks to reach a zero point. This is where inspiration begins.

The notebooks will open flat giving you the option of using a two-page spread in both horizontal and vertical formats. The different covers, bindings, and thicknesses of paper support diverse approaches to writing and drawing. The paper selected for the BLANK notebook works well with media such as pencil, ink, charcoal, and watercolor.