Moleskine

Moleskine

Maria was born an only child to an English Mother and an Italian Father in 1967. Raised in Italy until her Father suddenly passed away when she was 18, her large Italian family were typically considered “the working class”, as Maria was constantly reminded of this by the other children at school in her younger years and how poor she was. Maria was also constantly reminded of how terrible the many moles that covered her skin looked too, as she was bullied about them for years, having gained the nickname “Moley Skin”. Maria’s Mother always called them “beauty spots” however and would constantly remind Maria when she was upset, that it is always whats on the inside that counts.

Besides the bullies and the somewhat lack of money they seemed to have, Maria had a wonderful, wholesome childhood growing up. Her Father worked very hard in the local restaurant and her Mother worked just as hard at a library, to help make ends meet. Maria loved going to the library on the weekends, she loved sitting in the big, red, leather chairs and reading the ample books available. Her Mother not only loved to read but she also loved to write, so there were always many books, notebooks, planners and pads around her home growing up too.

Maria’s Mother would have weekly, monthly and yearly planners, big note books, little note books, green, red, yellow and blue notebooks, notebooks with matching pens, notebooks with designs on them and every other notebook you could think of. Maria did often wonder why one person would need so many notebooks, but then she would see how her Mother used them to plan and note down everything... Appointments, birthdays, special events, shopping lists, notes for her Father left on the kitchen side, reminders for Maria, checklists, homework writing, doodling, writing Maria stories, letting Maria use them for creative fun, work notes, the list went on.

Yet there was only one notebook that Maria was never allowed to use or touch or even look through, which was an engraved, little black book, that her Mother keep in her keepsake box. Maria was always curious about this notebook, not only as it was kept so hidden away, but especially as it was engraved with Maria’s name on it. Over the years, Maria kind of lost interest in the little black book and kind of forgot about its existence all together, until the year of 1995 when her Mother unfortunatly passed away.

Maria had been living in England for many years, where she had moved to at 18 to study and find work after her Father died. She was still not really any more well off, although she had worked her way up to become a Manager of an Italian resturaunt in London and quite content with her life as such. Due to her Mothers passing, Maria needed to head back to Italy as she often did on holiday visits, yet only this time it was a for a much sadder reason.

After the funeral, Maria was tasked with clearing out her Mothers belongings from her rented home. Her Mother still loved a notebook, as she could still see them scattered all over the place, yet it was only when Maria came across her Mothers keepsake box and opened it, that all of the memories of the little black book came flooding back.

Maria looked at her name engraved on the book and sat for a moment before she opened it, thinking of all the times she had imagined and wondered what could possibly be written in it.

However, when she finally opened the book, Maria was stunned to see that all of the pages were blank! Well, all but one she realised... On the very last page was a small key tapped to it and written in her Mothers handwritten was the following...

To Our Dearest Maria,

It has always been what is in the inside that counts.

Write your own ending our little Beauty Spot; Biblioteca Ambrosiana - 300001

All our Love Always,

Madre e Padre

Maria was a little bemused, yet she instantly recognised that Biblioteca Ambrosiana was the library that her Mother had worked in her entire life and 30001 was a book reference. Only Maria knew this library like the back of her hand and there were only ever 30000 books kept there at any one time, as long as she could ever remember.

Maria raced to the library instantly, climbed up the very tall ladder, right to the top and to the end of the book shelves and to her surprise there was a book there with the reference 30001. This book was also black, yet this one was a lot larger, heavier and was locked with a little padlock. On the front was the same engraving as on her little black book (Maria) and when she unlocked it with the little key that her Mother had left her in the little black book, to Maria’s complete surprise was $20,000 in cash stored inside the pretend book.

Long story short, Maria is now a very successful and rich business women, living in Milan, as a result of the the luxury notebook manufacturer brand she founded in 1997 from the $20,000 her parents had saved for her their entire life and she eventually inherited. The brand, she named; Moleskine.