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    <description>Field notes from the bench in Udaipur — leather, paper, and the daily practice of writing by hand.</description>
    <language>en-in</language>
    <lastBuildDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 05:49:03 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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      <title>How Full-Grain Leather Ages — A Field Guide to Patina</title>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>Why full-grain leather deepens in colour, softens in the hand, and tells the story of the years you keep it. A closer look from our bench in Udaipur.</description>
      <category>Craft</category>
      <category>leather</category>
      <category>patina</category>
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      <dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Aarav Mehta</dc:creator>
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      <title>Fountain Pen or Ballpoint? Choosing Ink for Handmade Cotton Paper</title>
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      <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>Which pens work best on our acid-free ivory pages — a bench-tested guide to feathering, ghosting, dry time, and paper weight for handmade leather diaries.</description>
      <category>Guides</category>
      <category>paper</category>
      <category>fountain pen</category>
      <category>stationery</category>
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      <dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Ishita Rao</dc:creator>
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      <title>Inside the Bindery — A Day at Lal Ghat</title>
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      <pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>Photographs and field notes from a working day at the Retkatha bench: sewing signatures, pressing embossing, and the small rhythms of handmade bookbinding in Udaipur.</description>
      <category>Behind the Bench</category>
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      <title>Corporate Gifting with Handmade Diaries — What Actually Works</title>
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      <pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>Practical notes from years of B2B orders — lead times, embossing options, packaging, and how to run a gifting campaign that people remember.</description>
      <category>Wholesale</category>
      <category>wholesale</category>
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      <dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Kabir Sharma</dc:creator>
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      <title>Small Notebooks, Long Lives — Ten Years With One Diary</title>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>A reflection on carrying a single hand-bound diary for a decade — what it looks like, what it holds, and what daily writing actually changes.</description>
      <category>Journal</category>
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      <category>writing habits</category>
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      <dc:creator xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Retkatha</dc:creator>
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