Most wrapping paper is expensive and generic, following the cliché colors and designs that have been ascribed to holiday aesthetics for eons. No one knows this better than Bridie Picot, who was searching for gift wrap for her husband and realized how much of an afterthought the options were. Why hadn’t design transformed the culture of gift giving? “You spend all this time and money on the gift itself, and then you inevitably scramble to find something uninspiring at the last minute to throw it in. Where could I even buy cute paper that wasn’t totally generic, overly feminine, or covered in pine cones or trains?” she wondered. Bridie and her cofounders, Kapono Chung and Pete Karras, met while working at Mother (an ad agency in New York City). Their new company Wrappy Paper features designs by artists in collaboration. This season, we’re actually looking forward to wrapping gifts for our loved ones.
Wrappy Paper's first design collaboration was with Lady Fancy Nails, who also created some custom nail designs for their first photo shoot. Now they're working on secret collabs with a fashion designer and an interactive floral installation for Valentine’s Day. For the winter holidays, the brand's "Wrap Artists" (kind of like Subway’s Sandwich Artists, who are also masters of wraps) will be deployed at Shoppe Object market as well as Canal Street Market in New York City.
But if you can’t make it to those spots, Wrappy Paper will be available at some of our favorite design stores around the U.S., including Yowie (Philadelphia), Superior Merchandise Company (upstate New York), Coming Soon New York (Manhattan), Easy Tiger Goods (Toronto), and Commonplace (Milwaukee), Idun (Minnesota), Now or Never (Tucson, Arizona), and Garden Party (Asheville, North Carolina). It's also shoppable direct-to-consumer, available from your laptop or phone on the go.
And while Wrappy Paper is cute and all, it also has a fresh take on the format. Instead of long rolls of paper, it’s sold folded. For $10 you get two 20" x 30" sheets, which are made using recycled paper, eco-friendly dyes, and compostable Baggies. Oh, and did we mention free stickers? No need to go scrambling to find a tape roll to complete the seal. “Wrappy paper is folded, not rolled. This means far more efficient storage, display (in stores), and drastically reduced waste in shipping. No more big rolls taking up loads of space or unnecessary wasteful packaging,” says Bridie.
Judging a gift by its wrapping paper isn’t exactly a tried-and-true method, but with Wrappy Paper it might just be.
