The essentials: 15 wrapping papers that made history

As we make our way toward the end of the year, you might have already gathered most of your gift but tradition dictates that you elegantly wrap them. What history does this decorative cover conceal?

1. Bojagi

courtesy The Cooper Hewitt Museum

The Korean wrapping cloth, Bojagi, are traditionally square and made out from a variety of cloths such. The present example is made of silk pieces and dates from ca. 1900. Courtesy The Cooper Hewitt Museum

2. ‘Fancy French’ wrapping paper, Hallmark

courtesy KCUR 89.3

In 1917, when the Hallmark brothers ran out of tissue paper they dug out some ‘fancy French’ paper from their storage, originally meant for lining envelopes they put it on showcase at $0.10s a piece and it was an immediate success.

3. Andy Warhol’s wrapping paper

courtesy Sotheby’s

By the 1950s wrapping paper had become an absolute Christmas standard. Andy Warhol who loved everything related to Christmas created this wrapping paper most likely for a private use.

4. Hiroshi Ouchi’s wrapping paper for Futaba Fashion

courtesy MoMA

Hiroshi Ohchi was a Japanese graphic designer best known for his work as the first art director of the IDEA magazine. In 1950 he designed this gift wrapping for the Japanese brand Futaba Fashion on silkscreen, continuing the Japanese tradition of Furoshiki.

5. Nigel Quiney’s wrapping paper

courtesy collections Victoria and Albert Museum

Nigel Quiney created a range of wrapping paper epitomising the vibrant pop art from the swinging London that became an instant commercial success across Europe and USA. It was used by many celebrities, including Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. Quiney is credited for making gift wrap fashionable and producing the first paper Tote bag to be sold in the UK retail market.

6. Nathalie du Pasquier e Christoph Radl’ wrapping paper

courtesy Cooper Hewitt

Natalie du Pasquier and Christoph Radl, of the Italian design group Memphis, combined contradictory images – traditional architectural drawings and playful toy-like graphics – to demonstrate postmodernist aesthetics on their paper bag from 1984.

7. Keith Haring Estate’s wrapping paper

courtesy Galerie Van Gelder

Keith Haring sought to raise awareness about modern social issues by creating everything from buttons to t-shirt to murals. Edited by the Keith Haring Estate this wrapping paper celebrates the artists unconventional Cosmos Gift wrap, 1992. 12 offset gift wrapping papers with 1988 image print; yellow, blue, dark pink, black & white; 2 tag/card sheets.

8. Salvatore Gregorietti’s wrapping paper for Rinascente, 1966

courtesy Rinascente Archives

Salvatore Gregorietti is said to be one of the major exponents of Italian graphic design. After having worked for Massimo Vignelli (his eponymous studio and then the agency Unimark Internazional) he became consultant for Rinascente’s advertising and communication office in 1964. His works blend the culture of image with architectural design, which led to the conception and production of very special communications.

9. Louise Lawler’s wrapping paper

courtesy MoMA

Louise Lawler is a key figure of the Pictures Generation of appropriation art. She uses appropriation as a conceptual tool and way of directing attention to things that are tacit and unspoken – the constraints, rules, and economies of the loose system that governs the art world. Following the election of Trump the Brooklyn Museum created a pop up entitled ‘Anger Management’ where woman artist created consumer goods addressing themes of anger, protest, and resistance.

10. William Morris’ wrapping papers, Pepin Press

courtesy Pepin Press

William Morris is still renowned today as the designer of patterns such as “Willow Bough” and “Strawberry Thief” and although most of his design were destined to become wallpapers publishers such as Pepin Press have created a version to ornate your gifts.

11. The Italian Carta Varese

courtesy stationary Villa Varese

The Italian Carta Varese originated in the city of Bassano del Grappa with the printer Stamperia Remondini in 1600 which became renowned for the colors and patterns of their variety of patterns. At the time they were used as decoration of chests, cradles or combs. Originaly hand printed by means of wooden printing block, the technique evolved to lithography in the 19th century before the arrival of off-set printing by the mid 20th century that allowed a wider use including gift rapping.

12. Sugar paper

It has been used in Europe since the 16th century to wrap precious goods such as sugar and tobacco coming from the Americas. The natural coloring of the paper was made with plant extracts such as indigo and woad or minerals such as ultramarine, giving it the characteristic blue color that today we refer to as Powder Blue, that ranges from desaturated indigo, to avion, to Duck Egg Blue.

13. Kraft paper

Its invention turned paper, which until then had been considered a luxury good, into a mass product. Resistant and durable, Kraft paper was developed in 1880, the result of a cycle of innovations in the paper industry that had begun almost forty years earlier: the use of wood instead of cotton and rags as the sourcing material, patented by Friedrich Gottlob Keller, the invention of a mechanical defibrator and the use of chemistry to dissolve certain components.

14. “Hello Santa”

courtesy Paper Source

Coca-Cola did not invent Christmas but they certainly shaped the image of a jolly bearded man that we all came to think of as father Santa. In 1931, Coca-Cola comissionned the illustrator Haddon Sundblom to draw Santa for Christmas advertisement. The happy figure was inspired by a poem by Clement Clark Moore called “A Visit from St. Nicholas” – commonly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. A classic take on Christmas imaginery by the american paper giant.

15. Daily Fiction, Normann Copenhagen

Courtesy Normann Copenhagen

Winner of a Wallpaper Design Award in 2017, the collection designed by Danish duo Femmes Régionales for Normann Copenhagen returned the iconography of interior design in a series of stationery and gift accessories: Venetian terrazzos, pastel and desaturated colors, metallic glitter stickers and much more.

1. Bojagi

courtesy The Cooper Hewitt Museum

2. ‘Fancy French’ wrapping paper, Hallmark

courtesy KCUR 89.3

3. Andy Warhol’s wrapping paper

By the 1950s wrapping paper had become an absolute Christmas standard. Andy Warhol who loved everything related to Christmas created this wrapping paper most likely for a private use.

courtesy Sotheby’s

4. Hiroshi Ouchi’s wrapping paper for Futaba Fashion

courtesy MoMA

5. Nigel Quiney’s wrapping paper

courtesy collections Victoria and Albert Museum

6. Nathalie du Pasquier e Christoph Radl’ wrapping paper

courtesy Cooper Hewitt

7. Keith Haring Estate’s wrapping paper

courtesy Galerie Van Gelder

8. Salvatore Gregorietti’s wrapping paper for Rinascente, 1966

courtesy Rinascente Archives

9. Louise Lawler’s wrapping paper

courtesy MoMA

10. William Morris’ wrapping papers, Pepin Press

courtesy Pepin Press

11. The Italian Carta Varese

courtesy stationary Villa Varese

12. Sugar paper

13. Kraft paper

14. “Hello Santa”

courtesy Paper Source

15. Daily Fiction, Normann Copenhagen

Courtesy Normann Copenhagen

The earliest forms of gift wrapping were recorded in Asia where it was generally believed that wrapping wrapping items brought good fortunes to the person who received them. In Korea the ceremonial wrapping cloth is called Bojagi and goes back to the first century A.D before it became a cultural icon in pre-modern Korea during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897). In Japan the reusable wrapping textile are designated as Furoshiki or Fukusa for the more formal version and have been used since the Edo period. Both of these wrapping cloth are still used today and elevate the art to a remembrance ceremony.

Gift stylist demonstrating how to gift wrap, 1950-1960. Courtesy Hallmark Corporate

In the West, the ritual of giving gifts at Christmas is commonly accepted to have originated with the wisemen that offered their gifts concealed in elaborate decorative fabrics. However, it is not until a few centuries later that wrapping paper became a standard part of the Christmas season. The Hallmark brothers ran a stationary store in Kansas City. In 1917, the holiday season proved to be particularly good and they ran out of the tissue paper people were using to wrap gifts. Not wanting to be hampered by their success the brothers searched their warehouse and found a stack of ‘fancy French’ – paper meant not for display, but for lining envelopes. When they added that paper to their showcase, setting its price at $0.10 a sheet, it was an immediate success.

Hallmark wrapping papers’ exhibitors, 1960. Courtesy Hallmark Corporate

Hallmark began advertising gift wrap in the 1930s. One of the first advertisements to retailers appeared in the Hall Brothers Handy Book. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hallmark promoted gift wrap by sending gift stylist around the country for gift wrap workshops and demonstrations and began to offer boutique merchandising making it easy for shoppers to find and select their gift wrap. The rest is history.

Since the 1950s the art of wrapping has taken a myriad of forms but amid the commercial dross some brands or individuals tried to distinguish themselves with prestigious collaborations that you might not want tear.