Convolute Florentine papers

We offer sheet goods, too, which have their place, but for wrapping small items, like CDs, DVDs, books and jewel studded earrings much smaller papers would suffice. With a cost-saving stockpiling targeted, hoarding up small pieces of paper would make sense.

A friendly salesman brought the perfect solution with his samples of gift wrap paper right into our office: he presented his company's collection in booklet form. When he gave away one of these sample books – carrying samples no longer current – the purchasing agent, who is responsible for office supplies at Manufactum, was delighted to discover the booklet supplied enough gift paper for a whole year. What could be more natural than to offer directly such a ‘sampler’ in a 35 x 25 cm format? So, we commissioned a kind of sampler for gift paper with 50 different exquisite Florentine papers bound with covers in the material quality of our catalogue cover.

The individual pages, some of which we offer as sheet goods, are perforated and easily separated from the sampler. (The margin with the perforation reduces them only minimally in size. The resulting 33.5 x 25 cm format corresponds roughly to an octavo or one-eighth of a standard sheet format). The remaining stock is easily stowed away in a desk drawer or a bookcase until it is needed again.

The standard format for sheets, for the longest time the only available format, compelled cost-conscious users of gift wrapping to become veritable archivists: with a sharp eye they had to estimate how much of a sheet with the measurements of 70 x 100 cm they really needed and had to cut it to size. The remnants disappeared into a drawer with the previous remainders to patiently await the next call to duty as wrapping paper for a smaller gift. The wait could go on for a good while. Now it was not as if manufacturers offered no gift wrapping paper in smaller formats. They did, but preferably in gift sets with a small format paper, a gift ribbon and if possible a greeting card, all wrapped in cellophane – a ready-made product, quick and easy, but with a single sheet of paper at a significantly higher price.