Quick flick – Wrap

Issue one of Wrap came out last year – the world’s first magazine that you could take apart and use as wrapping paper. It was full of lovely illustrations that would make for great wrapping paper, and I really like the idea of a magazine that invites you to pull it apart. But ultimately it wasn’t really magazine-y enough for my liking.

Issue two addresses that problem by taking a much more magazine-based approach, printing interviews with illustrators on the reverse of the wrapping paper. It makes for a much more engaging read – and not just for you. Tell your friend to unwrap their present carefully and they’ll be able to read the interviews too.

The whole magazine is held together with a fabric band, so sheets of wrapping paper can easily slide out to be used – no staples or stitching to contend with.

And it has some lovely touches like this insert in the centre spread, allowing you to enjoy Carnovsky’s illustration in all its glory, but still include an interview.

I really like it, and from a purely economic point of view it makes sense – a magazine, plus eight sheets of nice wrapping paper for £9.50? Not bad.

If anything, I’d like to see it get even more magazine-y. At the moment the text is restricted to Q&As with illustrators and artists – it would be great to see some more involved stories in there. I can imagine lots of stories lending themselves to the idea of wrapping, covering, gifting, etc. It’s great to see a project like Wrap developing issue by issue – I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do next.