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Logan's Style Watch
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GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES.... OR NO?
by Logan Bentley Lessona
ROME, December 3, 2000 --In the last column I wrote about Christmas presents and how I try to collect things all year long and find thoughtful presents that are tailored for the recipient.
When I could not spend a lot of money for a present I always tried to make sure that "It's the thought that counts, not just the gift." In addition, I've always believed that making an effort with the package shows that you really care.
I've never lived in Japan but I know that even the smallest item usually comes in some kind of elegant wrapping, whether paper or cloth. I'm certainly not Martha Stewart, nor would I want to spend the time that she or her assistants do in putting together her creations, but thinking ahead can really pay off at the right moment.
I learned how to wrap boxes years ago when I worked Saturdays at a very uptown shop in Ardmore, Oklahoma, called Jean-Lee. The ladies from Dallas who had Nieman Marcus right next door often made the trip to Ardmore to shop there. And at Christmas the presents under the tree that made women salivate were those that displayed the trademark Jean-Lee wrappings.
I never saw a fabric ribbon that I could throw away unless it was impossibly frayed, I always iron them and roll them around the cardboard roll that comes with paper towels. Recycling? You betcha! Same thing goes with really pretty or striking wrapping paper. If the scotch tape has ruined the edges then I cut them off and use the paper for small packages.
A few years ago I noticed the large paper sheets printed in brown with a rough surface that are used to simulate rocky mountains in the traditional nativity scenes or "presepe" that all Italian families assemble under or next to the Christmas tree. I tried wrapping boxes with it and using bunches of raffia bought at a florist's wholesale shop and adding springs of dried wheat they also sell for decoration. Several layers of brown tissue paper could be used instead.
Wallpaper makes great wrapping for boxes and my favorites come from Laura Ashley. I also buy the rolls of paper borders which can be used instead of ribbon on plain-colored paper. When plain papers and ribbons are used small bunches of dried flowers or springs of holly or mistletoe make a nice touch.
Sometimes large fabric stores have sales where you can buy cottons or even tulle or other fabrics that cost less per yard/meter than gift wrappings. For items that have a weird shape difficult to wrap try using tissue paper and then placing the item in a colored shopping bag and perhaps trimming the bag with a cutout from a magazines of flowers or dogs or polar bears or pandas or whatever strikes your fancy.
I collect packages of paper doilies in white, shiny gold, silver, green, and red. Then I'll combine them, with the biggest one on the bottom and the smallest on top before placing them on top of the wrapped box. Sometimes I'll glue an image in the middle - I love the reproductions of Christmas images from the gay nineties, the Santa Clauses, angel's faces, flowers, and children. I even have some original lithographs I bought years ago in London at a biannual fair held in a hotel, they call it ephemera, and at times I use those for somebody really special.
I keep several large boxes where I put clippings of beautiful images cut from magazines, one for animals, one for flowers, and one for "others" which I pull out when it's time to wrap the goodies. Wholesale ribbon shops sell beautiful rayon ribbons in checks and plaids that are especially suitable on packages for men.
One of my best sources for packaging stuff is a wholesaler to jewelers called Ideal Packaging that's a stone's throw from Milan's famous Duomo in the center of town. They have shopping bags in many colors of slick paper along with a variety of ribbons. Recently I bought several rolls of a twisted gold rope about half the diameter of your little finger. Any package tied with that looks like a million dollars!
Ideal Packaging also has round, square, and heart-shaped boxes in various sizes padded and covered with a suede-like fabric in colors like red, pale pink, black, navy blue, and turquoise. I also bought double-sided pink satin ribbon and took three pale pink heart-shaped boxes, put something with great sentimental significance in each, stacked them like a pyramid, tied them together with the ribbon and topped the composition off with five fresh pale pink roses. This was my present to my daughter when she had her first baby.
She always tells me that my packaging efforts are useless, but I like to think that some people appreciate them. And my friends usually do say "It's too beautiful to open!" So there.
© 2001 Logan Bentley Lessona
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