Cool Gifting, Sustainable by Nature
UNWRP: creating new experiences when it comes to art and sustainability in lifestyle items.
Photo Courtesy: UNWRP.
Her sweet personality comes across our phone call and you can definitely tell, as she speaks, how passionate she is about art and creating a support system for artists within her community. Before we dived into the future of the brand, I had to ask a bit about how she started this journey: “The idea of creating a wrapping paper business came to me when I was still at Baruch College, majoring in graphic design. I thought about it and told my boyfriend, but being a guy he was like, I don’t know if it’s a good idea, it’s just wrapping paper”. - She says.
She graduated in 2013 and pursued a career as a graphic designer in NYC, working for Essence Magazine among other renowned businesses. Nonetheless, she found herself designing and printing paper because she couldn’t find anything that she liked. She already had the experience in creating something that could gravitate towards herself as well as others, so in 2017 she decided to take her passion seriously and turn it into a business. “If finding nice wrapping paper was an issue for me, then it was definitely an issue for someone else”. She explains.
Over the past 3 years she has transformed what was meant to be a simple wrapping paper business into a lifestyle brand that has been featured in Forbes and Beyonce’s website. “That’s been the highlight of my life, my hand is on Beyonce’s website, I mean… what else do you need?” She says laughing.
Personality and sustainability are the key elements of her brand. “Everything has to be multipurpose and 90% of the time things are never used for what they were intended”. She tells me. “You usually relate wrapping paper to a cheap thing that ends up in the waste as soon as the gift is opened, but we offer great quality paper with artwork, therefore it can be framed afterwards. A gift within a gift”. She jokes.
Photo Courtesy: UNWRP.
The company has been evolving alongside her and she now offers products ranging from gift cards to home goods. But what they all have in common, apart from their beautiful designs, is that they’re all meant to have an extended lifetime. Their best-selling item is the fabric wrap, which she always wanted to try as it is meant to last a lifetime. “People are now wearing it as scarves and head wraps and I never imagined it would be this successful. There is even an IG filter for them now”. She says.
As the majority of us do, Ashley spends most of her time on Instagram. When she was setting up the brand and looking out for artists she could collaborate with, she dm’ed illustrators that she admired like Laci Jordan, told them about the project hoping they could create something together. “They all wanted to create something tangible with their artwork”. Ashley explains.
Her strategy proved to be successful as she now has a group of ongoing artists, as well as some who choose to join for pop events or during the Holiday season, which is when she introduces a new product. “This upcoming season I really want to introduce wallpaper but I’m still trying to find a cost efficient and sustainable way to do it”. She said when I asked what she had in mind for this year.
Ashley understands the importance of giving artists creative freedom. “I am an extension of their brand; they basically see me as their printer”. She jokes. “I ask them how they foresee their artwork as wrapping paper, and they come up with whatever they want.” She says. “All work belongs to the artists too. I wanted to do something through my platform to help artists amplify their voices and give back to my community.”
Photo Courtesy: UNWRP.
Her work empowering artist doesn’t stop there. At the beginning of the year, when COVID-19 hit, she set up through her website the Artist Relief Fund. “I was worried about the state of the business because I do a lot of pop up events for the holidays. Plus, no one really knows what the state of society will be like when we finally overcome this, so I wanted to do something that would bring money to my artists”. In a short period of time, they not only hit their goal but tripled the money they were receiving in donations. This simple act made Ashley realized how much more she could do for the artists in her community, so she now hopes to start a fund and create scholarships for up and coming artists.
“The biggest risk I ever took was quitting my 9 to 5 job to find my creative job but seeing how it all turned out and all the work I can do to help others, made me realize that it was the best decision of my life”.
Follow them on Instagram @unwrp to shop their collection and try on their filter.