Let’s face it: By the time Christmas rolls around we feel about as much like “Wild Things” as a bunch of Santa Clauses lazing in front of a crackling fire. But the “Wild Things” gift wrap set that Hemlock Printers came up with for 2019 uses embossing, playful art, and handy gift tags to help you make your holiday packages look their brightest.
Designed by the husband and wife team of Misha Zadeh (who came up with the illustrations) and Ben Graham (of design studio Turnstyle), the set was inspired by Hemlock’s efforts to preserve the Great Bear Rainforest in their native British Columbia. Expansion of the printer’s ZERO Carbon Neutral Printing Program enables it to apply carbon offsets to help protect the area, which is home to many different species of flora and fauna, including the Kermode bear a.k.a. the “spirit bear.”
That creature pops up on the gift wrap inside, as do various mushrooms, ferns and other highlights of the landscape – all offset printed by Hemlock on eco-friendly 70 lb. Rolland Enviro Satin Text [Get Swatchbook]. Yet each sheet of wrapping paper is printed slightly differently:
- Winter forest: CMYK UV + Bright UV CMY Boost
- Bears: CMYK UV + 1 UV PMS
- Fungi: CMYK Bright UV + 1 UV PMS
- Salmon: CMYK UV + Bright UV CMY Boost
- Kelp forest: UV PMS + 2 hits UV Black
- Ferns: CMYK Bright UV + extra hit of UV Black.
As whimsical as the wrapping paper is, it is the packaging that transforms this kit from something “fun” to “fabulous” and, yes I’ll say it, truly “wild.”
The cover – printed offset CMYK Bright UV on 100% post-consumer waste, 130 lb. Mohawk Options Vellum Cover – snares your gaze right away thanks to Misha’s luscious floral art, and the embossing and debossing of the various leaves. A flood of UV Satin Varnish gently protects the artwork.
To open the package you have to flip it on its back where a bear-adorned left panel is tucked into a die-cut slit to keep the contents in place.
Opening the panels reveals Hemlock’s holiday message on one die-cut panel, the production notes and kit’s backstory on the opposite one, as well as 28 festive tags waiting to be pulled out (thanks to some helpful perforations) and affixed to your gifts.
Not only does this set add a touch of nature and color to the Yuletide season, its theme, materials and very manufacture also reinforce Hemlock’s environmental philosophy – truly a gift that keeps on giving all the year round.
