The lick-and-stick giftwrap brand Instawrap, from Wrap Nation is being feted in high places, far and wide. The co-owners of the innovative giftwrap company, Gary Hoffman and Craig Morfett and will be going the Houses of Parliament in November to be presented with the Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice 2017.
The Green Apple Environment Awards, which have been in existence since 1994 recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world. Launched by The Green Organisation, the awards are now established as one of the most popular environmental campaigns in the entire world.
Commenting, Craig Morfett, operations director of the company said that the award “officially confirms that Instawrap is an environmentally friendly product” with the Green Apple endorsement being an international recognition of the environmental credentials of the product which needs no sticky tape.
Next week sees Instawrap make its debut at the HOMI Fair in Milan (which runs 15-18 September) following the recent appointment of Origamo as its Italian distributor.
The deal came about as a result of Furio Ceciliato, owner of Origamo, spotting the Instawrap sample in an edition of Progressive Greetings as a result of which arranged to meet with the directors at PG Live where the agreement was finalised.
The ever plucky Furio has high hopes for the product in Italy, and is unpeturbed that this is a ‘coals to Newcastle’ type arrangement given Italy’s long heritage with giftwrappings.
But then Furio rarely sees obstacles only opportunities. Determined to not only raise the bar of the quality greeting cards in Italy but to also encourage card sending, having secured distribution for Blue Eyed Sun, Tracey Russell, Clear Creations and My Design as well as his own handmade ranges, Furio published a book (which he gives away free to Origamo’s retail stockists) that is full of ideas of what to write in greeting cards.
It created a real stir on the stand at last year’s HOMI and Furio intends to have this available once again at this year’s show where Instawrap will debut on its own dedicated stand. In addition, Furio is in the final throes of creating a downloadable version of the book.
The HOMI show will also see Origamo officially pledge to sponsor the Christina Noble’s Children Foundation (www.cncf.org) an international organisation (with its HQ in London) that helps street children in Vietnam and Mongolia (during the last 30 years they have saved more than 700,000 children.)
A portion of the proceeds of Origamo’s sales of Instwrap as well as from its cards will be donated to CNCF.
Other good news that Furio is keen to share is that its laboratories in Vietnam, where its own handmade cards are made “have received the international certification of Fair Trade, a big step for us that reinforces our deep belief in ethical production.”
