GAYLETTER

From now on feel free to judge a gift by its cover. She Paper has introduced an amazing new line of wrapping paper featuring sketches of all of our favorite ladies. The women are grouped together by categories such as “Funny Broads,” “Like A Boss Lady,” and “Yas Queen.” The charming drawings are complimented by a thoughtful design aesthetic, making the wrapping paper itself a far better present than the lame gift card you’re giving your friend for her birthday.

I was able to chat with the brains behind the paper about the gendered nature of gift giving and how we can eventually wallpaper the whole world with She Paper:

In the creation story featured on your website you mention some of the life events during which we are expected to gift. While most are gender neutral, there are definitely more events, specifically around weddings and babies, that women are obligated to buy gifts for. How is She Paper in conversation with that obligation? Do women actually like giving gifts more than men, or is this just yet another societal expectation put upon females? The perception that women like gifting more than men may be true, but it’s probably because men buy gifts out of dutiful expectation whereas women see gifting as a creative opportunity to express their feelings. Something we like to do vs. something we must do has led to an over-saturation of gift-giving opportunities. And spending the time, money and effort to give a meaningful present every time can become very stressful.

She Paper isn’t trying to get rid of this obligation, but rather bring back some of the personalization and creativity in an easy way. When you boil it down, a gift is really just a way to say “I respect you, I value you and I want to celebrate your successes.” You can do that by gifting a custom, one-of-a-kind piece of art made by Tibetan Monks, or you can grab something off the registry and wrap it in She Paper. Either way, it will be a memorable gift.

You also mention that you’re planning on adding more options with new sketches. Can you divulge some of the women you’re thinking of adding to the crew? Is there a specific criteria that all of these women meet or do you go more on gut instinct? We are pretty selective about who we choose to put on our prints. The individual has to embody traits that we admire: They have to be a model citizen – no drug addicts or malicious convicts. They should have accomplished something notable in their respective field(s). And they also have to ladder up to a greater theme or category that we feel encompasses the diverse qualities and capabilities of women in general.

We envision creating a lot more patterns in the future that also promote talented and accomplished women that may be lesser-known to the public. This will give She Paper an opportunity to add an educational aspect to what we do.

We don’t want to give away too much, but we will safely say you can expect to see Hillary on She Paper very soon.

Are there plans to expand beyond wrapping paper? Maybe wallpaper?  Yes! It would make great bathroom wallpaper. It’s called the ladies’ room, after all.

There’s no reason why She Paper can’t be on everything, and eventually that is the intention. For now, we’re focusing on the gift-wrap side of things with plans to expand from there.

Your paper, website and brand, more generally, all have a very specific look. What are some of the artists or products you drew inspiration from? We both come from art and design backgrounds and are particular about everything from the color scheme to the illustration style — always making sure it aligns with the mood we want to convey. We tend toward bold and bright colors and are influenced by everyone from Andy Warhol to contemporary artists like Mira Dancy. Color and overall mood is very much influenced by the theme of each print, as well. What helps convey the authority of “Boss Lady” doesn’t give us the same regal effect that we wanted on “YAS Queen.”
I love that you included Lavern Cox in your “Women Who Are Unapologetically Themselves” paper. While there is obvious merit in celebrating all types of women, was there concern that using the pronoun “she” in the title of the product would be overly political or potentially isolating to trans customers? Thanks! Lavern was one of our first (and favorite) illustrations. Our intention is to create a platform that allows for participation of all people who believe in pushing the feminist cause forward. This is not just for the individuals on the prints but also our customers and the people they gift She Paper to.

As we grow, we definitely plan to feature more people on a diverse gender and sexuality spectrum. And so our hope is that over time the name She Paper will become associated with that kind of all-inclusive message as opposed to anything that feels potentially isolating or overly politicized.

She Paper is the perfect gift accessory for all of the Queens and Queenz in your life. Get yours here.