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Actor Thanavate "Gap" Siriwatanagul and his wife keep an eye on the planet with a line of wrapping paper that's ecofriendly and reusable
A KEEN environmentalist with a strong awareness of global warming, actor Thanavate “Gap” Siriwatanagul and his wife Rattanin “Num” Supurtipanish are trying hard to convince others to take care of Planet Earth by moving away from conventional wrapping paper to a perforated reusable wrap that can double as stationary.
The pair graduated from Chulalongkorn University, Num in architecture and Gap in industrial design. Both enjoy working with handmade crafts and Gap also has plenty of marketing experience, having worked for an advertising agency for several years.
Today, when he’s not rehearsing or filming one of the many TV dramas in which he stars, he’s busy coming up with graphics for his own products, which sell under the brandname A Piece (s) of Paper.
The idea for the company was born three years ago while Gap watched his friends rip the gaily printed wrapping paper off their gifts and chuck it into the nearest bin and thought to himself “what a waste”.
After looking into the viability of long-life paper, he and Num came up with a collection of perforated wraps that tear off easily and can be turned into notepads, notebook covers and even smart phone case.
“When I worked at an advertising agency, I saw how many big companies were paying attention to corporate social responsibility. It’s always good to give something back to society and I thought I could contribute by making products that are ecofriendly. Of course, it may also have something to
do with the fact that I hate throwing away anything I have paid good money for and Num was taught as a child to always sort out waste for recycling at home,” he says.
“In 2012, we decided to market reusable wrapping paper. It wasn’t that it didn’t already exist; some brands were already making ecofriendly wrap with soy ink or embedding seeds in the paper. But we wanted to get a message through to buyers so we came up with designs that we knew would attract the eye.”
The couple introduced A Piece (s) of Paper’s latest collection at the recent Baan Lae Suan Fair and now have more than 10,000 loyal fans on Facebook.
The paper, which comes in one size of 72x48 centimetres, boasts more than 20 drawings, graphics and illustrations drawing on Mother Nature, pets, wild animals, cartoons, British porcelain, polka dot, stripes and geometric shapes.
Other products include notebooks, boxes and gift bags in different shapes, bookmarks and eye-catching decorative stickers that double as gift tags.
Their products are available at B2S, Betrend, Loft, Bookend in Chiang Mai and Spoonful on Soi Langsuan.
