We popped in to the bespoke wrapping paper store for glacéau vitaminwater

If you happen to be in central London doing your Christmas shopping this week you might well come across a rare gem of a shop in Soho, home to glacéau vitaminwater’s unique pop-up, in which a host of young creatives have been creating bespoke wrapping paper for those gift-givers who are all fingers and thumbs, and don’t fancy giving their presents in your standard brown paper packaging.

It was largely boring wrapping that inspired the project, we found out. “People put so much time and creativity into buying presents, and then when it comes to wrapping them half the time they just use any old paper,” Matt in the pop-up explained. “We want to give people another way to go about it.”

The concept definitely makes for an exciting and busy space. The walls of the shop are covered with paper designed by the likes of Day Job Collective, street artist Inkie, Lucy Vigrass and Chrissie Macdonald, while two expert wrappers are on standby for all corner-folding and sellotaping needs. Meanwhile a six-foot-long table occupies the centre of the space, where Lynnie Zulu was busily daubing her ink onto a giant roll of wrapping paper, covering length after length of white with her dynamic shapes and faces.”

“They’re eight metre rolls!” Lynnie told us. “I don’t usually work on this large a scale, but it’s been really liberating. The first thing I thought of when I found out I’d be working on these long rolls of paper was Japanese calligraphy scrolls, so it seemed appropriate to use brush and ink.”

A couple of wizened locals have made the most of the pop-up we’re told, returning day after day to have various gifts wrapped in unique artworks from the creatives involved. “You can imagine what it looks like under her tree,” Lynnie continues. Can you blame them? Even WHSmiths’ finest doesn’t compare to ripping an original painting from an otherwise unexciting pair of socks. These guys have the right idea.

The shine bright wrapping gallery is a 15 Bateman Street, Soho, and will run until the end of the day today.