This idea is something that completely blew my mind. This is something which I would call ‘creative minimalism’. I wonder why hadn’t this thought occur to me before. It seems so simple and obvious. And makes perfect sense. Since money is paper (apart from coins), a perfect storage solution for it is paper.
So here’s how you go about a wallet as an eco-alternative to ordinary ones
1)DIY (Do It Yourself).
For many origami wallets, you don’t need additional stuff. Just a piece of paper. Or plus just scissors at most.
You can do it yourself in almost no time. Out of paper. I, personally, love origami. How about you?
2)Upcycling (or creative reuse).
You can do it from paper waste (paper bags from cafes, malls, e.t.c.)
3)Creativity.
You can draw whatever you want on your wallet. Or design it in whatever way you wish.
And I find those points to be strong enough to make your own wallet instead of buying one because I’ve found out that creating something yourself makes you feel happier. After buying something you do feel good, of course. But after creating something yourself you feel special, don’t you?
Especially, creating something which makes a positive impact on the environment, since it will contain little or no harmful substances to nature.
In addition, it’s eco-friendly to people, it’s better for your mental health. If you lose your paper wallet, you won’t get disappointed much as you might do with an ordinary costly leather wallet.
It will probably serve you for 6-12 months or even longer if you are careful enough.
So how can you make an origami wallet? In fact, there is a number of short tutorials on Youtube. You just need to pick the one you like most and there you have it.
Yet sometimes some sides of a paper can be so sharp that they can cut your finger. So make sure that the wallet you are about to make is designed in a way that ensures there are no sharp sides where you have to touch it a lot while using it. However, here’s the solution which you can apply to sharp wallets.
Cut a string from a piece of paper, a string that is thick enough to cover the sharp sides by folding this string in a roof-form. And then make some final adjustments so that your wallet looks and operates fine (stick the string to the sides with glue or – which seems to be a more eco-friendly option – a stapler, cut unnecessary parts of the string if needed).
And lastly, besides wallets, you can also easily make a card case out of paper. And probably something else that you use on a daily basis. Origami – especially when it comes to zero waste and practical day-to-day tools – is an interesting area that you might want to dive into deeper.
Have an artful day.