Wipe: A Brief History and story of the Paper Napkin

Call me quirky but I can’t help myself to look at napkins.

Whether from a dispenser or from a supermarket or a fast-food restaurant to me they are small works of art or business cards.

So where do napkins come from?

In a fantastic article titled: Evolution of the Napkin published by Melanie Magdalena, she notes that the paper napkins origins started in the 1500s.

As she indicated:

In the 16th Century, napkins were accepted as a dining refinement. … The transition from cloth to paper napkins began in 1887, when John Dickinson used paper napkins at a company party in the United States. This change remained unformalized until 1931 when Scott Paper added them to the American market.

The napkin has various uses. Not just for wiping, but to wipe tears of laughter and sadness, – even to write things down like a thought, or idea for a book like J.K. Rowland did to initiate the Harry Potter books, or a phone number when your mobile phone is not charged.

Thanks for the napkins. I had a quirky thought to make a picture titled ‘Wipe’ that is a collection of napkins from everywhere and anywhere. All unused of course.

The napkins in this post are from Dominos, Subway, and Little Cesar’s. The Little Cesar napkin has changed. It used to a white paper napkin with an orange Little Cesar tag and a picture on it. Now it is brown, I assume made from recycled paper, with a large font of “Little Cesar’.

What about the blank napkin?

That’s from McDonald’s. They figure to not spend money on putting their tag of the image of the Golden Arches on the flexible paper. Their consumers remember the brand with or without a paper napkin.

So before you pluck a napkin try to remember it has a history and is a disruptive item that helps us with food, and life.

For more on napkins (if you care) read Evolution of a Napkin published in 2013 by Melanie E. Magdalena.

Learn about market or personal disruption read Jay Samit’s modern-day masterpiece: Disrupt You.