Furoshiki – It’s a wrap!

I am a big fan of arts & crafts in general and I have a special admiration for the Japanese approach of making an art form out of things that they use in daily life. The furoshiki is a great example – it is basically a square of fabric that can range in size from as small as your hand to as large as a bed sheet depending upon what will be wrapped. It can be made out of virtually any fabric, elaborately patterned or simply decorated, and can be used to wrap almost anything. You can wrap boxed or square items, bottled items, and even round items. In Japan cotton furoshiki are commonly used to wrap bento lunches and silk furoshiki would be common for the presentation of gifts at a wedding or funeral. But the best part about the furoshiki is that it can be used over and over again. On top of their beauty as fabric, I recently read a great article that talks about the furoshiki and how it could combat climate change.

The history of the furoshiki, literally translated as bath (furo) shiki (spread), dates back to the Nara period (710-794 AD) and was traditionally used to wrap and transport clothes and toiletries to and from public bath houses. Over the time, it became common to carry almost anything in furoshiki. After WWII plastic bags were introduced to Japan and the the use of furoshiki dropped off dramatically.

In order to encourage its use, the Ministry of the Environment in Japan has put up graphic instructions on the many ways to fold furoshiki here. The images below are just a few examples that may come in handy but you never know what you might have to wrap so go and check out all of your options.

I can imagine many other potential uses for furoshiki such as livening up your decor by wrapping your old throw pillows with colorful furoshiki, permanently tacking the folded furoshiki together to create a unique handbag, creating a unique window covering, or joining a number of furoshiki together to create a one of a kind lap blanket or quilt. Or, you could simply frame a beautiful example and treat is as artwork.

Wrapping an ugly old pillow…

Here is the back…

And the front…

As you can tell this is very easy to do, it took me less than 5 minutes, and if you had a smaller furoshiki you could leave the corners of your pillow peaking out for contrast.

With Christmas right around the corner this is an easy way to make your decor seasonal with ease and wouldn’t it be great if part of our gift to our friends and family was the wrapping itself!