Ever look around on Christmas morning, surrounded by that enormous sea of gift wrap? It is utterly disappointing how dependent we are on the wasteful-ness that is gift wrap, treasured for only a brief moment, then straight into the bin. This year I’ve attempted to combat the all important gift wrap, with a Japanese inspired, re-usable alternative.
Furoshiki
A Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth, commonly used for transporting goods. Mistakenly, I often see people referring to the wrapping method as being Furoshiki, however it is actually referring to the cloth itself. There is no set size or design, but most are made from cotton and silks. Modern, westernised practices see Furoshiki being used as a wrapping alternative for gifts, produce and essentially anything that needs to be wrapped!
Getting some cloth
Instead of rushing to a craft store to pick up some fabric to replicate the Furoshiki cloths, I searched around my local op-shop for some scarfs, head wraps & bandanas. I picked up a small stash for around $10, with the option to always go and find some more. I chose different colours, sizes and designs, just like traditional Furoshiki. These treasures I found can be used for years and years to come, just politely ask the un-wrapper to hand back the wrap for next year’s gift wrapping.
How to wrap
There are a hundred ways to utilise the Furoshiki wrap for items of different shapes and sizes. There are youtube tutorials and instructional on the web, but I found this simple table somewhere that perfectly summarises some of the main wrapping techniques.
Not only is this idea cleverly optimising re-use culture, but the end product is beautiful, unique and frankly much easier than working with paper gift wrap. By using this simple wrapping technique with a few $1 scarfs from an op-shop, I’ll never use money on gift wrap for the foreseeable future!
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