Furoshiki — Japanese fabric wrapping — is the ultimate Christmas gift in its own right, wrapping around not just physical presents but concepts such as recycling, aesthetics and mindfulness. The giver, the receiver and the planet: everyone’s a winner.
For years I’ve been carefully unwrapping presents so I can reuse the wrapping paper. I’ve even used newspaper and pages of old books. It’s only recently that I’ve cottoned onto — if you’ll excuse the pun — furoshiki.
In Japan, the wrapping of objects in fabric was apparently first used in Buddhist temples in the 8th century. But the name originates from the later Edo Period — 17th-19th centuries — and actually means “bath spread”. Because visitors to bathhouses would wrap up their clothes and other belongings in pieces of material boasting a family crest for status and easy identification.
With the craze for Western-style mass-produced wrapping paper and plastic bags, furoshiki fell out of favour. However, with a renewed focus on recycling and other environmental concerns, furoshiki has in the 21st century made a big comeback.
Furoshiki is the ultimate Christmas gift in its own right
Furoshiki comes in all shapes and sizes, though squares are most common. Any kind of easily foldable material can serve as furoshiki: cotton, silk, nylon and so on. You can purchase dedicated furoshiki wrapping cloth in a multitude of designs from outlets such as Diaso in Westfield Carousel, UNIQLO in the Perth CBD or online at purematcha.com.au.
Of course, you could purchase cloth from haberdashers and make your own, painting or screen printing unique designs and sewing hems. Even better, you could use new tea towels, handkerchiefs, scarves or tablecloths, which become additional gifts in themselves. Even better again, reuse old ones, or cut up old sheets or curtains.
So that’s recycling. I also mentioned aesthetic value and mindfulness. As Yuriko Saito writes in his introduction to New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics: “The object of an aesthetic experience is not limited to what are generally referred to as the fine arts ... Other objects and phenomena (including) daily practices such as cooking, bathing and gift wrapping (my italics)... are equally celebrated for giving rise to rewarding aesthetic experiences in the Japanese tradition.”
With its ritualistic and ceremonial elements, gift-wrapping naturally lends itself to mindfulness. Furoshiki more so. The relationship to origami — the art of paper-folding — is self-evident.
However there are other pleasures to explore. Not only in the designs, which as mentioned above can be made or chosen especially for the occasion. In the very acts of wrapping, carrying and unwrapping, there are subtle but striking patterns and undulations to enjoy in the way the cloth falls and folds.
Which also takes us into the realm of Ikebana — the art of flower arranging. Because there is a tension between the deliberate act of wrapping, and the regularity of pattern, and the more random patterns the cloth makes when it falls and folds after the ties are unfastened. There is also tactile pleasure in the softness of the fabrics as opposed to the impersonal feel of commercial wrapping paper.
Furoshiki is thus not only gift-wrapping but — if you’ll excuse the cliche — the gift that keeps on giving.
Download the furoshiki guide here.