Furoshiki - The Japanese Art of Wrapping

Image: Japan Store

In today's world there's so much talk about the use of plastic bags. Many people are tirelessly looking for new alternatives to plastic carrier bags but the answer may be closer than we think.

What is FUROSHIKI? 
I first came in contact with furoshiki when my sister  came back from Japan and brought me furoshiki as a souvenir. I had no idea what it was meant to do so I started my research. 

Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese, square- shaped wrapping cloth used for transportation of books, gifts, clothes and other everyday items. Traditionally, it was made of natural materials but these days it is available in a wide range of fabrics such as silk, cotton, nylon.


Furoshiki (Japanese for 'bath spread') dates back to 710 AD and had been used for different purposes. It became most commonly used in the Edo period (1603-1867) when the public bath houses gained popularity. The general public used to wrap their clothes to carry them to the bathhouse and stand on in while changing, hence the name FURO = bath and SHIKI (SHIKU) = spread.
Later, the custom spread and merchants of all sorts would start using furoshiki to transport their goods. The benefit was that furoshiki, being a simple cloth, would accommodate objects of any shape, making it a very versatile packaging material.

Image by Ministry of Environment, Japan

Although its use has change over time, furoshiki is far from forgotten. On the contrary, with our focus shifting to eco-friendly, reusable products, it is being recognised as an elegant replacement for plastic bags. With its colourful designs and patterns, furoshiki is great for wrapping gifts, decorating our walls and tables or even extra pram storage!

Furoshiki are easily accessible on Amazon and some are even Prime eligible but in the spirit of eco-friendly, why not recycle old clothes, scarves of table clothes? All that is needed is a square piece of fabric and furoshiki is ready! If you want to make your own, make sure the material looks good on both sides and is big enough. The most common sizes are 45cm (17.7 inch), 68-72 cm (26.7 - 28.3 inch)




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