Introducing furoshiki: The eco-friendly way to wrap Christmas gifts
Photos: Toast
My grandma felt the waste of ‘all this pretty paper’ and when unwrapping Christmas and birthday presents she would smooth it out and fold it up to reuse, while the rest of the family laughed. But now we’re all reusing, reducing and recycling. The UK will use around 108 million rolls of wrapping paper this Christmas, but there is an elegant, and eco-friendly, alternative…
Wrap Japanese-style
I lived and worked in Japan for a couple of years, where I was baffled on a daily basis, by all kinds of things, partly down to being functionally illiterate in the world around me, but partly because Japan does many things its own way. I would see people carrying elegant fabric-wrapped bundles and wonder what they were: posh washing, or a screwed-up shirt? One of my colleagues enlightened me about ‘furoshiki’: a fabric wrap used for presents, or other things like a bento box lunch, when the cloth can be used as a place mat, and perhaps double up as a napkin. The practice dates back to the 700s and I wasn’t too far off with my first guess: originally it was a bundle of clothes for a public bath visit.
It’s recently become popular with people wanting to produce less waste. And Christmas wrapping is woefully wasteful. And if it has a metallic finish, it can’t even be recycled. In the UK, more than 83 square kilometres of Christmas wrapping paper ends up in the bin. And even if that’s the recycling bin, it’s still cleaner and greener to use something that can be reused.
By the way, it’s pronounced with three syllables – ‘foo-rosh-kee’ – not four.
What can you use to wrap?
In Japan, special furoshiki cloths in various sizes are sold, but any piece of fabric that’s big enough will do. The obvious, and most authentic, option is a silky scarf, and if you don’t have any to spare, try a charity shop. You could also use a knitted scarf, a handkerchief, a T-shirt, a teatowel, or even a dishcloth. Or how about a pillowcase or one of those cloth bags supplied with smart bags or shoes? For something more useful, use a ‘not a plastic bag’ shopping bag. Whatever you choose, it’s two gifts in one.
There are many forms of furoshiki but here’s the simplest: spread the cloth out, place the present in the middle, centred diagonally, then fold up two opposite corners on top of the present so that they lie as flat as possible. Then fold up the other two corners and tie in a knot. One big advantage of wrapping like this is that the fabric, being soft, drapes over the contours of even the most awkwardly shaped present, much better than creased folds of paper.
If you’re striving for authenticity, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment has produced this handy chart of the best ways to wrap all sorts of shapes.
Another advantage of furoshiki is that you don’t need sticky tape. If you find there’s not enough fabric to tie a knot, you could secure the package with string, fancy shoelaces or a piece of ribbon…
If you can’t find any suitable pieces of fabric, Etsy and Not On The High Street both have lots of eco-friendly wrapping options; Toast has furoshiki wrapping cloths at £15 each; Edinburgh-based Furoshiki Giftwrap sells cloths, and has useful instructions on different knots to tie; Wragwrap has stretchy fabric tubes in which you can wrap any shape, from £3.25, and Lush has Knot Wrap, from £4.
Happy Japanese wrapping!
Discussion (20 Comments)
Avicennia says:
Love it! We will try it this year. Last year it we used brown paper grocery bags and hot glued buttons and other bits and bobs. This sounds like another fun approach!
I love this! I taught English in Japan for a year. When I left, I was given many small gifts by students and friends including several Furoshiki cloths. I’ve used them to carry food to potlucks and similar occasions, but never thought to use the idea for Christmas wrap! My wrapping is already done for this year, but I will definitely keep this in mind for the future and begin looking for appropriate cloths to have on hand. I especially like the idea of picking them up at charity shops.
Boadicea says:
This post brought reminded me so much of m hildhood Christmases, and subsequent ones too. I was brought up to open my Christmas presents ve-ry slow-ly as my mother was fanatical about saving the paper from year to year to year: old favourites appearing the year after in a shortened form if damaged. Only my Big Present/s (as opposed to few smaller extras) were wrapped in new paper from Woolworths only if they justified it. Funnily enough, I quite enjoyed taking my time opening my surprises, prolonging the moment I just knew I’d go, “Ooh!”
I am 80 now and would you believe am only just getting to the last pieces of wrapping paper I inherited when we cleared my mother’s stuff. I also inherited Mum’s thrifty gene so have also saved paper from mine and others’ presents year after year and yes, to much eye rolling and gentle jeers, very much like Adrienne’s grandma got. But I’m sure she didn’t mind because she, my mother and others of that ilk, well knew the value of re-cycling long before it became fashionable and environmentally necessary.
Adrienne’s wrapping solution is a lovely alternative though and I hope lots of presents get gifted this way this year. I shall certainly consider it once my paper stash has run dry.
A Merry, Furoshiki Christmas everyone! And stay safe.Mrs Tonia says:
I was given several of these when I visited Japan. I passed one on as a gift wrapping for a significant birthday.
The diagrams of how to tie bundles is delightful thanks for providing this here. I may print out and keep as a reference.
On the recycling of wrapping paper I am a believer of this. And have got my family doing the same : removing the ribbon or sellotape with care so as not to tear the paper. Later neatly folded paper is put in the cupboard for the next use.Rebecca Howard says:
Ha. I remember my grandmother saying exactly the same thing. And when plastic bags replaced brown paper bags in grocery shops, which we all thought was the most fantastic thing, she used to rinse them out and hang them on her clothes line so she could reuse them. She couldn’t believe that they were being handed out for FREE and that people were then THROWING THEM AWAY! She lived through the depression here in Australia and never threw anything away. Bits of soap got reused, waste water got spread on the garden and every little bit of ‘pretty’ paper was wrapped around the 20cents she gave us all for Christmas. Our grocery stores don’t use plastic bags anymore but I would sure like those brown paper bags back for when I forget (regularly) my reusable bags.
Rhoda says:
Such a brilliant idea, and I’ll be giving it a whirl this Christmas!
Some years ago a Swedish friend introduced me to her long-standing family tradition of wrapping Christmas presents in old newspaper tied with hemp string and finished off with a blob of red sealing wax. I’ve found it useful for years now – it looks especially stylish if you can source non- English language newspapers – especially Chinese or Arabic newspapers. And everything is biodegrable/recyclable.
Happy holidays to all!Gill Thomas says:
This is beautiful. And the gifts look so lovely wrapped like that.
I particularly like the notion that what you wrap it in can be a gift as well.
Katie says:
Thank you, Adrienne, for this thought-provoking and helpful piece about keeping wrapping as eco-friendly as possible. The stats around waste in the U.K. always shock me. I’d like to recommend an excellent website called ‘Authentic House’ which sell all sorts of beautiful eco-friendly wrapping, including furoshiki (and much more too). https://www.authentichouse.co.uk
Wishing everyone at TNMA and it’s readers a peaceful and happy festive season.Alice Ojeda says:
Thank you so much for recommending us Katie! I’ll be wrapping lots of my gifts in furoshiki scarves this year. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas!
Anne Allen says:
I love this idea & now know what to do with my excess of scarves & I’ll check out the charity shop. Have a very happy Christmas.
Gill says:
This is really useful. I’ve already wrapped my presents using recyclable paper, ribbon or string, eco friendly tape (but kept that to a minimum) and reused gift tags. I also cut up old Christmas cards and use suitable bits, or whole card fronts, as gift tags. Brown paper can be nice too and offers lots of scope for decoration. I have some string I bought from the White Company a year or two ago but it has a gold or silver thread in it so I’m not sure how eco it is.
My mother had to be supplied with scissors on Christmas morning so she could carefully cut open her gift wrap, and put it away for next year. We laughed but she was right….
I’ll start saving bits of fabric through the year ready for next Christmas. An inspiring idea – thanks!
Anna K. says:
I’ve just rescued a pile of scarves destined for the charity shop and will now use them to furoshiki (is that a verb?) my presents.
Many thanks!
Vancouver Barbara says:
It makes the gift even more precious. It would be a fun project to follow Molly Mahone and her potato stamped fabrics.
maudie says:
Oh this is such an exciting, artful, tasteful and resourceful idea for wrapping. I, too carefully save wrapping paper and all the lovely ecoutrements that come with a gift. Many are far too lovely to throw away. I have been known to iron used wrapping paper if it is particularly beautiful. I love Rhoda’s idea of using old newspapers, hemp and sealing wax too. I do try and source old maps and music sheets to wrap with. I am not a fan of Lush (too pongy for me) but they too offer silk scarf wrapping. Now I know what to do with my unworn scarves and offcuts of fabric to gorgeous to discard. Thanks for the lovely ideas. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas (even if we are in Tier 4 and all our plans gone kaput). Stay healthy and happy – 2021 will be better.
Deborah says:
Game on! I’ve tried gradually to use less paper waste with boxes and such. Now the gift wrap. And still a lovely presentation. Spot on!
Despite draconian but necessary restrictions and cancelled plans we can still celebrate this week. My good wishes to all readers of TNMA.
May 2021 be full of health, cheer and carefree fun.
More saving of wrappings will go on. I like the idea of recycled cards too. Cutting out and collaging bits on to plain card which comes with a pack of tights for example. I keep those to make labels. All one needs is a set of coloured felt tips.Aren’t we a clever collection of recyclers!
One more tip: when re-using old Christmas cards for gift tags I use pinking shears either to cut out words or to simply go round the whole picture, or to make a smaller picture – you’d be surprised how many labels a reasonably sized can make. And the serrated edges all round look quite neat. Er, not neat exactly, but you know what I mean!
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
What a fantastic idea!
Thank you so much for this and i’m going to start right away. I have recently bought some gorgeous patterned and coloured neckchiefs that will double up as napkins, hankerchiefs and of course face masks and i was going to wrap them with the other gifts in the usual Christmas paper. Now I am going to use these as wrapping.
I’m thrilled about the eco-friendly side of this and also how happy my friends will be with the new look to their presents!