In the family I am hyper ephemeral and I create a max of garbage, I like gift paper! Not because if you think about it for two seconds, the ribbons, labels, are anything but ecological. At birthdays and celebrations, barely the gifts distributed, one finds oneself with a mountain of torn and crumpled gift papers in a split of a second. Straight into the trash can. What a waste!
Based on this observation, over the past year we have replaced all our gift papers with more durable and zero waste packaging. There are of course a thousand and one ecological ways to wrap gifts, we have chosen our favorite: Furoshiki. I really wanted to talk to you about it.
Furoshiki: a beautiful and friendly gift fabric
Furoshiki is an ancestral Japanese art of fabric folding for wrapping gifts, or a bottle to be brought to guests' homes, lunchboxes, etc. Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese art form. First of all, I'm a complete fan because it's simple but at the same time beautiful and quality. The minimalism and aesthetics of Japanese culture. It's a little bit of an effect every time, believe me. It must be said that it is still classy to offer a gift wrapped in fabric, which is even more so if you use a beautiful one. Personally, I am always very proud of it!
Fabric for gift wrapping is also unusual. The originality of Furoshiki still intrigues. And so much better because it opens up the conversation and the spirits, sowing small eco-responsible seeds in other people. You can also decide not to keep the fabric and offer it to the person in addition to the gift; it is a good way to introduce him to the art of Furoshiki. If she has one, she will be more likely to reuse it later for gifts or others and so continue the chain.
But what interests us the most is that furoshiki is ecological, reusable, durable, zero waste, and economical at the same time. Who says better?
Furoshiki in Practice
Where can I find Furoshiki?
We had found some pretty fabrics with Christmas motifs (sold at half price before the holidays). Go search your fabric store. We took several large pieces of it, which we then cut out to have something to wrap up any size of gifts. You are free to sew the edges of the fabric; it avoids fraying and is even more aesthetic. I must confess that I personally have not bothered myself with this.
You can also find Furoshikis at stores which manufactures upcyclical waste-free products based on fabric scrap. Or why not use pretty second-hand fabrics, found or taken out of your cupboards?
How to fold your Furoshiki to wrap your gift
The folding will be different depending on the shape of your gift, and the look you want to give it.
I mostly do the most basic folding, for square or rectangular objects (boxes, books). Just spread the square fabric on a flat surface and lay out the object in the center, diagonally.
Step 1: Fold two opposite corners on the object. If the fabric is large, the object must be rolled up.
Step 2: Fold the other two corners over the object, making sure to make nice angles. If necessary, twist the fabric slightly.
Step 3: Tie the fabric over the object. Arrange the knot. There you go!
I also found this very well done with all the folds possible. I'll have to try my hand at the art of other folds. You'll find lots of tutorials by searching on blogs, YouTube and beautiful photos to inspire you on Pinterest.
