creative wrapping: furoshiki

When I was a kid I would rip open a gift with abandon, caring little what happened to the wrapping paper. It was agonizing to watch those people with the opposite approach, slowly and gently unwrapping, taking the utmost care not to tear the paper.

But now I'm the one who's carefully disassembling the outer wrappings of a gift, so I can reuse it at least one more time. If I don't reuse paper or buy recycled content paper like the kind from Fish Lips, I try to find some other way of presenting a gift. Sometimes I'll decoupage a box with magazine clippings and scrap paper. But that can be time consuming.

There's a much simpler and sustainable way to wrap gifts -- furoshiki. No need for paper, tape, or scissors. You don't even need ribbons to make it all pretty. All it takes is a piece of fabric and some folding skills. You can even use a scarf to wrap for a two-in-one gift.

You can get furoshiki fabrics from VivaTerra
(made from Dupioni silk)


$14 for large (54")


Or get a vintage scarf on eBay




Or get your own fabric and learn how to fold Japanese style