Furoshiki is a Japanese art of using fabric squares to wrap packages. It is both utilitarian and beautiful. I first discovered this craft when browsing Maureen Shaughnessy’s blog. This approach to wrapping is regaining popularity in Japan as a way to reduce the waste produced by paper and plastic shopping bags.

Furoshiki are a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods. Although possibly dating back as far as the Nara period, the name, meaning “bath spread”, derives from the Edo period practice of using them to bundle clothes while at the sento- (public baths). Before becoming associated with public baths, furoshiki was known as hiradzutsumi, or flat folded bundle. Eventually, the furoshiki’s usage extended to serve as a means for merchants to transport their wares or to protect and decorate a gift.

Modern furoshiki can be made of a variety of cloths, including silk, cotton, rayon, and nylon. Furoshiki are often decorated with traditional designs or by shibori, chirimen. There is no one set size for furoshiki, they can range from hand sized to larger than bed-sheets. The most common sizes are 45cm and 68-72cm. wikipedia

“For centuries, the furoshiki was truly an indispensable part of daily Japanese life. In Edo times, people would lay their futon on top of the furoshiki before going to sleep. fires were extremely common back then, so when people had to get away in a hurry during the night, they only had to throw their belongings on top of the futon, wrap and tie the furoshiki, and leave through the nearest exit. Merchants usually carried their wares inside the furoshiki to transport just about anything you could imagine. When the furoshiki was not in use, people would fold it up like a handkerchief and put it away.” Tomen Journal

What else can you do with furoshiki? 9brand has created sleek wrap cases for laptop/notebook computers:

“At 9brand, we say “Learning from living things”, and this “living things” does not only mean animals. The plants sometimes become our motif, and so do human’s forms and movements. Especially, 9brand focuses on the human’s hands and tools, and these relationships.
‘Furoshiki’ made of urethane is a protection for a lap top computer, evolved from Japanese traditional tool, furoshiki. Traditional furoshiki is a big sheet of cloth which wraps various things of different sizes. Our ‘Furoshiki’ keeps the flexible character, so the size is adjustable. We searched the hands’ movements of wrapping and its possibility.”

Another contemporary interpretation of the Furoshiki is the Furoshiki-Bag, which combines tying techniques with contemporary handles for easy carrying.

There are lots of sets of directions on the web for creating your own furoshiki. The simplest is a sheet of visual diagrams, (created by the Japanese Governments’ Ministry of the Environment and downloadable as a pdf file) illustrating a variety of packaging methods. The most beautiful illustrations come from a site entitled Life in Kyoto. Scroll about halfway down the page and click on the links to see an individual page for each wrapping technique. Waku has a page of simple diagrams, with explanations below in Japanese.