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In Japanese culture, gift-wrapping can be as important as the gift
Japanese-style gift-wrapping, called tsutsumi, uses paper and cloth to create simple but elegant wrappings for gifts, presents and packages. Furoshiki is when a large piece of cloth is used for the wrapping. These techniques are perfect for birthdays, holidays, weddings, or everyday marketing and shopping. They also support and promote recycling and recycled goods.
Here are links to the history of wrapping in Japan, providing information and tips so you can create these fantastic but simple works of gift-wrapped art for yourself!
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Folding & Wrapping in Japan
origata, origami, tsutsumi and furoshiki
If you like the ideas of using recycled wrapping paper, or moving away from the use of desposable paper for packaging, you should give tsutusmi a try!
- The concept of wrapping: origata and tsutsumi
- The concept of wrapping: origata and tsutsumi. There are many techniques and schools for wrapping, but basically Origata[9], or the art of gift-wrapping, is the action of folding paper without cutting it.
- The Japan Forum
- When giving gifts or sending presents, it is customary in Japan to accord special care not only to the contents but to the way a gift is wrapped and the wrapping itself.
- h2g2 - Origami
- Origami is the name now given1 to the art of folding paper. The term itself comes from two Japanese words, oru meaning 'to fold', and kami meaning 'paper'. As an art form, and a hobby, it enjoys worldwide popularity with people of all ages and from all backgrounds and cultures.
- David Lister on Noshi
- The subject of Noshi is a very large and difficult one. There is quite a lot of information from past ages but considered modern accounts and analyses are hard to come by. There are often, however, brief snippets of information in modern encyclopaedias and collections of Japanese curiosities. I attempted a short account of noshi many years ago (part of an article grandly titled "Paperfolding in Japan"), but I don't seem to have been able to take the subject much further since then.
- Tsutsumi Kin-gin: Wraps of Gold and Silver Coins
- Tsutsumi kin-gin were wraps of gold and silver coins in Japanese paper (called washi) circulated during the Edo Period. The wraps were marked with the value and the seal of the moneychanger. The tsutsumi kin-gin were unique in that the seal on the wraps carried high credibility and the wraps were not opened to examine the contents.
- Furoshiki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Furoshiki are a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods.
- Japanese Inspired Fabric Gift Wrapping
- A gift wrapped up in attractive fabric is guaranteed to delight and surprise the recipient. Wrapping an object is like dressing it in a costume, and you can impress your recipient with your sense of style. It is also versatile as fabric can wrap just about anything of any shape and size, and the wrapper can be recycled!
Books on Japanese Gift-Wrapping
Quick and Easy Enchanting Gifts Wrapping 149 Items
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Gift Wrapping: Creative Ideas from Japan
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Gift Wrapping with Textiles: Stylish Ideas from Japan
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Creative Gift Packaging
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Tips and Hints for Japanese Gift-Wrapping
instructions and guides
- Wrap Artist
- Akiko Keene, 62, Japanese gift wrapper, interviewed in the Washington Post
- Holiday Wrap - Exceptional Gift Wrap Ideas--Japanese Style
- You can practice simple and elegant ways to fold paper to create original, personal and dramatic gift wrapping this holiday season.
- Decorating : Japanese-Style Wrapping : Home & Garden Television
- Learn how to wrap gifts following the Japanese art of gift wrapping. Step-by-step instructions with pictures.
- blueskystudio: zen | art | graphics | soul: tsutsumi, the art of wrapping...
- In Japan, gift wrapping is an art form, the name for it being tsutsumi... Read on for more about tsutsumi, the Japanese art of wrapping...and to see what's inside...
- How To Do Japanese Gift-Wrapping
- Japanese-style gift-wrapping is an art, but it is easy, fun and helps keep our planet greener with recycling.
- How to wrapping from Shimojima,.co.ltd.
- Although wrapping can be presented in many different ways, there are fundamentally only threebasic patterns. When you want to select which one, take into consideration, the shape of the item, which occasion it will be used for, and the presentation you intend to create. It is important, therefore, to thoroughly know the characteristics of the three basic patterns.
- Washi-The "orikata" of Japanese wrapping
- The "orikata" of Japanese wrapping Washi's Charm as Depicted by Modern Artists.
- whipup.net
- If you celebrate Christmas, you are probably in the throes of gift-wrapping as we speak. This year, give these Japanese techniques a shot: envelope-style or the slightly more complicated-looking diagonal wrapping.
- Washi Paper
- We supply you Japanese traditional paper 'Washi' from Japan.
- The Japanese Paper Place - Retail and Wholesale Supplier of Fine Japanese Papers
- The Japanese Paper Place stocks and distributes, in wholesale and retail, over 2,000 different Japanese papers around the world.
Gift Photo Gallery
inspirations and ideas
Trying to figure out wrapping paper with these methods gets really easy, as single sheets of paper work well to not only wrap most common items, but that's exactly the sort of paper size that is best for reuse. Go for thicker, handmade papers which will hold up better to multiple folds and creases. Or try a furoshiki, a cloth wrap.
Gentle colors and contrasting accents are often hallmarks of Asian gift-wrap but there are occasions or styles where you will see bold colors and vibrant patterns.
Japanese inspired wrapping (no tape or glue)
money envelope
wrapped up coasters
2 types of furoshiki wrapping
Furoshiki wrap #1 alternative angle
wrapping papers from whimsypress.com
Furoshiki - Cloth Wrapping
the bath cloth gets reborn
Furoshiki can be large or small, silk or cotton, plain or fancy, but their main defining characteristic is that they tend to be square.
The use of this type of personal carry-all is something that is being encouraged in Japan as a way of reducing the many tons of plastic trash produced just by shopping bags in that country annually. I think of this as a great companion to a European string marketing bag for people who like to use cloth or resuable bags. The string bag can hold larger items and a furoshiki works for smaller items when doing small errands and grocery shopping
- In Focus: How to use "Furoshiki" [MOE]
- This incredible PDF is from the Japanese government. They are encouraging the use of furoshiki as a way of reducing the trash produced by the use of plastic bags. Fourteen different ways of using the furoshiki (cloth) to tie tsutsumi (wrappers) are shown.
- Furoshiki
- Furoshiki is a square piece of cloth, whose name literally means "cloth for the bath." It came into wide use in Edo period (1603-1868) in public bathhouses for spreading on the floor while undressing and for wrapping bathing articles. In other words, the furoshiki started out as the cloth in which people carried their clothes and toiletries, but later it came to be used to carry (or wrap) just about anything.
- TextileArts.net textile and fibre art resources - at a tangent>furoshiki
- Collected articles on Furoshiki
How To Tie Furoshiki Videos
Buy A Furoshiki
Here are some traditional and modern Furoshiki cloths. Remember to check the seller notes for size, condition and fiber content as these can vary.
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About Japanese Gift-giving Etiquette
- Japanese end of year gifts - oseibo - Japanese gifts - Japanese culture
- Japanese gift giving customs - oseibo - the end of the year gifts in Japan - Japanese gifts ideas.
- Japan Business Practice and Business Etiquette Tips
- The exchange of gifts is an accepted custom in Japan. The gifts do not have to be expensive. Modest gifts with the logo of your company will suffice. Take care, as well, to choose respectable gift-wrapping. It is important that the gift does not include a set of 4 items. The number 4 in Japanese sounds like the word for 'death'.
- International Gift-Giving Protocol - from the Netique Gift Boutique
- Gift giving customs vary greatly from country to country. What is considered appropriate in France may be entirely inappropriate in Japan. How do you know that you are not making a cultural "faux pas" when giving a gift to your top international client?
- Gift Wrap
- In Japan the ritual of opening a gift takes a different form. A gift from anyone outside the immediate family is never opened in the sight of the guest who brought it. It is opened only after her or his departure, and a note of appreciation is then written and sent.
Wrapping Up - comments and feedback
Japanese gift-wrapping and gift exchange experiences
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PatinKC
I've also lensrolled you to my Wabi-Sabi lens. Posted June 09, 2008 |
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PatinKC
In Japan, everything is ART! I've lensrolled your lens to my Japanese Gardens and Haikulenses. Posted June 09, 2008 |
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Silver_Lotus
I really like this lens! Posted April 24, 2008 |
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CrypticFragments
very nice Posted April 12, 2008 |
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EelKat
nice lens! I'm lensrolling this one. Posted March 13, 2008 |
