The Art of Furoshiki with Fox & Chave silks

Furoshiki wrapping with Fox & Chave silk

Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese wrapping art, using fabrics to create beautifully decorative packaging and gift wrap. The custom dates back over 1,000 years and was originally used to wrap and carry the Japanese Emperor’s clothes and valuables.

Later, the custom was translated to everyday life and became routine at public bath houses, where bathers would use a cloth to wrap their clothes – in fact this is where the name for this craft originated, as ‘furo’ means ‘bath’.

In modern-day Japanese culture, wrapping gifts is considered highly respectful and different fabrics are used to wrap items, including silk and cotton - highly sustainable alternatives to throwaway paper or plastic.

Giving it a go!

Whilst there are many intricate ways to wrap with fabric, creating fabulous flowers and frills, we thought we’d start with the basics and look at how we could create simple gift wraps for different items with a Fox & Chave square silk.

Our silks are a perfect, luxury way to use this fun technique as gift wrapping (don’t forget, the silk can be part of the gift too!) or as a decorative centrepiece for a spring table.

Below are a few of the online tutorials we followed, to wrap gifts ranging from a book to a bottle of champagne with our beautiful Nattier Rose silk square.

If you decide to try the techniques yourself, we’d love to see your results - tag us in photos of your creations on social media!