Which one are you; Giver or Keeper?
Japanese Furoshiki has a long history of carrying things and using transportation methods. People in Japan used them for daily life most of every day. For gifting purposes, Furoshiki's role is to protect the gift. Furoshiki stays with the owner and uses it many of times for gifting season.
Traditional Japanese Furoshiki is made from expensive Japanese fabric. Furoshiki also showed their family statement through the quality of the material and design or family crest. More expensive Furoshiki showed a high standard of family class.
Ordinary Japanese have gift-giving seasons twice a year, during the Bon Festival and at the end of the year. Gifts are given to authorities of the hierarchical orders, such as lower employees showing honour and respect to those who care for them.
In traditional Japanese customs, the gift is unwrapped by the sender, and only the gift is handed to the sender. While greeting the sender, the gift is gently opened in front of the receiver and passed on by the sender. The Furoshiki is folded down nicely and put away by the sender. Therefore, the Furoshiki stays with the sender and is never given away with the gift. Japanese householders generally have several sizes and colours of Furoshiki to use for different events, seasons and gifts. Furoshiki only use by Japanese in formal events such as gift season and school graduation.
Some young Japanese have used the Furoshiki in their daily life and in gifting. But the interesting thing is that not many Japanese give away the Furoshiki wrapping when they gift casual occasions to someone. It may be that the Japanese still follow the Furoshiki manner from the olden days, or they do not want to give it away because it may be their favourite design of Furoshiki.
Personally, I would prefer to keep my traditional Furoshiki because it may be worth than the gift of the value, but I also want to use fabric gift wrapping for the gift.
This is why I come up with FabWrap Furoshiki. This is a combination of the culture of New Zealand and the Japanese. My concept of Furoshiki is an alternative to paper-wrapping and reducing waste from the environmental impact and textile waste in landfills.
Upcycled Furoshiki allows for keeping resources and costs minimised. Furoshiki's values remind us of Japan's old habits and introduce them to New Zealand. The Great thing about Furoshiki is the many different ways to use it.
No worries, if you are a saver, you could choose a quality Furoshiki for long-term use. Furoshiki is not only used for fabric gift wrapping.
There are many choices to buy your Furoshiki, you could buy upcycled Furoshiki, you could purchase lovely designed Furoshiki from Japan, or you could purchase one of my favourites, Knot Again 100% organic cotton Furoshiki.
It doesn't really matter as long as people start using Furoshiki and we see them more often in our daily life as an alternative to paper wrapping or for any other useful thing, which means a lot to us and the planet. And your action will influence other people to encourage use them more and more.
Giver or Keeper? it is a very interesting topic to discuss. There are no right and wrong answers.
What do you think?
