I’m one of many lamenting next month’s shuttering of New York’s beloved Takashimaya, the North American outpost of the oldest and most venerated Japanese department stores. It’s always been an emporium filled with unexpected and delightful finds and a lot of wonderful memories. In a former life, my boyfriend sent me a gorgeous gift from Takashimaya that was wrapped in a furoshiki, a traditional Japanese cloth used for wrapping gifts. What was the gift? I have absolutely no recollection, but 13 years later what remains memorable is the way the gift was wrapped, not the gift itself. I still have the fabric square tucked away. {As for that thoughtful boyfriend with great taste, he’s now my husband.}

At the Stationery Show earlier this week, I loved meeting Kelly Autumn Sperbeck at Chewing the Cud – not only did we have many points of connection back in California, but she was happy that I didn’t call the beautiful squares of printed cotton gift wrap “scarves”, though that’s precisely what they look like unless they’re wrapped around a clever gift. Chewing the Cud cleverly calls these furoshiki Give Wraps. I say, give them AND wear them—they’re simply too wonderful to sit in a drawer.

Another friend and style maven Bonnie Dahan of Viva Terra has been a furoshiki fan for as long as I have known her. Viva Terra uses dupioni silk furoshiki wraps as their signature eco-friendly gift wrap. So chic!

You can learn to do a myriad of ties, folds and clever wraps here. Happy wrapping!