Christmas Wrapped

I’m in the pre–holiday season thinking stages already, and one of the hardest not so eco–friendly parts of the holidays are definitely gift wrap, and as a user experience junkie – it’s also one of my favorite parts! The whole process of opening a gift is just incredible to watch, as the giftee peels through the layers, opens the box, removes the tissue paper… then that rewarding look of excitement as they find the unexpected surprise within…

So, i thought a fun post to kick off the ideas would be alternative gift wrapping! While i was out in Topanga Canyon today, stopped by Hidden Treasure (unbelievable amount of vintage/resale goodies, in the most incredible space – definitely a must see if you’re in the area) ~ and the treasures i found were three large trunks of vintage silk scarves beneath a fishtank. All of these were 3–4$, so totally affordable, and fun enough to pick from all sorts of colors and patterns, you can see the ones i couldn’t resist in the picture above.

Now the next step is… how do i fold/wrap gifts with the scarves? Back in 2006, “Ms Yuriko Koike, Minister of the Environment, has created the ‘Mottainai Furoshiki’ as a symbol of Japanese culture to reduce waste. Furoshiki is a Japanese traditional wrapping cloth which is used repeatedly in a stylish way.” See the diagram after the jump for 14 gorgeous ways to wrap various shaped gifts – from boxes to balls, bottles to pouches.

Good luck! Feel free to share other ideas you have in comments, and pictures if you make some gorgeous scarf wrapped gifts ~ or invent your own Furoshiki techniques, but first ~ see the how–to diagrams after the jump!
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