Bojagi is one of the finest traditional Korean fabric wraps. It is used to wrap nearly everything due to its flexibility and variety of sizes. The nature of bojagi is aesthetics in nature. They are beautiful fabric cloth that is functional as fabric gift wraps.
Some people refer to Bojagi as Furoshiki. Bojagi stems from Korea and is common among Koreans whereas Furoshiki is common among the Japanese. Other ethnic groups are more familiar with the term Furoshiki because of media and other outlets that brought this term into the general population’s awareness. Nevertheless, both Furoshiki and Bojagi are used for the same purpose.
There a variety of styles of Bojagi which can be found in this collection of bojagi. There are double-sided bojagi, single-sided bojagi, and even lucid types of bojagi where the bojagi is transparent enough to reveal the gift that’s wrapped by the beautiful fabric cloth.
Bojagi is used for weddings
Bojagi is commonly used for weddings because gift-giving is prevalent in these situations. There are many ways to use bojagi for weddings and a lot of tutorials on YouTube that exemplify the best way to wrap a bojagi for maximum aesthetics.
In ancient Korea, it was a common practice to present gifts wrapped in bojagi to relatives and/or friends who were to get married. This practice has passed down to this day and you will encounter many Koreans bringing presents wrapped in a bojagi.
A present isn’t just provided! A reusable fabric wrapping cloth is also provided for the receiver of the wedding gift to use for another purpose in the future and to learn the art of wrapping gifts with bojagi.
Types of Bojagi
There are a ton of bojagi that are used in weddings and other casual occasions. One is a bojagi wallet as shown below which was provided by the courtesy of Joteta.
The bojagi wallet is used to store cash and other precious assests such as letters, pictures, and anything dear to hand to the mother and father of one’s spouse. Using this wallet is a sign of respect to the other household and makes the best impression right before a wedding!
Another way a bojagi is used is by wrapping a wedding duck inside a bojagi as shown below.
This is an extremely aesthetic way to present a Korean wedding duck which has a underlying meaning when presented as a gift. It wishes the couple a lasting life together after marriage!
And finally, we get to the bojagi in it’s original state. Most modern weddings invite friends and family to gift all sorts of items whether they’re gift cards to furniture that the couple will need when they move in together to a new place. A bojagi may not be a suitable fabric wrap for something as big as furniture but it can cover nearly all household items.
Bojagi also makes a very luxurious appeal to those who receive the gift. The fine texture of bojagi which is silky in nature make sit appealing to look at and even increases the perceived worth of gifts just because it gives off a radiance of luxury!
Why you should use bojagi
You should use bojagi if you’re a do it yourselfer who likes to wrap your own gifts and are looking for something different and unique. You don’t have to be of Korean descent to appreciate and use bojagi, it’s open to everyone!
The best part about using this kind of fabric wrap is the variety of colors you can choose from, the flexibility of the material to morph into the shape of the object that you’re wrapping, and the types of finished knots that you can create at the end for a special touch.
The traditional Korean fabric wrap will almost always form neatly into the shape of the object that you’re wrapping. Because it’s made of cloth, it’s not rigid like paper and bends smoothly to the edges of the object which makes it easy to fold. You don’t even have to use tape when wrapping with bojagi, talk about convenience and easiness!
The variety of colors you can choose from truly makes it for everyone and for all occasions. Is it nearing Valentines Day? You can opt for a red or pink bojagi to match the occasion. Is it Christmas? You can opt for green & red to match that season. For the latter point, there are bojagi that have double sided colors which means two fabrics are stitched together to provide a different color on each side. When wrapping objects with a double sided bojagi, both colors are visible.
The thing that fascinates a lot of individuals is the finished knot of bojagis. At the end, you need to make sure the fabric gift wrap does not untangle and you do this by securing the wrap with a finished knot. The knot can virtually look like anything – from flowers to a handle. After doing a bit of research, you’ll find out that there’s an endless amount of ways to create a knot and you can even create your own special knot with your imagination!