Tsutsumi means to wrap, cover, conceal.

In Japan gifts are always packed with great care and a simple yet artistic flair.

The term probably refers to the traditional practice of wrapping items with cloth squares (furoshiki) but it's also used for paper wrapping.

(By the way, if you have an iPhone, check out the Wrapping Cloth app)

I have recently started exploring this as an alternative to western-style gift wrapping (especially because I am pathetical at making packages).

And remember, there are Tsutsumi Gods walking among us:

  • BCOME is a design studio / blog run by Benigna Iwasaki - a German designer gone Japan.
  • Jessica Okui creates original craft projects and tutorials every week on Zakka Life
  • Etsy proposed some nice ideas for gift wrapping in this 2013 article.