A report of FUROSHIKI SDGs LIFE 2023 in Kyoto

We hosted “Furoshiki SDGs LIFE 2023” in Kyoto for the first time from May 19 to May 21 at The Museum of Kyoto Annex.

This building was used to be a bank of Japan, and now it is a Japanese important cultural asset. Please enjoy the historical and cultural spiral.
We had 1525 visitors in total during the event. 487 people of the visitors joined the stamp collecting which includes the “Tsutsumu (to wrap) experience”. The good news is men and women of all ages from various countries looked around and experienced furoshiki.
Yomiuri newspaper, Mainichi newspaper and Kyoto newspaper visited the event to interview.
Some people rushed over the venue after seeing the article.


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Eco-conscious installations and materials


For example: 


  • - The symbolic furoshiki tree without waste
  • - Furoshiki signboards made out of excess fabrics
  • - Plastic free cardboard panels 
  • - Leaflets made of recycled paper 
  • etc... 

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We made it a point to cut trash to a bare minimum, but we faced a reality that we cannot make it to zero. It really hit home that there’s room for improvement.

 

Free-of-charge workshops were fully booked

The free-of-charge workshops by our art director, Etsuko Yamada were fully booked. 90 guests in total participated in the workshop in 3 days.
We had good feedbacks such as “I will tie and wrap in various ways not to forget” or “I want this to study as a theme of my homework for my elementary school”.

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Talk session by CEO, Yoshio Yamada

Our CEO, Yamada presented the past examples and our actions for sustainability looking around installations with visitors together. The audiences were so colorful; school teachers, students, creators and so on.

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Stamp collecting

We planned furoshiki related quizes and “tsutsumu (to wrap) experience” with our wish that we would like the visitors to feel furoshiki at least once.
If you answer all quizes and acomplish the basic wrapping techniues, you will collect all the stamps and get a giveaway.

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Covered button broach [&] Hair elastic Making Workshop + Furoshiki Customize Workshop


From kids to adults created a covered button with a remnant of furoshiki.
Selecting the design must be enjoyable. The upcycled furoshiki stickers were used for the "Furoshiki Customization", and the participants created one and only furoshiki.

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The project of RE・FUROSHIKI 

We have launched a project to reuse furoshiki that are unused at home in schools. This project was issued based on the idea of reusing unused furoshiki for more circulating society. As a result, 27pieces of furoshiki were gathered.
Luckily, a high school teacher has already contacted us to use the furoshiki for the home ec. It would be nice if students study the history of furoshiki as well as its use, and it will be passed onto the future generations.

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It was a precious opportunity for us to talk with visitors through the event no matter how old they are or where they are from. We realized anew that furoshiki is a tool not only for wrapping objects but also for embracing people’s connections.


Behind the scenes

Members of Musubi engaged the setup of the installation overall.

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