Korean Gift Wrap (Pojagi)

Pojagis were used for wrapping gifts as well as for other utilitarian purposes such as covering food offering, storing, and carrying objects. There is a Korean folk belief that by wrapping an object, good fortune would be enclosed or captured within the wrapping of it.

This typically square form pojagi is made of a patchwork of colorful fabrics sewn together. The checkerboard design features several hues of magenta, blue, and yellow. The magenta squares are damask, two toned floral. All enclosed within two borders, the inner magenta and the outer white. Interestingly abstraction in Korean wrappings was in place long before western artists embraced abstract concepts in art.