Los Angeles - November 27, 2006

Cloth Encounters

Japanese Tenugui

You enjoy an item with hyper-specialized function as much as the next sock garter-wearing, melon baller-wielding guy.

Okay, maybe not as much.

Truth is, those doohickeys can’t hold a candle to a multipurpose item like Kamawanu’s tenugui, a Japanese cloth that has had many uses throughout history. It works as a towel, handkerchief, or bandage. But why stop there when the colorful patterns (arrows! beans!) and graphics (owls! rabbits!) on the hand-dyed cotton, one-by-three-foot rectangles make for pretty napkins, wall-hangings, and head scarves?

And the most recent discovery just might be that after a few hand washings (according to the label) and a whirl in the washing machine (with a shot of fabric softener), you’ve got a bohemian ascot.

So although it might not be a bird, and it’s totally not a plane …

It sure is super, man.

Available at Tortoise, 1208 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, between Aragon and Cadiz Courts, Venice (310-314-8448 or tortoiselife.com).