Christmas in Washington: HYGGE at the Danish Embassy
During our hotel stay for two days in the Washington are to view The White House Christmas decorations and Ballet West’s production of The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center, we happened to hear about one more Washingtonian-style holiday celebration . . . HYGGE (pronounced HOO-gah), an open house display of holiday spirit at the Danish Embassy.
The Danish Embassy is one of our favorites (well, of the perhaps 3 embassies we have ever visited in Washington). It is elegant but also simple and understated. It incorporates timeless mid-century modern design elements with a sense of nature.
The HYGGE display showcased the works of artists Georg Jensen, Gugger Peter, and Anna Ancher, as well as the Danish toy company Maileg. What was really clever about this exhibit is that it showed how you can create a lot of holiday spirit with very few decorations.
(Note: I am not sure if it is OK to post photos of the artist’s works so I will attempt to describe them best I can instead. You can see a few photos of the works here.)
GEORG JENSEN
Georg Jensen’s work was primarily a display of open metal forms with a few holiday elements inside. The forms suggested Christmas trees, such as a stack of open metal cube-shapes or a pointed cone shape but were really open to interpretation. The forms had a definite modern edge and could be used easily when you are trying to honor many types of holiday traditions at one time. The shapes inside the forms were simple. Sometimes it was a metal star or angel, sometimes a candle, or a sprinkle of simple silver ball ornaments and sometimes colorful shapes.
MAILEG
I had never heard of MAILEG before but it is apparently a line of specialty Danish toys and other home design elements. It is sold in various specialty boutiques throughout the United States. If I ever decide to do Elf on a Shelf, I am going to get my elfin creature from Maileg’s “Christmas Pixy” line. These dolls are adorable! They are rag dolls with cute pointed hats and clothes, full of personality. At the embassy, they had a huge collection of the dolls somehow wired together in a curving diagonal line across a bookcase. It was so fun and a great way to inject a lot of spirit into a small space.
The pig candle holders were also festive and added warmth with a bit of humor and fun.
GUGGER PETER
Gugger Peter’s work was based on weaving materials, primarily newspaper into textured canvases. The entryway had a portrait of Barack Obama. In the holiday exhibit, the subjects were “bolsjer” which Americans would recognize as old-fashioned hard candies with various stripes and colors to them. They apparently are an old-fashioned Danish staple as well. Mixed in with the woven paintings were interesting 3D cone creations from newspapers as well as jars full of bolsjer.
ANNA ANCHER
Anna Ancher will be the subject of an upcoming exhibition at the National Museum for Women in the Arts. It was not entirely clear whether her display consisted of paintings on the walls or the collection of colored paper cones of various sizes from about 12″ to about 3 feet with lights beneath that surrounded the paintings. The cones had a wonderful way of suggesting a Christmas tree or “the holidays” without saying so exactly.
ROSES!
The most surprising “decoration” at the embassy, however, was the blooming pink rose in the embassy’s garden! How did they get roses to bloom in December?! I’m not sure if this is a magic trick, a special breed of rose or a product of the several warmer-than-usual weeks we had in the first half of the month.
As we left the exhibit, the embassy provided free treat bags which consisted of a huge tin of Danish butter cookies (that were fabulous), some bolsjer (a great nod to Gugger Peter’s work), some informational brochures about the holidays in Denmark, including a recipe for abelskivers and instructions on how to make a woven heart basket ornament out of paper. The bag itself was a reusable shopping bag emphasizing Denmark’s commitment to green initiatives and recycling.
This was perhaps the most diplomatic way of saying “Happy Holidays.” I learned so much from seeing this exhibit and I am grateful to the embassy for opening its doors to the public.