The Danish concept of hygge did not seem like much of a mystery to me. It was a view filtered through the lens of interiors magazines, which represent hygge as a soft take on Scandi home design – with unlimited tea lights, a cosy throw draped over a sofa, and a brimming mug of cocoa. It is all of those things but, as I’ve discovered, it’s also a whole lot more.
‘Hygge is an experience of selfhood and communion with people and places that anchors and affirms us, and gives us courage and consolation,’ says Louisa Thomsen Brits in The Book Of Hygge: The Danish Art Of Living Well (Ebury Press, £12.99). Suddenly, I understand that hygge is less about stylish living, more about living better; at home, at work, and within a community.
My days can often feel sharp and fractured. My family busy in separate rooms; my job is often solitary; politics and the news are full of uncertainty and hard truths. Perhaps hygge is the thread that can entwine my life with those around me, and draw us closer?