Ugly Duckli · Copenhagen
The Home of the Danish Christmas Heart
The woven paper Christmas heart is one of Denmark’s loveliest traditions. At Ugly Duckli, I share the story behind it, help people learn to weave it and create products and experiences that give this little Danish tradition new homes around the world.
In Denmark, woven hearts belong to Christmas. But when I share them with international visitors, I also see how naturally the heart travels beyond the Christmas season: as a little piece of Danish culture and as a symbol of love, respect and good wishes throughout the year.
Some visitors already know the heart from childhood. Others are seeing one for the very first time. You can learn to make one yourself, bring one home or gather people around a table and experience the tradition together.
A small paper heart with a very long life
Danish families have been weaving paper Christmas hearts for generations. They hang on Christmas trees, often return year after year and somehow manage to carry memories far beyond the value of the paper itself.
The oldest known surviving woven paper heart was made by Hans Christian Andersen, although his heart looked rather different from the red and white hearts that later became such a familiar Danish Christmas tradition.
Outside the traditional Danish Christmas setting, I have found that international visitors often see the heart differently. The shape needs little explanation. A heart can carry love, respect and good wishes in almost any season.
What I love most is not really the finished decoration. It is the time around the table while people make it.
Coming for Christmas 2026
From my Christmas table in Copenhagen to yours
I am creating a filmed online experience in English, so you can discover the story and learn to weave traditional Danish Christmas hearts with me wherever you are in the world.
Enjoy it on your own, gather the people you love around the table or give a little piece of Denmark as a Christmas gift.
Discover the online experienceDanish culture · shared together
People weaving hearts together
This simple idea has become one of the parts of Ugly Duckli I am most excited about.
The woven paper heart is rooted in a cherished Danish Christmas tradition. When I share it with international guests, the heart is also understood as a symbol of love, respect and good wishes throughout the year.
I bring the tradition to companies, international teams, universities, embassies, organisations, communities and cultural events in Copenhagen. Experiences can range from a shared activity for a defined group to open heart weaving at a much larger gathering.
Nobody needs previous experience. Beginners start with the small heart. Those who are quicker can continue with the larger one. For bigger groups I can bring additional helpers, so people can still receive personal help when they need it.
Planning an international event or cultural gathering outside the Christmas season? Tell me your date, group size and setting, and we can explore what kind of Paper Heart Experience might fit.
Explore Paper Heart Experiences for GroupsWould you like to weave one yourself?
I have made a free illustrated step-by-step guide so you can try the tradition wherever you are.
The instructions are available in both English and Danish. Families, educators, schools and Danish communities are very welcome to print and use them.
Your first heart may require a little patience. That is completely normal. The second is usually much easier.
Find the free weaving guide
The Ugly Duckli Christmas shop
You can also bring a little of the tradition home. The Christmas shop contains woven hearts, materials for making your own and brass decorations from the Ugly Duckli universe.
Weave the hearts yourself
The DIY gift box brings together Ugly Duckli’s specially produced glossy paper and the materials for making classic Danish woven Christmas hearts at home.
See the DIY Christmas Heart Gift BoxOr let somebody else do the weaving
You can also find finished Christmas hearts and other decorations if you simply want to enjoy them on your own tree.
Visit the English Christmas shopThe webshop currently ships to Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Germany.
If you are coming to Copenhagen at Christmas
December is a lovely time to see the tradition in the place where it belongs. The city fills with lights, Christmas markets, gløgg, æbleskiver and all the small things that make Danish Christmas feel like Danish Christmas.
I have made two personal guides for international visitors who would like a little inspiration while they are here.
A private Copenhagen experience
And if there are only a few of you
I also welcome one private group of one to six guests into my home in Frederiksberg for a two-hour Paper Heart Experience.
We sit around my table, talk about the tradition and Hans Christian Andersen, and weave the hearts together. It is deliberately small and unhurried.
The heart is rooted in Danish Christmas, but the time spent making it and the wish you share with someone can mean something in any season. Some of my international guests place a small personal note inside the heart and leave it on a pillow or somewhere at home as a little greeting.
My international visitors come throughout the year, including during the Copenhagen summer. Some Japanese guests have even described the weaving as a kind of “Scandinavian origami”, which I think captures something rather lovely about the simple paper craft.
Discover the private Paper Heart ExperienceHello, I’m Rikke
Ugly Duckli is my personal creative universe in Frederiksberg. Christmas hearts have been part of it for many years, and I still love the moment when somebody who has never woven one before suddenly looks down and sees a finished heart in their hands.
Having lived and worked abroad for many years, I have also seen how easily this very Danish tradition travels. What begins as a Christmas heart in Denmark can become a handmade keepsake, a personal greeting or simply a lovely shared moment for somebody discovering it for the first time.
I hope Ugly Duckli can help keep this little Danish tradition alive, while also giving it new homes, new tables and new people to share it with.
If you would like to know more about me and the story behind Ugly Duckli, you can read it here.