Trivet 1935 - 1942

Curator: The piece before us is a drawing titled "Trivet" created between 1935 and 1942 by Holger Hansen. It’s a meticulously rendered pencil drawing. What are your first thoughts? Editor: It has a somber dignity, doesn’t it? Not something you'd expect from a humble trivet. The drawing gives it such gravity, like a sacred artifact. I’m immediately drawn to the intricate geometric pattern, it's like looking at a piece of forgotten machinery, or an aerial view of a ruined civilization. Curator: It's interesting you say that. Holger Hansen really focuses on objects usually considered mundane. A trivet's purpose is functional—to protect a table from hot dishes. Yet, the rendering is elevated through detailed design. He captures both a functional diagrammatic depiction with the cross sections at the top, as well as the main elevated still-life, playing on dimensions to fully showcase his work. Editor: The symbolic language speaks volumes. Circular forms, the central point…it echoes mandala patterns. Circles stand for totality, completeness, a journey. The radiating star design… well, stars are navigation. So is this a visual prayer for safe travels, metaphorically speaking? A journey of the heart, maybe served with supper? Curator: It makes you wonder about the domestic life that inspired it, doesn’t it? This careful balance of function and symbol—did it protect from mundane spills, or larger existential scalds? Did Hansen plan to produce it as a real object and sell it? Editor: The texture of the graphite gives a soft, almost antique finish. You feel that someone lovingly used the original object depicted. Curator: And maybe in drawing it, Hansen was protecting a little piece of himself from the changes he felt all around. We get this sense of quiet resilience, right? Editor: Absolutely. And now, thinking about the symbolic power we assign to the simple and the everyday… the trivet reminds me to find the sacred in the mundane, to navigate by small stars when the big ones are hidden. Curator: And perhaps for me it will make me think more deeply about the care given to our every day surroundings. It's lovely what one can draw from such seemingly simple objects.