Poul Kjaerholm (1929-1980) designed modern functionalist furniture that was praised for its understated elegance and clean lines. He studied at the School of Arts and Crafts inCopenhagen where he would later teach, from 1952-56. He went on tobecome a lecturer and professor in the furniture and interior design department at the Academy of Art from 1957-76.
Inspired by Bauhaus design, Kjaerholm worked for several years manipulating the form of his chromed steel and leather chair that won the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennial in 1957. It appeared first in1951 with an external frame, subtle armrests and a halyard seat and back and later evolved into the popular "PK 22".
Throughout the fifties he designed several other versions, one with a functional woven cane seat that would gently bend to the pressures of the body to give a softsupport, and employed the technique of padding the cane around theedges of the frame to make it more comfortable. The most successful incarnation of the chair, in leather, possessed an unadorned elegancethat made him an international name. A 1967 chair was loosely based on this design, although it used the spring quality of the steel to create a more elaborate curved base that seemed to float the seat above itfrom the arm rests.
Kjaerholm is also known for the "PK 41" folding stool in stretched leather and his “PK 24” deck chair. This work has an upholstered headrest and tilts the legs up on the gently sloped woven cane seat. One of his last pieces was the 1976 "Louisiana" chair for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art near Copenhagen, which was made with and without arm rests and was produced in a wide woven maple.