Poul Kjaerholm

Poul Kjaerholm was born in Oster Vra, Denmark and began as a cabinetmaker's apprentice with Gronbech in 1948 before going to the School of Commercial Art in Copenhagen in 1952. Poul Kjaerholm was always drawn to the potential of steel, so along with his skills as a cabinetmaker, Kjaerholm brought the craftsmanship and industrial materials together in the design of his PK series of furniture. His career launched successfully in 1952 when his graduation project from Copenhagen’s School and Arts and Crafts caught the attention of the Denmark design community. Kjaerholm's graduation project included a lounge chair crafted of a single piece of steel that demonstrated the type of material expressiveness that would become the signature of his designs.

The numbers that Kjaerholm used to name his work following his initials can appear to be random. Sometimes higher numbers can have an earlier design date than a lower number, and sometimes it’s the other way around. Kjaerholm left nothing to chance and naturally there is a answer for this. The reason is that the numbers refer to a type of item, for example, PK10 through PK19 represent small chairs with armrests.