The 4 furniture pieces to know by Danish design master Poul Kjærholm

Poul Kjærholm’s pieces, minimally rendered in steel, leather and glass, are picture-perfect from every angle. As with couture garments, Kjærholm considered his pieces’ unseen construction – the joints, bolts, and seams – integral to his designs. Unsurprisingly, the Danish design master has been given the epithet “furniture architect” by Marie-Louise Høstbo, the head of design at Fritz Hansen, which today produces Kjærholm’s pieces. “He saw himself that way, more so than as a designer,” Høstbo says.

Born in 1929, Kjærholm combined traditional Danish handcraft with industrial techniques, finding inspiration in historical furniture and using the finest natural materials. In the post-war years, Kjærholm distanced himself from his contemporaries and the then-popular organic shapes, developing a uniquely reductive style. “As industrialisation took off, Kjærholm felt that Denmark could only industrialise production if its products were technically superior to their traditionally crafted counterparts,” says Høstbo. “He sought new ways to unite tradition and innovation.”

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After finishing his studies, Kjærholm caught the eye of Danish playwright Søren Christian Hansen, who saw enormous potential in the young designer and invited him to join Fritz Hansen, an appointment which would only last a year. It wasn’t until two years after the designer’s passing, in 1982, that the Kjærholm trustees again collaborated with Fritz Hansen to produce and sell ‘The Kjærholm Collection’: designs developed by Kjærholm from 1951 to 1967.

One of the trustees is Poul’s son, Thomas Kjærholm. Most of all, Thomas remembers Poul’s perfectionism. “He was so anxious about making it right the first time,” he says. “He wouldn’t let a design go until the thing was totally finished.” Poul’s design manifest perfectly summarised this: “My work method can, in short, be described as physical function, which means that the seating position is right and the chair must be strong,” the designer wrote, adding that each piece “must be aesthetically pleasing”.

Kjærholm’s creativity was grounded in a love of craftsmanship. “I remember how he went to New York once,” Thomas says. “He bought an original baseball and a baseball glove because they were still hand-sewn at the time. He was a collector.” According to Høstbo, the aesthetical durability of Kjærholm’s work comes down to his “extreme dedication to work”. “His meticulous search for the right materials, finding the proper joints and working endlessly on scale and proportions,” were crucial, she says. “It is what makes the PK designs stand the test of time.”

While he had a studio at the Copenhagen School of Arts where he lectured, Kjaerholm preferred to work from home. “I remember him sitting at his desk – a huge table – that he shared with my mother,” says Thomas, whose mother, Hanne, worked as an architect. Together, the couple built Villa Kjaerholm in 1962 in Rungstedt on the coast of Denmark as a home for their family. Hanne created the Pergola-inspired exteriors in stained wood and painted white bricks while Kjaerholm drafted all of the house’s interiors.

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The construction of Villa Kjærholm coincided with the designer’s most prolific period. “He was very productive in the 1950s and ’60s, and that was when the home was being finished,” says Thomas. “He was forced to design because he had a home to finish.”

Thomas still lives in the house his parents built, upholding their design heritage with every detail. “We’ve had some burglars,” he says. “But we’ve replaced every piece that was stolen. It looks the same today.” A living, breathing monument to Kjærholm’s legacy.