The legacy of furniture designer Poul Kjaerholm, his minimalist approach and innovative use of materials

Thomas Kjaerholm grew up following the footsteps of his father, the late- Danish furniture designer Poul Kjaerholm, known for designs such as the famous PK25 lounge chair whose frame is formed from a single piece of bent stainless steel and the PK24 chaise lounge – a sleek, shapely seat with a wicker body perched on a light steel frame.

Born in 1961, Thomas became a cabinetmaker after basic schooling and worked for furniture manufacturer PP Mobler. “Afterwards, I studied to become a wood technician and continued to work for PP Mobler and One Collection, selling their furniture in Europe until 1995 when I opened my retail store, Kjerholm’s, that specialises in selling all my father’s designs,” he shared.

In June, Thomas made a trip to Seoul to give a talk for an exhibition titled Fritz Hansen Presents: The Poul Kjaerholm Exhibition in Seoul, which presented Poul’s furniture and life story to the Korean audience. It took place from May 31 May to Jul 7 in Youth Quake, located in the Jongno-gu district across from Gyeongbokgung Palace.

This exhibition is part of Thomas’ goal in preserving his father’s legacy. “My father’s work is considered revolutionary because it challenged and expanded the conventions of furniture design. His innovative use of materials, commitment to minimalist aesthetics and blend of craftsmanship with industrial techniques have left an indelible mark on the design world, making his pieces enduring icons of modern furniture design,” he said.

Poul was renowned for his skilful techniques with materials especially steel, which he approached like an artisan. “While many of his contemporaries focused on wood, he integrated steel into his designs in a way that emphasised its structural and aesthetic potential,” said Thomas. The war had made available many industrial processes and Poul sought to marry these with traditional craft methods, resulting in pieces that were “meticulously crafted yet suitable for mass production”.

This was made clear in the exhibition held in a building designed by veteran Korean architect Byoung Soo Cho, the founder of BCHO Architects. Like Poul, Cho has a way with materials, harnessing their natural qualities and celebrating the way they age with marks of humanity and nature.

It was the perfect backdrop for the exhibition that started with large panels narrating Poul’s background and collaboration with Fritz Hansen, explaining the struggles of the aspiring designer, and the contribution of his work to the lineage of Danish design. Some of the exhibits dismantled his iconic pieces into parts, down to the bolts, making legible the construction – and corresponding complexity – of his pieces. There were also archival material on show, provided by his family and Fritz Hansen, as well as rare pieces produced in limited qualities and discontinued during Poul’s lifetime.

When I ask Thomas via email to tell me about his father, the former replied: “It is very difficult to describe my father from an adult’s point of view since we lost him so early.” (Poul died of cancer in 1980 at the age of 51.) Compared to his contemporaries, Poul’s body of realised work is not large, but he was a perfectionist, taking much time to refine his designs; those he produced were timeless and of extremely high quality.

To understand the designer’s importance to the design world, we backtrack to 1929 when Poul was born in Ostervra in northern Denmark. In his youth, he was interested in woodwork and apprenticed with a local cabinetmaker. Subsequently, he attended the Danish School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen, where renowned designer Hans Wegner took him under his wing.

In 1953, he met his future wife Hanne Dam, who later took on her husband’s surname. She studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and went on to become one of the few women then to have her own architecture studio. The accomplished architect was also the first woman to be appointed professor at the Academy, where she and Poul taught until his death.

Like Poul, she distilled design tradition to create modern buildings and spaces, removing unnecessary ornamentation for clean expression of function and structure. Emotion came through the touch of natural materials. She had designed their family home that Thomas now resides in.

“Everything that my father designed between 1957 to 1962 was designed for our home. Bespoke pieces like the PK54 table, PK9 and PK11 chairs, PK61 coffee table and PK31 sofa were first envisioned for this space. They are still here today, though not the original pieces. Sadly, some furniture was stolen and so we had to replace them, but we did so with the exact same models, so the pieces here today are the original designs,” said Thomas.

Since 1982, Fritz Hansen has manufactured and sold Poul’s designs. “In 1982, after my father passed away, my mother made a contract with Fritz Hansen, setting out the principles that uphold his legacy and our engagement,” said Thomas. “Me, my sister Krestine and my mother are involved not just in new launches, but in choosing new materials, colours of leather and so on.”

Poul’s relationship with Fritz Hansen goes way back. The company was impressed with the PK25 lounge chair that Poul displayed at his graduation exhibition in 1952 at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts, and hired him into the company. There, he assisted another famous Danish designer Arne Jacobsen.

But Poul left only a year later, frustrated that his own PK0 lounge chair design not being realised as priority was given to the production of Jacobsen’s now-iconic Ant chair. His ultimatum of ‘it’s him or it’s me’ is stuff of design legends. Luckily, out of that severance came a productive relationship with another furniture manufacturer Ejvind Kold Christensen. Kold Christensen became a family friend, moving next door so he was always at the Kjaerholm residence.

Poul designed many pieces during this time, based on personal observations and experimentations. For example for the PK9 chair, he eschewed welding for fixtures from the aviation industry to express jointures; likewise, he chose stainless spring steel (used to make aeroplane parts as it can withstand high stress levels and harsh conditions) for the legs.

“My father had a remarkable talent for turning ordinary industrial materials into extraordinary pieces of art,” said Thomas. The continuous steel frame of the PK25 lounge chair, for instance, is extraordinarily difficult to produce. “It’s fascinating that, even today, the halyard seat and back is hand-strung in Denmark, maintaining the craftsmanship that was so important to him,” Thomas added.

In a poignant move, Fritz Hansen produced 600 of the PK0 chair that they had famously looked over in commemoration of the brand’s 125th anniversary. The mould was destroyed after, making it a limited edition piece. Not surprisingly, Poul’s designs have attained cult status. “Their simplicity and clarity of form have made them timeless and enduringly appealing to people all over the world,” said Thomas.

As for him, it is hard to choose a favourite piece. “That’s a tricky question; it depends on the day. If you asked me this question yesterday, I would have said the PK61 coffee table. Today, I would say the PK33 stool because it reminds me of my granddaughter who loved to sit on her knees with her elbows on the stool when watching cartoons,” said the father of two sons endearingly.

Everyday, he interacts with his father’s designs, all of which are sold in his store. An on-going duty is to make an archive. “It has pamphlets and various things we have collected, including some folders from the early 1960s with photographs of the designs,” Thomas shared.

Furthermore, in keeping with his father’s legacy, Thomas and Krestine do two things: “We educate our children on the legacy of Poul Kjaerholm, their grandfather. Every year at the end of May, we all come together and talk about different subjects, do things or show our children something about him and his work,” said Thomas. One year, Michael Sheridan, who wrote the book Poul Kjaerholm Furniture Architect, joined the gathering.

Fans can look forward to adding to their collection, as the family is constantly in talks with Fritz Hansen about what to “bring to life” next. Thomas shared: “At my shop, I have a small exhibition showcasing many of the prototypes. It has a good overview of my father’s body of work. Some of these pieces have been designed for a specific purpose, like the PK23 chair that we are launching with Fritz Hansen in 2025.”

He explains that the chair was designed in the mid-1950s for the interior of the FL Smidth cement factor headquarters. “Wide and low in form, it was intended as a conversational chair but did not make it beyond sketches at that time. My mother later approved a prototype, and it is now set to come into production for the first time.”