I AM TRYING TO EXPRESS
THE VERY LANGUAGE OF THE MATERIALS THEMSELVES

Poul Kjaerholm (1929 – 1980)

Designer of furniture and interiors. In 1949 Poul Kjaerholm studied at the School of Arts and Crafts (Kunsthandvaerkerskolen) in Copenhagen. Despite his traditional training as a cabinet maker, Kjaerholm designed furniture for industrial production by E. Kold Christensen, combining stainless or chromed steel frames with natural materials such as rattan, canvas, leather, timber and rope.
Like the Bauhaus designers with whom he is sometimes compared, Kjaerholm was uncompromising in his insistence on structural clarity and technical quality. However, his personal concern for everyday use did much to popularize the austere functionalist style with which he is associated.