Despite his traditional training as a cabinate maker, Kjærholm 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. He was uncompromising in his search for 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. In 1976 he was appointed Professor of furniture design at Copenhagen’s Royal Academy.
Kjaerholm designed dozens of chairs and tables, including the iconic PK22 and PK24 chairs, and E. Kold Christensen and Fritz Hansen produced several of his designs. His myriad awards include the Grand Prix at the Milan Trienale (in both 1957 & 1960) and the Lunning Award (1958). Kjaerholm’s designs are in the permanent collections of major museums across the globe. In 2006, he was the subject of a major retrospective at Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
