Poul Kjærholm
Poul Kjærholm (1929 - 1980) designed modern functionalist furniture that was praised for its understated elegance and clean lines. He studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen where he would later teach from 1952-56. In 1976 he was appointed Professor of furniture design at Copenhagen's Royal Academy, a position he held up until his death in 1980.
Over all these years he designed dozens of chairs, long chairs, and tables that became landmarks for Danish furniture design, but his design efforts spread much wider, as exemplified with the granite PK-Bowl.
The goal of "making form a part of function" was expressed uncompromisingly in all of Kjærholmâ?s work. It was a process of purification, a catharsis, in which all superfluities were peeled away and the pure utilitarian form emerged so clearly that it became a type not confined in time.
Kjærholm 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. His furniture is like an elegantly written character that gives the room in which it stands solidity and calm.
His works are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the V&A Museum in London and other museum collections in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany. He won numerous awards in industrial and graphic design, including two Grand Prix at the La Triennale di Milano (1957 & 1960), the ID Award, and the legendary Lunning Award.
Over all these years he designed dozens of chairs, long chairs, and tables that became landmarks for Danish furniture design, but his design efforts spread much wider, as exemplified with the granite PK-Bowl.
The goal of "making form a part of function" was expressed uncompromisingly in all of Kjærholmâ?s work. It was a process of purification, a catharsis, in which all superfluities were peeled away and the pure utilitarian form emerged so clearly that it became a type not confined in time.
Kjærholm 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. His furniture is like an elegantly written character that gives the room in which it stands solidity and calm.
His works are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the V&A Museum in London and other museum collections in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany. He won numerous awards in industrial and graphic design, including two Grand Prix at the La Triennale di Milano (1957 & 1960), the ID Award, and the legendary Lunning Award.
