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Poul KJAERHOLM
Poul Kjaerholm, Danish, born 8 January 1929 - died 18 April 1980, was a designer known for his functional yet modern furniture. Born in Øster Vrå in northern Denmark, Kjaerholm studied at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen. After graduating in 1952, Kjaerholm, with the help of his long-time friend and entrepreneur Ejvind Kold Christiansen, began designing furniture, distinguished by its unique minimalist aesthetic. In 1958, he designed the now famous PK22 chair and PK 24 chaise longue for Fritz Hansen for the Formes Scandinaves exhibition in Paris. A year later, he became a lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He was then appointed head of the Institute for Design, where he worked until his death. Kjaerholm is an ardent defender of industrial production. While most of his contemporaries prefer wood as a raw material, Poul Kjaerholm prefers to use steel, always combining it with wood, leather, rattan, canvas or marble. His creations are part of the permanent collections of MoMA in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and other institutions in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany. He received numerous awards, including two Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale in 1957 and 1960, the ID Award and the Lunning Award in 1958. In 1982, Fritz Hansen took over the production and sale of "The Kjærholm Collection", developed from 1951 to 1967, models that are logical down to the smallest detail with an aura of exclusivity. In 2007, Fritz Hansen added two new pieces to the "Kjærholm Collection". Pieces that had never been produced before: the PK8™ chair and the PK58™ dining table.