Fritz Hansen hosted Inform in New York last week to introduce the Poul Kjaerholm Collection. Inform is one of a few chosen North American dealers who will carry and present the Poul Kjaerholm (PK) collection. We had an incredible day highlighted when PK's children, Thomas and Krestine Kjaerholm, spoke on a personal level about their parents, lending much insight and the warmth of family to the PK collection.
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| Krestine Kjaerholm with PK collection in NY Showroom |
We learned that their mother Hanne was an architect with her own practice and she designed their family home (based on the Golden Rule), now lived in by Thomas, for which much of PK's furniture was designed to work in. The furniture was designed to be low to make the rooms more beautiful and to feel loftier. When I asked Krestine if there was any problem deciding who would take their family home, she replied 'oh no, I took the house in Spain!' - again designed by their mother. Krestine's favourite piece is the PK 9 dining chair, or as they called it at home, "my mother's butt". It seems Hanne's back side was the basis of the shape, she had to sit in the sand to assist Poul in getting the seat shape just right. And no - their mothers butt wasn't that large. The PK 24 is Thomas' favourite and it still resides in its original spot in the family home. Thomas and Krestine knew they lived differently from their friends - their friends told them. They also noticed they lacked the bric-a-brac present in other homes. All home dinners were like a Japanese tea ceremony, they were made beautiful.
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| Thomas and Krestine Kjaerholm |
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| PK 80 day bed |
Poul Kjaerholm went to school under another great Dane, Hans Wegner and was much inspired by him. He was obsessed of the detail and had a collection of sports items in which he admired the beauty of detail in the making of them. He needed to see and feel that same beauty in his furniture. He loved the way furniture aged, and designed his pieces to last at least a lifetime. He eventually became a teacher himself, a very difficult teacher (in the best of ways) He is known to have comment to a student on their work: "Do you the know saying, it hurts in my eyes?" PK also kept a collection of images from nature that inspired him, images from trees, birds - the shape of the PK 24 was inspired by the shape of a bird's wing.
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dessert - beautified
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Our day ended off at Aamanns Copenhagen Restaurant where we continued hearing stories and enjoyed delicious food served beautifully. We were sure Poul and Hanne Kjaerholm would have approved.
Look to see our display of Poul Kaerholm pieces in the showroom come late winter - early spring. The PK 22 and PK 61 coffee table in the showroom now! Thank you to the Fritz Hansen team for a fabulous design filled day.
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