Poul Kjærholm PK9 chair for Fritz Hansen

Condition: Reddish-brown leather upholstery. Marked Fritz Hansen. Made in 1983. Excellent condition. Poul Kjaerholm was a Danish designer and university professor. After an apprenticeship as a carpenter and studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, he began working as a furniture designer for his business partner Ejvind Kold Christiansen. This collaboration continued until the designer's death in 1980. In 1982, Fritz Hansen acquired the rights to all of Kjaerholm's creations from Kold Christiansen. Kjaerholm's designs were exemplary for their pure formal language and the combination of leather and steel. Poul Kjaerholm's work was characterised by his quest for the perfect seat. During an outing on a Danish beach with his wife Hanne, he had the brilliant idea of making an imprint of his wife's bottom in the sand. This imprint would serve as a model for a seat. During the subsequent development, his wife even had to sit in oiled clay for hours to shape an ergonomically perfect seat. The result of this charming story is the PK9 offered here, dating from 1960. One of the most perfect seats in design history. Former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was so taken with this chair that he had it installed in the dining room of the presidential palace. Poul Kjaerholm's works are now exhibited in many renowned museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.