Poul Kjaerholm was born in 1929 in Østervrå, Denmark, where he studied carpentry before graduating from the School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen in 1953. There he studied under Hans Wegner and Jørn Utzon, two leading designers who have shaped Danish design history and who also inspired Kjaerholm.

Poul became a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts and professor in 1976. His aesthetic was minimalist and he was particularly fond of simple materials such as steel, glass and clay. Despite his respect for the past, Poul designed with optimism for the future and for those who, according to him, lived with speed and flamboyance. During his lifetime, Kjaerholm became a representative of modernism and, with his simple designs, a central figure in both Danish and international furniture design.

Kjaerholm worked for Fritz Hansen for about a year, before starting a collaboration with the manufacturer Ejvind Kold Christensen in 1955 that lasted until Kjaerholm's death in 1980. Two years later, Fritz Hansen took over the production and launch of the Kjaerholm Collection, which was built up between 1951 and 1967.

The Kjaerholm Collection includes the PK22 chair, one of his earliest and most popular works. PK22 is an elegant piece of furniture with simple lines that is considered a modern classic. PK22 was also awarded the Lunning Prize in 1958. Other favourites in the collection are the PK25 lounge chair, the PK61 coffee table and the PK80 daybed. These three are prime examples of early and stylish Danish design that, thanks to Kjaerholm and others, has spread around the world. In 2007, two additional products were added to the Kjaerholm collection, the PK8 chair and the PK58 dining table.

Kjaerholm received several awards during his career, including the Grand Prix prize at the Milan Triennial in 1957 and 1960. In 2006, 26 years after Kjaerholm's death, a major exhibition was held at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark in his honour. Today, his elegant furniture is extremely popular. According to him, the important thing was to express the personality of the material, not his own, and with this principle in mind he created several unforgettable design classics during his lifetime.