Poul Kjærholm was a trained carpenter and continued his studies at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts.
He had a particular interest in different construction materials; especially steel which he considered a natural material with the same artistic fineness as other natural materials.

Poul Kjærholm was employed at Fritz Hansen for about a year, where he designed a number of noteworthy chair prototypes.
In 1955 Poul Kjærholm initiated his collaboration with manufacturer Ejvind Kold Christensen, which lasted until Poul Kjærholm's death in 1980. In 1982, Fritz Hansen took over the production and sales of The Kjærholm Collection, developed from 1951 to 1967, designs, which are logical to the minute detail with an aura of exclusivity

Kjærholm experimented at length with materials and production techniques, which served him well when he was hired in 1955 to design desks for the architecture school at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Placing a pine work surface atop a ready-made steel base, the desk showcased the designer’s ability to bring out the best characteristics of both materials. The contradiction made the cold materials feel inviting and warm, while the natural materials took on an element of control. For the rest of his career, Kjærholm’s furniture would combine industrial materials with natural ones, such as leather, cane and stone.

Most of his furniture was initially produced by his friend E. Kold Christensen in Hellerup. Since 1982 a wide selection of those products have been produced by Fritz Hansen, a leading Danish furniture manufacturing firm.