Detail is Everything

Mar 12

PK 12 seat of vegetal tanned ox hide framed in cane wrapped tubular steel

**Inspiration** Bauhaus
**Provenance** Galerie Burén, Stockholm Sweden
**Exhibition | PK 12** Timeless Minimalism, Oda Collection Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art 2024
**Permanent Collection | PK 12** Oda Collection, Higashikawa Japan Röhssko Museum, Gothenborg Sweden 　　　 RKM 3-1968 　 Design Museum, Copenhagen Denmark
**Known Examples** 1 of 3 examples known to the market Lauritz, Sweden 2008 deLuxe Bruun Rasmussen, Denmark 2009 　　　　 Modern Art + Design No. 805 Bukowskis, Sweden 2019 　　　　　　　　　 Modern Art + Design No. 616

PK 12 was inspired by steam bent wood translated to a minimal tube steel form.

Kjærholm’s vision was a continuous form between leg and arm with natural materials in the place that the body came in contact with the frame.
Although its bent wood inspiration was both inexpensive and lightweight, conversly PK 12 proved to be incredibly difficult and expensive to create.

PK 12’s leg and arm are connected in diametric proportion. Exposed steel dominates its linear veritcal plane. Two continuous curves shadow the seat back to define its beautiful shape and horizontal plane. This seemingly simple structure created significant technical challenges in steel and canework.

PK 12 Evolution

Kjærholm went to great lengths to protect and articulate the perception that minimal equals simplicity though a precise balance of sculpture and architecture.
Three evolutions of the pre production models prooved too difficult and expensive to replicate in scale. Very few examples are known to exist.
Production model replaced the three piece leg with single piece construction with an optional braided leather applied over the tube steel pipe.

Detail is Everything

Easily overlooked by PK 12’s clean lines, a uniform diameter where cane meets exposed steel required the legs to be constructed from three pieces to account for the thickness of cane. A tight 90 degree bend just above each join, followed by a sweeping curve required precise engineering.

Beauty Masks Complexity

Naturally it is very difficult to wrap a curved surface in a proscess of consecutive straight lignes. 2mm canework is masterfully alligned across a continuously curved form without exposing its steel core beneath.

The complexity of this detail is cloaked by simple beauty.
We can imagine the discussions that occurred amongst Kold Christensen, Kjærholm and Kold’s craftsmen.