Originally trained as a cabinetmaker, Poul Kjærholm skillfully mastered wood as part of his material repertoire, expanding over glass, leather and steel to traditional cabinetmaking. Particularly at the beginning of his career, he demonstrated great stylistic confidence with the organic material, and Kjærholm possessed a strong sense of the intrinsic potential of wood.

This ability is very evident in the unique furniture series Poul Kjærholm developed in 1955 for the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy needed a number of tables for lecturers and students, and Kjærholm, who had recently joined the academic staff, designed a Professor Desk (PK52) and a Student Desk (PK52A). It was through this process that Poul Kjærholm perfected the synthesis between craftsmanship and industrial design, drawing on his experience in both cabinetmaking and furniture design to develop his highly recognizable signature style. 

Reversible table top The PK52 table was designed to equip the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Students used at the time a plans reproduction technique involving wetting them abundantly. Poul Kjærholm designed the PK52 table to allow the succession of courses by giving it an easily reversible table top: it was simply placed inside the metal frame. Each new class had just to turn it over to have a dry surface. This is why the PK52 table is now equipped with a reversible table top, whether in wood veneer or laminate; the latter is besides bicoloured, light grey / black.

NB: the tabletop is reversible only without drawer