Karel Martens

Recent articles about Karel Martens

Shape and colour

Issue 109, Winter 2026

Review

By combining self-initiated experiments with commissioned work, Martens has positioned himself at the intersection of an artistic and applied practice.

Dance across the pages

Issue 106, Summer 2024

Review

Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens has long been prolific in his visual examinations of form…

Strikethrough

Issue 69, Autumn 2008

Feature

The act of erasure, or striking out, can add new, unintended meanings to the images and information that lie below

Let the object speak

Issue 11, Winter 1993

Feature

The work of Dutch designer Karel Martens is rooted in materials rather than the ravishing image

French connections

Opinion

Slender and serious, Back Cover is emerging as a Gallic platform for a resolutely non-American view of design

Recent blog posts about Karel Martens

Graphic design live #21

9 September 2025
Graphic design, Posters, Events and exhibitions

Between Books, Type Tuesday, Pontus Hultén in Paris, Novo Typo Offgrid, Cyan and Karel Martens: Unbound

Read the Eye Events page to stay up to date with exhibitions, conferences, talks and workshops … and book for Type Tuesday

Books received #49

26 October 2022
Book design, Graphic design, Illustration, Events and exhibitions

Marylou Faure; Karel Martens in space; Olimpia Zagnoli; and HELL: The People and Places by Chwast and Heller
It has been a while since we posted a handful of book releases. This month’s eclectic…

Graphic design live #1

26 October 2021
Design education, Design history, Graphic design, Magazines, Posters, Typography, Visual culture, Events and exhibitions

Beautiful Swiss Books; Martens in Shanghai; MagCulture Live on Thursday 4 November; Typoteka; Chaumont
Here is a selection of current and upcoming events that piqued the interest of our…

Sea, sky, paint and pattern

29 October 2020
Design history, Graphic design, Illustration, Typography, Visual culture

Rich, decorative patterns shape our experience of the British seaside. The sixth in Justin Burns’s series on coastal graphic design
Patterns and decoration have long informed the design of seaside architecture – promenades, amusements, hotels…