Eye Magazine

Graphic design is always an interplay of shape and colour. Yet Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens (see Eye 11) has made experimentation with printed matter his own. His oeuvre, shown at the exhibition ‘Unbound’, at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam from 11 July to 26 October 2025, encompassed more than six decades of work and ranged from book covers to clocks, stamps and road signs (see installation photo, below, by Peter Tijhuis). The exhibition design was by curator Thomas Castro, with Karel and Klaartje Martens, the latter his daughter.

Martens’ self-initiated monoprints (see above, 2015), in which he explores the components of design: form, colour and printed matter, testify to a creative drive that transcends the functional. By combining self-initiated experiments with commissioned work, Martens has positioned himself at the intersection of an artistic and applied practice.

He trained as a designer at the Arnhem Academy of Arts in the late 1950s and made a career while working on layouts and book covers for a local publisher. During this age of dry-transfer lettering and photo­typesetting, book cover design provided the canvas for his explorations of form. He learned a great deal on the job itself and remained involved in designing book covers and inlays until the 1970s.

The late 1970s and 80s were a turning point for Martens. The economic shifts of the time resulted in increasing commercialisation. As capital-driven concerns took over small publishers, managers took charge of design. As financial criteria overshadowed cultural values, Martens sought commissions in which he could take personal responsibility for production …

Kylièn Sarino Bergh, lecturer design histories, The Hague, Holland

Read the full version in Eye no. 109 vol. 28, 2025