Launch exhibition Karel Martens

On view at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam from July 11 through October 26, 2025, “Karel Martens – Unbound” is the first major retrospective of Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens. The exhibition presents a sweeping journey through more than 300 works created over his 65-year career—including building signage, typography, books, stamps, wallpaper, phone cards, and his long-standing design work for the architectural journal OASE.

Martens is considered one of the “Big Three” in Dutch graphic design, alongside Wim Crouwel and Jan van Toorn. While Crouwel was known for strict grids and Van Toorn for political engagement, Martens forged a unique path built on experimentation, visual curiosity, and process-based making. His work blends analog and digital techniques, layering color and form in ways that transform found or everyday materials into expressive typographic compositions.

The exhibition includes all OASE issues designed by Martens since 1990—initially created in collaboration with students at the Werkplaats Typografie and more recently with his daughter Aagje Martens. These journal designs showcase his unorthodox approach: each issue is visually distinct, breaking conventional design rules and making OASE an evolving dialogue between form and content.

Visitors can explore Martens’ studio inspirations through photographs, sketches, and working models, gaining insight into his creative process. Highlights include a life-sized model of his colorful beach cabin “Couleurs sur la plage” (Le Havre, 2017), and an interactive icon viewer that converts live images into grid-based symbols according to Martens’ design logic. His more recent public works are also on view, such as the vivid street markings for traffic-calming zones in Amsterdam (2024).

A special artist’s book accompanies the exhibition, designed by Martens, Susu Lee, and Jordi de Vetten, with texts by Rein Wolfs, Thomas Castro, and others.

Over the years, Karel Martens has received numerous accolades, including the BNO Piet Zwart Prize (2023), the H.N. Werkman Prize (1993), the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for the Arts (1996), and the Gerrit Noordzij Prize (2012). This exhibition honors his immense contribution to the world of graphic design and his ongoing influence on new generations of designers.