Karel Martens' work is both personal and experimental. At the same time, it is publicly answerable. Over the 36 years of his practice, Martens has been prolific as a designer of books. He has also made contributions in a wide range of design commissions: including stamps, coins, signs on buildings. Intimately connected with this design work has been his practice as an artist. This started with geometric and kinetic constructions, and developed in work with the very material of paper. More recently he has been making prints. This book looks for new ways to show and discuss the work of a designer and artist, and is offered in the same spirit of experiment and dialogue that characterizes the work it presents. It is published on the occasion of the award to Karel Martens of the Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize for Art.