Karel Martens: Love Letters Koopje

‘Love Letters’ is a selection of 46 envelopes for the letters that Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens (b. 1939) sent to his love, Lous, between 1962 and 1963. The envelopes were all manually crafted using printing ink and a spoon to create the pattern. They were printed during his military service, when he was stationed in the drawing room of the Welfare Service at the Prins Hendrik Barracks. Among other things, there he was tasked with designing a poster titled “Don’t croak about military service matters, the enemy is listening”.