Liberty, Karel Martens and Harry Pearce: an Unapologetic Alliance

When a client invites a designer to undertake a project in the spirit of “unapologetic eccentricity”, there’s an understandable temptation to be suspicious. Do they really mean it? Will they change their minds when they see the results? Will brand strategies and marketing protocols smother innovation? 

But this is the venerable design house Liberty we’re talking about, and the term “unapologetic eccentricity” comes from their brand manifesto. So, when an invitation to design a range of Liberty fabrics was received by Pentagram partner Harry Pearce, he wasn’t remotely suspicious. 

Harry had worked with the company for several years, and he knew they valued the unexpected. He also knew that since its formation in 1875, Liberty had a history of inspiring collaborations with designers and artists that proved, unequivocally, its commitment to the new and different.

Pearce and his Pentagram team had already demonstrated their worth to Liberty. In 2020 they designed a new visual identity that, while rooted in the store’s past, was subtly modernised for a new era. After spending time in the Liberty archive researching the design house’s rich collection of printed artefacts, Pearce and his designers emerged with a new logotype, a custom display typeface (Lasenby Sans, named after Liberty’s founder), a suite of supporting typefaces and an updated rendering of the famous Liberty crest. “The process of rebranding Liberty has been one of craft, archaeology and refinement,” notes Pearce, “The logotype itself hails from the lettering in the original sign above the Great Marlborough Street front door, carefully redrawn to make it the most authentic logotype in Liberty’s history.”

Named Liberty Letters, the fabric that emerged from the invitation was a typography-based collection of products including bags, scarves and fabrics. Andrea Petochi, Managing Director at Liberty described the range as a “Dadaesque theatre of dancing typography and wearable art”. 

The range sold out quickly, and established Pearce and Pentagram as members of an elite group of Liberty collaborators, a group that included William Morris, Vivienne Westwood, Manolo Blahnik and other glittering names from the worlds of art, design and fashion. 

The Dutch graphic designer Karel Martens can now be added to this stellar grouping. Introduced to Liberty by Harry Pearce, Martens is a revered figure in graphic design. Now aged 85, his books of self-initiated work are cherished by designers in thrall to his highly individualistic melding of collage, graphic form and incisive colour.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like an obvious marriage. Martens’ geometric modernist designs look a long way from the floral abundance of classic Liberty fabrics. But, in the spirit of unapologetic eccentricity, Liberty embraced Martens’ graphic radicalism and commissioned him to design a range of wearable fabrics. Mary-Ann Bartlett Dunkley, Design Director at Liberty, has noted that the relationship with Martens was “one of the many joyous offsprings of our creative partnership [with Pentagram]. Harry kindly introduced us to Karel, who had always been an inspiration of mine, and sparked the launch of our joint fabrics collection inspired by Karel’s iconic portfolio.” 

Despite his long history of designing for paper—books, postage stamps and the architectural magazine OASE—Martens is quick to assert that his creative process did not change when applied to fabrics. In an online conversation, he talked about the need to always work with the method of production in mind: “Whether it’s concrete, paper or fabric, my creative process is the same. Paper is not so far away from fabric, and thanks to the dedication and expertise of the Liberty printing mill near Lake Como, I felt able to maintain the intensity of colour.” His praise for the fabric makers and printers is unstinting.

He also relished the incidence of happy accidents. Martens embraced the transparent nature of fine silk, which allowed unexpected resonances of colour and form to occur: “This was a key part of the design process,” he said. “The things you can’t control and that happen organically often produce the best results.” Typically, he produced many more patterns than were needed. I can think of lots of designers who would happily take ownership of Karel Martens’ rejects. 

To his many admirers, one of Martens most appealing qualities is his ability to work independently of the normal commercial constraints that most graphic designers work under. Did he, I wondered, find that working with Liberty restricted him in any way? “As a client, Liberty was a pleasure to work with, and like all good projects, you need a good designer, good content, and a good commissioner.” 

Working between the Liberty Fabrics London design studio, the Italian printing mill and his Amsterdam studio, the results capture Karel Martens aesthetic obsessions. No doubt there are fabric purists who see him as an interloper or a fabric dilettante. But to my eyes, the patterns, shapes and pixel-like repetitive accumulations that Martens is renowned for, transfer seamlessly to fabric, with the bonus that the light-as-air silk animates the Martens aesthetic. If the Liberty Letters range is “dada theatre”, the Martens’ range is fabric animation. 

Pearce and Martens attribute the success of both projects to the unstinting commitment of the Liberty design team. Their skill at bridging from flat graphic mark making to flowing fabric patterns is unprecedented. As Pearce notes: “The Liberty team took both our designs and made them real. They were wonderfully faithful to the original ideas, but there is a very skilful stage of transition that makes or breaks the whole process.” Oscar Wilde, a frequent Liberty customer, said: “Liberty is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper”.

That was in 1889. Today he might have added that it is also the chosen resort of the independent-minded designer and artist.

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