‘Form, colour and material are equals'

Fashion accessory designers Vogels (b. 1972) and Martens (b. 1965) have been working together since 2003.
‘The print is the design,' says the duo about the textiles they create for their flowing scarves. Martens and Vogels prefer to make their colourful and sleekly designed bags from leather and canvas. ‘Material, form and colour understand each other.' The duo's designs are sold everywhere from Leeuwarden to Tokyo.

Klaartje Martens graduated in fashion design from the AKI Academy of Visual Arts in Enschede, followed an internship at Orson & Bodil and showed her work at the Intermezzo gallery in Dordrecht and the Netherlands Textile Museum in Tilburg. Martens sells bags under her own name at Van Ravenstein in Amsterdam and Colette in Paris, and since 1997 she has been teaching 3-D Design at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem. Her design partner Karola Vogels graduated in 3-D Design from the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in 1999.

She has designed belts and bags commissioned by Saskia van Drimmelen and worked on an international accessories project with artists Rob Scholte and Gerald van der Kaap.