Itella Posti Oy will release four new stamp publications on March 8, with a total of eight different stamps. The eccentric Finnish outhouse culture is honored with a stamp booklet. This year, the traditional Easter stamp will feature a rooster. Garden berries have been chosen as the theme of roll stamps. A fresh rose-themed stamp, published as a convenient foldable sheet, is perfect for all kinds of congratulations.
The Prettiest Outhouse in Finland stamp booklet contains four different themes, chosen in a photo contest arranged by the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper and Itella Posti Oy in June-August 2012. The judges chose the prettiest outhouses from among more than 500 candidates. The winners are located in different parts of Finland: Uusikaupunki, Polvijärvi, Mustasaari, and Kerimäki.
One of the judges, graphic artist Satu Lusa, has designed 2nd class stamps from the winning photos. The motifs of the stamps are based on photographs taken by Oskari Karttunen, Anna-Lena Österåker, Julia Auvinen, and Pentti and Anne Silvonen of their fine outhouses.
The rooster is part of old Finnish Easter traditionsThis year's Easter stamps will feature a brightly colored rooster that carries a willow catkin in his beak and has an Easter egg at his feet. The Easter Rooster stamp sheet, designed by Katja Saario, contains ten 1st class stamps. According to the Finnish Easter tradition, it is the rooster that lays chocolate eggs and hides them for the children to find on Easter Sunday. In church art, the rooster is a symbol of vigilance and endurance, and it stands on the bell tower of many churches.
Three popular Finnish garden berries have been chosen as the theme for the roll of a hundred stamps to be issued in March: the blackberry, the gooseberry, and the red currant. The photo-realistic 1st class stamps have been designed by illustrator Ossi Hiekkala using an acrylic technique. The layout of Garden Berries is designed by Heikki Sallinen.
A 1st class stamp featuring the traditional dark red granny's rose with a modern twist is suitable for congratulation cards of all kinds. Designed by the renowned postage stamp artist Kaarina Toivanen, the Roses stamp is a close-up of two rose blossoms on a rose branch with water droplets on the petals. The foldable sheet of ten stamps and Priority labels fits neatly into a wallet.
Itella Posti Oy will arrange first-day markings for the new stamps in Kuopio in connection with the Savofila stamp exhibition on March 8, 2013, at 10-18. The exhibition will be held at Kuopio Music Centre (address: Kuopionlahdenkatu 23, FI-70100 Kuopio, Finland).
Itella Posti Oy will publish a special cachet designed by Jukka Talari to honor the Savofila stamp exhibition on October 8-10, featuring the Puijo Tower and its landscape. Posti will also have its own stand at the exhibition, selling stamps, first-day cachets and collecting-related products.
Technical data of Finnish stamps released on March 8, 2013 (PDF)
Itella Posti Oy
Itella Communications
All stamps available for sale are featured in Posti's online shop:
www.posti.fi/ostoksille
