Our other fall publications contain design, surrealism and city life.
In September, Posti will publish five stamp publications depicting subjects such as world-famous Finnish music, everyday design, surrealistic images and life in a miniature town. The new stamps will be released on Friday September 11.
The 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) will be celebrated with his own stamp booklet containing three stamps that depict the master composer at different stages of his life. The stamps have been designed by famous graphic designer Pekka Loiri, who admits to being a friend of classical music and a devout fan of Sibelius.
The Sibelius stamps show a passionate youth living the life of an artist, a symphonist living a blooming artistic phase, and an aging master composer. Pekka Loiri used a different technique for each of the stamps: a drawing in Indian ink, an aquarelle and a drawing in lithographic crayons. Loiri's stamps also contain wisps of color, referring to Sibelius's tendency of seeing different notes as different colors.
The Million Miles Away stamp booklet features six internationally successful Finnish rock bands that got to where they are today through a great deal of determination and work. The Finnish invasion of the global rock music scene was headed by Hanoi Rocks back in the 1980s. The other bands featured on the stamps are The Rasmus, HIM, Apocalyptica, Children Of Bodom and Nightwish.
"For each of the stamps, I selected a photo of the band and their name logo, which gives the stamps something of a band poster look," explains graphic designer Klaus Welp, the designer of the stamps. The background of the stamps features a collage of the back room wall of the legendary Tavastia club in Helsinki, which, according to Welp, can be considered an archaeological treasure of Finnish rock.
Creative agency Vanhatapio & Saksi has designed Art Post, a glitter-decorated miniature sheet with a black background featuring dreamlike images that rise from the depths of the imagination. "The sheet's four stamps include cinematic and literary references that allow the imagination to create the set and setting for events," explain Tiia Vanhatapio and Miika Saksi, the designers who created the stamps.
Vanhatapio & Saksi is a creative agency specializing in concept, product and brand development, fluently navigating the world of lifestyle and fashion. The agency's ideology is summarized in its motto, "When there is a will, there is a way".
Graphic artist and illustrator Lotta Nieminen has designed a miniature sheet of six stamps depicting a good-humored imaginary town in which animals and people live happily side by side. "I designed a small house on each of the stamps, allowing people to put together a miniature town of their own when they use the stamps on an envelope or package," Nieminen says in the description of the Animal Town miniature sheet.
Lotta Nieminen currently resides in New York City, where she is forging a successful career as a versatile graphic artist and illustrator. Nieminen's clients include Hermès, Google, The New York Times, Volkswagen and IBM. In 2014, Forbes magazine included Lotta Nieminen in its 30 under 30 list in the Art & Style category.
Another of September's releases is the Everyday Design stamp booklet created by graphic designer Ilkka Kärkkäinen and featuring Finnish designers and their classic products from different eras. The stamps remind us of the fact that stylishly designed practical objects have been a typical element of daily life in Finnish homes for several decades.
The stamps in the booklet depict the Solifer moped by Richard Lindh, the Kukkuluuruu fabric designed for Marimekko by Sanna Annukka, the Block lamp by Harri Koskinen, the Paratiisi plate by Birger Kaipiainen, the Mademoiselle lounge chair by Ilmari Tapiovaara and the Ultima Thule glass by Tapio Wirkkala.
The Everyday Design stamp booklet continues the series of stamps to mark the centennial year of Finnish independence to be celebrated in 2017.
