Press releases - Posten.se

Sensual flowers, traditional woodworking tools celebrated on first stamps of 2004

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - January 21, 2004 - Posten, Sweden's postal service, today announced that vivid and vibrant flowers will be featured on the first stamps of 2004. Photographer Rossi Rosster's sensuous close-up photos will definitely add spice to this spring's love letters. Postage stamps depicting classic cabinetmaking tools and World Heritage site Laponia's wilderness will also be issued. The release date for all three issues is set for January 26.

Photographer Rossi Rosster's close-up images of flowers fuel the imagination and evoke in the viewer's mind personal and passionate interpretations. People from all times and cultures have associated flowers with love. Artists and writers have been inspired by the visible and tangible characteristics of flowers, as well as by their symbolism. In fact, a coded language of sorts was developed in the romantic 17th century. A scarlet flower might say "I long for you," a pink flower "I am in love with you" and a white flower symbolized demureness or chastity. The stamp designs shed new light on some garden variety flowers. We will get up close and personal with the tulip, lily, hibiscus and calla.

Sweden's wealth of plush forests has made cabinetmaking and carpentry popular hobbies. And with home improvement and interior design currently all the rage, interest in these skills has achieved a new renaissance. Posten is celebrating this trend by issuing stamps depicting three common woodworking tools whose origins date back hundreds of years. Hand planes, frame handsaws and brace drills of various sizes and shapes were enlisted by cabinetmakers and carpenters to join massive frames as well as to put the finishing touches on decorative details. The stamps feature a smoothing plane, frame handsaw and brace drill, with its classic u-shaped torque arm.

The fourth installment in Posten's World Heritage series portrays Laponia, situated in the northernmost reaches of Sweden and occasionally referred to as one of Western Europe's final frontiers. In 1996 UNESCO named Laponia a World Heritage site, citing its dynamic combination of magnificent natural terrain and vibrant Lappish culture. The stamp designs feature traditional conical Lapp tents beside the calf-branding corral in the Sirka's Lapp village, Padjelanta, as well as a view overlooking the Rapa Valley in Sarek.

Digital photos are available to download at:

http://cws.huginonline.com/P/134112/pressbilder.html

Åsa Ivarsson, PR and communications, phone +46 8-781 54 96, cellphone +46 70-980 51 41, email asa.ivarsson@pf.posten.se

Ingrid Eriksson, PR and communications, phone +46 8-781 54 41, cellphone +46 70-980 06 96, email ingrid.eriksson@pf.posten.se

Sweden Post's Press Office, +46 8-23 10 10, press@posten.se

Issue date: January 26

People from all times and cultures have used flowers to symbolize love, both in its chaste as well as its sensuous forms. Photographer Rossi Rosster's vivid close-ups of flowers will now be featured on postage stamps. Portrayed in full bloom, the flowers are captured in sensual and provocative poses. The focal points are the inner petals, pollen, stamen and pistil (used to attract pollinating insects).

The stamps depict evocative close-ups of our most common cutting flowers and potted plants: the tulip, lily, hibiscus and calla.

Photos by: Rossi Rosster

Typographer: Gustav Malmfors

Manufacturing process: Four-color offset

Format: Booklet of ten stamps (five designs)

Denomination: First-Class Domestic

Woodworking tools

Posten is highlighting the home improvement trend sweeping the nation by issuing stamps depicting three traditional woodworking tools whose origins can be traced far back in human history: the hand plane, handsaw and brace drill.

For centuries carpenters and cabinetmakers have used an array of hand planes, each suited to a specific purpose. The nimble smoothing plane featured on the stamp has a hardwood sole. This plane was used to achieve a fine finished surface.

The frame handsaw depicted on the stamp was manufactured in various sizes and had numerous uses. This saw has been used in Sweden since the Iron Age, though it is believed to have been invented by the Egyptians.

The brace drill is easily recognized by the u-shaped torque arm of its crank. The brace drill has been used by craftsmen since the Middle Ages and the earliest examples in Sweden date from the 17th century.

Designer: Gustav Malmfors

Illustrations provided by: Derome Woodworking Museum, Stockholm Master Carpenter Association and Carl Malmsten's Center for Woodworking Technology and Design

Engraver (smoothing plane): Piotr Naszarkowski

Engraver (frame handsaw and drill brace): Lars Sjööblom

Manufacturing process: One-color intaglio

Format: Roll of 100 stamps

Denomination (smoothing plane): First-Class Domestic

Denomination (frame handsaw): Economy

Denomination (brace drill): Nonprofit

Laponia - World Heritage 4

Four national parks and two nature reserves together create the 9,400 km² Laponia region in northernmost Sweden. Laponia has two distinct ecologies. The eastern section is part of the Eurasian taiga, featuring expansive plains, wetlands, lakes and primeval forests boasting 700-year-old pines. In the west lay the mountain terrain, untamed rivers and waterfalls. The Sarek area has 200 peaks and 100-odd glaciers.

Laponia is a sanctuary for endangered species, including the brown bear, lynx and artic fox. The rich birdlife includes the gyrfalcon, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle as well as numerous ducks and waders. Laponia encompasses seven Lapp villages, 300 reindeer herders and 50,000 livestock. Since prehistoric times, Lapps have used the area for reindeer herding, hunting and fishing.

Photos by: Kate Kärrberg and Kjell Ljungström

Graphic design: Eva Ede

Manufacturing process: Four-color offset

Format: Booklet of four stamps (two designs)

Denomination: 10 kronor, First-Class International

About Sweden Post

Sweden Post connects people and organizations around the world by delivering mail promptly, reliably and cost-effectively. We drive value creation by combining conventional postal services with convenient electronic solutions, and integrating these services into customers' businesses. Simply put, we are experts at everything between "From and To." With over 3,000 retail service outlets, we provide daily service to 4.3 million homes and 800,000 businesses in Sweden. Every day we handle close to 20 million pieces of mail. With sales of over SEK23 billion and roughly 40,000 employees, the group is one of the largest in Sweden. The group's parent, Posten AB (publ), is wholly owned by the Swedish state. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.posten.se