Tag: postage stamp

Designer Desire: Wim Bijmoer

Montage of Wim Bijmoer illustrations | H is for Home

Wim Bijmoer (1914 – 2000) was a Dutch illustrator and graphic designer; he began his career in theatre and ballet, designing sets and puppets.

He illustrated scores of books by Annie MG Schmidt – who’s considered queen of Dutch children’s literature. He also provided the graphics for her regular comic strip in the Amsterdam newspaper, Het Parool and later for Han G. Hoekstra. In 1967, he produced a lovely set of postage stamps… four of them are included in our montage above.

Bijmoer officially retired in 1979 however, he didn’t stop working until 1990 when, after failed eye surgery, he lost much of his vision.

Portrait of Wim Bijmoer

Image credits:

Pinterest

Designer Desire: David Gentleman

Mosaic of David Gentleman designs | H is for Home

We watched a fantastic programme on television last week, all about the history of the postage stamp and stamp collecting. It was through this that I was reintroduced to the designs of David Gentleman. I say reintroduced because I had many of his designs stuck in my stamp album way back in the 1970s.

Now that the internet has been invented, it has been much quicker and easier for me to go in search of more examples of his wonderful work. Between 1962 & 2000, he designed 103 different stamps for the Post Office – for a long time, his was the most prolific output for them. He designed posters for London Transport, the National Trust, Imperial War Museum and the Public Records Office. He also designed book covers & illustrations for publishers including Penguin and Faber as well as for his own travel books.

Portrait of David Gentlemancredit

Between his postage stamp output and his 100-metre-long mural on the Northern Line platform of Charing Cross Underground Station – David Gentleman is probably one of the most widely viewed designers in the world! You can find a more extensive study and interview of the designer here.

Additional image credits:

Postal Museum | Tate

Tuesday Huesday: Independence Day festivities

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Israel independence commemorative stamp from 1967 showing firework display

 

OK, I confess, I was a nerdy child that collected stamps (I consider Justin to be worse, he was a coin collector and they’re not nearly as colourful & beautiful as this!). They’re still packed away in a box in the loft somewhere.

This is one in a series of postage stamps from 1966, commemorating Yom Ha’atzmaut, the declaration of independence of Israel.

Thanks to Karen Horton for allowing us to use her image.