Sweden Post kicks off 2005 stamp program, celebrates sustainable design and reaches dizzying heights

Sweden Post is unveiling three new stamp issues on January 27, 2005: Swedish Design - The 2005 Year of Design, The High Coast - World Heritage 6 as well as Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia 2005. 

Good design can range from "smart" welding hoods to elegant glassware, and many of Sweden's homegrown design successes have gone on to win international acclaim. During the 2005 Year of Design, Sweden Post is recognizing design from the 1960s onward. The Swedish Design - The 2005 Year of Design issue - a six-stamp booklet - showcases artistic pieces as well as industrial design. 

Many of the pieces featured in the stamp issue are familiar, everyday objects. Everyone has doubtless used the classic Turn-o-Matic take-a-number system, which was designed in the 1970s. The Pilaster shelf system from the 1980s too can be found in many Swedish homes. 

Other designs include the Speedway 9000 welding hood, featuring an automatic face shield setting, and the exclusive Vivianna ladies timepiece, designed by Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe. Stamps also depict Ingegerd Råman's exquisite art glass as well as the Streamliner toy automobile - which was equally popular among adults and children when it was introduced in the 1980s.  

Sweden Post is unveiling the sixth installment of its World Heritage series. The High Coast reaches dizzying heights and surveys a variegated region. The 1,425 km² expanse in Western Norrland was granted World Heritage status in 2000. 

At 286 meters, the High Coast holds the world record in land elevation; it continues to rise 8 mm annually. In addition to steep precipices, this unique site blends narrow valley troughs, billowy mountains and inlet lakes. The High Coast is a very popular tourist destination. 

2005 marks the 22nd stamp issue featuring a portrait of Carl XVI Gustaf. Queen Silvia too has been depicted on many stamps throughout the years - 17 times including this latest issue. The Queen's portrait is based on a photograph taken by Ewa-Marie Rundquist. 

Digital images can be downloaded here:
http://cws.huginonline.com/P/134112/pictures.html 

For more information, please contact:
Thérèse Bergling, PR and communications, phone +46 8-781 64 60, email therese.bergling@pf.posten.se  

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 and convenient electronic solutions, and integrating these services into customer businesses. 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 20 million pieces of mail. With sales of over SEK 24 billion and roughly 35,000 employees, the group is one of the largest in Sweden. The parent company, Posten AB (publ), is wholly owned by the Swedish state. For more information, please visit our website at www.posten.se  

Technical details 

Date of issue: January 27  

Swedish Design - The 2005 Year of Design
Design encompasses more than the mere shape and form of an object. It is an expression of the culture and day in which we live. Good design embodies a striving to achieve beauty and functionality when creating even the simplest of objects. 

The Swedish government has declared 2005 to be the Year of Design and Sweden Post's Swedish Design - the 2005 Year of Design stamp issue has drawn inspiration from this pronouncement. The issue neatly dovetails the 1994 Swedish Design stamps. The stamps feature six objects deigned in the 1960s and onward. 

The stamp designs take the 1960s as their point of departure, depicting the exclusive Vivianna ladies timepiece, which was designed by Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe for Georg Jensen. 

From the 1970s we celebrate the take-a-number Turn-o-Matic system designed by Tom Ahlström and Hans Ehrich of A&E Design. 

More recently, in the 1980s, Ulf Hanses' wooden toy automobile, Streamliner, was a huge hit. Other stamps feature the now-classic Pilaster shelving system and the three-legged Camilla chair designed by John Kandell. 

Good design in the 1990s is represented by Carl-Göran Crafoord and Håkan Bergkvist, who designed Speedway 9000 welding hood, whose face shield automatically adjusts to light intensity. 

Ingegerd Råman's glass artwork, including "A drop of clear water" from 2001, is also celebrated in this stamp issue. 

To further underscore design's importance for philately, Sweden Post is printing the Swedish Design on self-adhesive paper using a combination intaglio/four-color offset manufacturing process. The combination manufacturing process has been used with self-adhesive stamps only once previously: In 2001 Sweden Post became the first postage stamp manufacturer to use this combination when it released its Fishes issue. 

Gum type: Self-adhesive
Manufacturing process: Combination intaglio/four-color offset
Designed by: Sara Lund
Engraved by: Lars SjööblomFormat: Booklet of six stamps
Denomination: Domestic mail 

The High Coast - World Heritage 6
Sweden Post's sixth World Heritage stamps feature the unique High Coast environment in Western Norrland. 

In no other place in the world is a land elevation as evident and concentrated as in the High Coast region. The land elevation is caused by the recoiling of the earth's crust following its depression under ice more than 10,000 years ago. 

UNESCO granted the area World Heritage status in 2000. At 286 meters the High Coast boasts the highest land elevation in the world. At present the High Coast rises 8 mm annually. 

The World Heritage site is 80 km long and covers 1,425 km², from the mouth of Ångermanälven in the south to Skagsudde in the north. The High Coast stamps celebrate the varied natural beauty of this unique region.  

One stamp depicts the Högbonden lighthouse perched along the southern tip of the World Heritage site. At 60 meters it is Sweden's second-highest lighthouse. Only Kullen, in the southern Skåne region, is higher. The lighthouse was lit for the first time in 1909. 

Another stamp portrays the Storön Nature Reserve and its intriguing cliff formations, which have been created by numerous layers of various types of rock. 

Ulvön is known for its premier fermented herring. To showcase this tradition, one of the stamps depicts a fishing village and two fishermen hauling in a catch of herring.

The fourth stamp provides a view over Häggvik, taking in the High Coast's characteristic inlet lakes.    

Format: Booklet of four stamps (four designs)
Manufacturing process: Intaglio and offset combination
Designs based on photos
Preproduction and engraving by: Martin Mörck
Typography by: Gustav Malmfors
Denomination: 10 kronor, international mail 

Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia 2005
The first Carl XVI Gustaf commemorative stamp was issued 30 years ago. The 2005 commemorative stamp is the 22nd of its kind. A stamp featuring a portrait of the Queen will be issued on the same date. The Queen's stamp debut was in 1981 and her likeness has since appeared on no fewer than 17 stamps. 

The new vivid and vibrant engravings celebrate a royal couple in their prime. The King and Queen have been intimately involved in the stamp issue. In fact, they visited Sweden Post's postage stamp printing facility to approve the sketches prior to engraving.  

The King's portrait has been printed in two shades of purple and the Queen's in dark brown and yellow. 

Photos by: Ewa-Marie Rundquist
Engraving and printing process: Two-color intaglio
Format: 100-stamp coil
King engraved by: Lars Sjööblom
Queen engraved by: Martin Mörck
Denomination (King): Domestic mail
Denomination (Queen): 10 kronor, international mail