With its first collection of 2017, Swiss Post is creating a bridge between traditional postage stamps and the digital, media-driven world.
At first glance, the stamps are your typical works of miniature artwork serving to commemorate contemporary events; however, each stamp also contains multimedia elements allowing the themes and subjects celebrated on the stamps to come to life or interact with the viewer. This is made possible using a smartphone and the Post-App.
“Swiss Post stamps have entered the digital world,” reads a press release recently issued by the Swiss postal service. “In the future, the subjects will come to life through multi-media by simply scanning them using the free Post-App. Additional information will be presented in the form of text, image, sound or video. On the other hand, the new stamps can also contain interactive elements, such as surveys or competitions. In addition, the scanned stamps can be ordered directly by smartphone.”
The options available for the new generation of stamps will be demonstrated with Swiss Post’s new “Animal Babies” stamps.
Designer Simon Hofer has already made an impression with bear, wolf, lynx and otter on traditional stamps. If you scan the stamp motif, an entertaining video will provide additional facts on the individual animal species.
This sheet show’s the Schilthorn’s cable car, although another sheet celebrates its revolving restaurant.
ANNIVERSARIES OF EVENTS & PERSONALITIES
In its first collection in 2017, Swiss Post is also honouring the anniversaries of historical events and prominent personalities.
This includes the Schilthornbahn railway. From the opening of the last segment 50 years ago, to the revolving restaurant on the 2,970-metre-high Schilthorn, the railway has had several milestones in mountain tourism. Two special stamps take you back to these pioneering acts on the Schilthorn. The Swiss Heart Foundation is also celebrating its 50th anniversary. The special stamp will not only appeal to a wide audience, but also to those directly affected, members and authorities.
For over 200 years, the glass blowers of the “Glasi” Hergiswil have been practising their craft. Swiss Post is dedicating a special stamp, embossed with UV gloss paint, to the only remaining glassworks in Switzerland, where glass is still produced by hand.
The bicycle is also celebrating its 200th birthday, and Swiss Post has issued two special stamps on this occasion: One stamp shows a Draisine from a bygone era, and the other a modern bicycle.
Someone with a few more years to his credit than the bicycle is Switzerland’s Niklaus von Flüe. He would have been 600 years old in 2017. As a seeker of God, mystic and hermit, he became an important adviser and peace broker for the Confederation. His influence on the history of Switzerland is of paramount importance. Markus Bucher, who grew up in Obwalden, has artfully immortalized one of the most renowned Obwaldner on a one-franc stamp.
You can find more information about the stamps in the “Focus on stamps” magazine at magazine-focus-on-stamps.ch.