Design a Stamp…

 

 

Design a Stamp for World Design Capital Helsinki 2012

An online design competition open to everyone began at the www.futurecity.fi

website.

Helsinki has been one of the success stories among European metropolitan areas in recent years.Helsinki is home to more than one million people – approximately one-fifth of the Finnish population. Helsinki is also home to many of the key players of Finnish society, ranging from arts and sciences to the state government and some of the largest Finnish corporations.

Future City is the theme of the stamp design competition organized by Itella Posti Oy/the Itella Philatelic Center (Finland). The competition is part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 program, and the winning stamps will be sold publicly and used by the World Design Capital Helsinki.

"The traditional visual themes of urban stamps deal with prominent buildings and monuments. We are now looking for fresh, innovative ideas for both stamp themes and implementation. I'm confident that the online competition, open to everyone, will help us obtain a large number of new, open-minded proposals," says Markku Penttinen, Director of the Itella Philatelic Center.

"The design competition is an excellent match with the theme of the World Design Capital Year: Open City - Embedding Design in Life. Everyone may participate in the competition, and design as part of life will show in the stamp design, the themes and the final product. The official stamps of Helsinki's year as the World Design Capital will be the outcome", says Pekka Timonen, Director of the International Design Foundation, in charge of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.

The competition period is February 3 - April 4, 2011. During this time, contributions should be uploaded to the competition website in digital format as instructed. The competitors may freely select the implementation method of their contributions. For example, the competitors may depict a future living environment in their stamp, a place where they would like to live, or give their visions about tomorrow and a better life.

Everyone may vote for the contributions at the competition website from April 7–25, 2011.

Based on the public voting and the selections by the jury, 30 contributions will be eligible for the finals.

Eight contributions will be selected and made into stamps, and each author will receive ˆ1,500. In addition, four contributions will be selected to be made into postcards, and each author will receive ˆ500. The winners will be announced in May 2011.

Itella Posti Oy/the Itella Philatelic Center will process the winning stamps in their final format. The winning stamps will be released, and they will be available for public purchase in early 2012.

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