Postcrossing Blog

Today is the day the new Postcrossing-themed stamps from Poland make their debut! Here they are, looking lovely in the hands of Monika (aka MonikMary), who woke bright and early to send us these pictures:

Don’t they look brilliant? 😍 This morning, postcrossers from Poland, Italy, Iran, France, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine met at the main post office in Warsaw today to celebrate this happy occasion and send postcards with the new stamps.

Soon they should be making their way to many mailboxes around the world, and I confess we’re very impatient to see them!

While we wait for them to appear in our mailbox though, we got in touch with stamp designer Agata Tobolczyk to learn more about her inspiration and creative process.

This is not the first stamp (or the first Postcrossing stamp, even!) that you’ve designed. How did you get into the work of designing stamps?

My journey into stamp design started in 2009, and ever since, I’ve been fascinated by this small graphic form. What’s interesting is that, outside of stamps, I usually work with much larger formats — for instance, when I paint, the canvases are often over 200×200 cm! So there’s a real difference in working on something as small as a stamp, and I really enjoy that contrast. I’ve also had the chance to design stamps for Luxembourg and Slovenia, and in all of them, what really fascinates me is creating a whole visual world beyond just the individual stamp. I’m passionate about how stamps interact within a sheet or block, making the entire composition more than just a collection of separate elements – it becomes a piece of art in itself.

What inspired you to create this new design for the Postcrossing stamp?

The Postcrossing theme has a special place in my heart. For this year’s stamps, I wanted to emphasize the joy and energy that come from sending and receiving postcards. There’s something really magical about how these little cards can bring so much happiness and connect people across great distances. My goal was to capture that movement and excitement — almost like the postcards are jumping from one place to another with enthusiasm! I focused on playful imagery and vibrant colors to reflect that positive energy.

What steps were involved in your creative process?

In recent years, I don’t sketch much anymore — most of my creative process happens in my head. I’ve worked with the Postcrossing theme before, and while I may have some old sketches from years ago, I haven’t been able to locate them! The idea of a running postcard actually came up during my work on the 2016 Postcrossing stamp (the one with the suitcase/mailbox). When I receive a new project, a few ideas always come to mind, and the running postcard was an idea that I’d set aside back then. Since I had two stamps to design this time, I approached it differently — I wanted them to work as a pair. Naturally, the idea of a joyful mailbox, specifically a red Polish mailbox, came to mind for the second design. One stamp is for international postage, where the postcard is flying across the world, and the other, with a lower value, shows a happy Polish mailbox. Together, they tell a story of connection — both locally and globally.

Are you perhaps a letter/postcard writer yourself?

Unfortunately, I must disappoint some postcrossers here — I don’t write postcards or letters as often as I’d like these days. The fast-paced world and the ease of modern digital communication have taken over. But I absolutely love the concept of Postcrossing and think it’s a wonderful way for people to connect. There’s something so special about this slower, more thoughtful way of communicating, and I admire how it brings people together across the globe.

Thank you, Agata!

We hope one of these little pieces of art will soon make its way to every postcrosser’s mailbox out there, spreading smiles and brightening the day of those who receive them. Keep an eye out for postcards from Poland in the coming months!

Today is a good day — it’s the day we get to announce that these vibrant and playful new stamps from Poland are scheduled to make their debut later this month:

Hurray! 🎉 Designer Agata Tobolczyk (who has also designed the previous Polish Postcrossing stamp) came up with this happy duo of stamps to brighten any postcard. They come in sheets of 12 stamps, and 144,000 units of each stamp are being printed in Poland by the Polish Security Printing Works company. The stamps will be available in post offices and also on the Polish Post online shop on the issue date, along with a fancy First Day Cover and its happy postmark.

The stamp launch date is October 26, 2024, and the community is organizing a meetup in Warsaw, where the special postmark will be available at the main post office. If you’re going to be around Warsaw towards the end of the month, consider joining the community in welcoming this new stamp!

At last! The day has finally come in which we see kiwis “flying” to deliver all those postcards from New Zealand. Look at them!

Aren’t these just gorgeous? You can’t really see it in these pictures, but the birds have a fancy overgloss coating! 😍 And the maxicards… perfection! It’s so exciting to see photos of the stamp, and not just a digital version. It’s real!

The reception from the community to this new Postcrossing themed stamp has been brilliant — not just from New Zealanders, but also from many postcrossers in other countries, who have pre-ordered some on the NZ Post shop for their upcoming visits or just to keep. We know postal workers have been super busy packaging those orders, and they should be popping up in everyone’s mailboxes very soon. If you manage to grab hold of some, or if one day you receive one of these on a postcard, do share some photos on the forum or on social media and tag us — we’d love to see them!

This coming Sunday, postcrossers in Auckland are meeting at the Wattle Downs café to celebrate the stamp launch and make use of their cute new maxicards. If you’re in the area, come join them for some friendly chat and postcard writing!

Kiwis are curious birds… native to New Zealand (which is also called Aotearoa in the Māori language), they are nocturnal land birds. They have feathers that look like hair, strong legs and no tail, and they cannot fly. So how would a kiwi deliver your postcards? 🤔 Why, with balloons, of course!

Meet the cute new Postcrossing stamp from New Zealand, coming out this August! Isn’t it brilliant? Plus, this stamp issue includes a really nice maxicard too:

Designed by Sumin Ha for NZ Post, the stamp is being printed in Napier by Brebner Print, using lithography. You cannot see it in these images, but the stamp features an overgloss coating over the kiwi itself, which will make it extra shiny and special… Be still, my little heart! 😍

The stamp will be issued on August 7th, so from that day onwards, local postcrossers will be able to send their postcards out into the world with these cute stamps! It’s possible to pre-order the stamp already on NZ Post’s online shop, and they also deliver internationally for all collectors out there. Those orders will be shipped on the issuing date.

We’re really excited about this and can’t wait to see these kiwis make their way to thousands of mailboxes worldwide!

Hurray! The German Postcrossing stamp is out and about, and the first postcards sent with it must already be arriving to the nearest mailboxes this week, and making its way around the world to many others out there. It’s been a long while since we attended a stamp launch event, so we wanted to show you a little bit of what happened in this latest one, which took place in Berlin on October 7.

The Museum of Communications Berlin very generously offered to host the day’s events, which were organized in two parts: one formal event, and the more informal meetup of postcrossers.

For the formal part, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Deutsche Post, the Bundesdruckerei (the company responsible for printing ID cards, money and stamps in Germany), as well as philatelic associations and Postcrossing gathered in a room of the museum. Some nice speeches were made by the different parts, including an introduction to the history of postcards by the Museum Director Mrs Anja Schaluschke, as well as a speech by state secretary Dr Carsten Pillath, who also distributed special stamp albums. Although designer Greta Gröttrup couldn’t attend the event, she prepared this cute video which sheds some light on her creative process:

After some pictures, it was time for the meetup to begin!

The Lichthof (the circular hall of the Museum of Communications) was set up with tables and chairs, and postcrossers started pouring in. Some took a guided tour of the museum, while others sat down to chat and write some postcards together. We had the chance to talk with most participants for a bit, and it was just lovely to meet different people and hear their Postcrossing stories.

There was even time for a group picture, taken by Sabine (aka kroete68)!

You can see more nice pictures of the event at the Museum’s Twitter page or on the respective meetup forum topic.

It was such a fun afternoon, with so many postcards being written and sent! Deutsche Post’s special post office was super busy stamping our cards and even ran out of the new stamps. 😅

A big thanks to the group of postcrossers who put such a nice event together, to those who came and made it brilliant, and to the Museum of Communications Berlin as well, for hosting all of us on this lovely day. Hurray!

We got some special commemorative folded cards featuring the new stamp, its cancellation marks and two detachable postcards created by the stamp designer — and have a few to give away! For a chance to win one, leave a comment below with some ideas for fun meetings and stamp celebrations. The giveaway will run for a week, and Paulo’s random number generator will select ten winners by this time next Sunday. Good luck!