Postcrossing Blog

Growing up in a small town in Mindanao with no postcards for sale, Leila (aka LeilaKewl) first discovered the wider world through QSL cards from faraway radio stations. These days, Postcrossing, a friendly campus post office, and an ever-growing pile of mail from surprising places make her happy and connected to the world beyond social media. We talked to her about all of this in the latest spotlight interview!

How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?

My earliest memory of holding a postcard in my hand was when my parents received one from a friend overseas. The random street scene of other cities or desert landscape of other countries looked so exotic to my eyes, which had only seen our tiny town in the hinterlands of Mindanao island!

In my high school days, and still living in that tiny town, I got into shortwave radio listening, and I would send SINPO reports to radio stations. In acknowledgement of my report, they would send me a QSL card – actually postcards from their location. So I got cards from Saigon, Moscow, Washington DC, Sydney, Guam, Tokyo, etc.

Later on, when I got the chance to go to other places, I would buy postcards to keep as my picture-souvenir of the scenes I had seen, because I knew that my small, rectangular 110 camera would not have enough flash power to capture the details of such bright, beautiful places.

Finally, I actually started sending postcards when I stayed overseas as an exchange student for a year, to send a quick “Hello! I’m still alive” note and to show family and friends where I had been or what I had seen.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

One day, I saw my friend Mysnia88 reading through a bunch of postcards she received. As I have always been interested in mail and postage stamps, I got curious and took a peek over her shoulder as she read them (with permission, of course). I was amazed by the variety of countries the cards came from and the beautiful postage stamps attached.

She told me about the Postcrossing website. I checked it out, signed up and, as they say, the rest is postcard-HERstory!

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your post office or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

Although there is a mailbox outside our home, I prefer to use my workplace’s address. Since I work in the University, it has its own post office inside the campus that makes it convenient for me to drop by regularly.

Since starting Postcrossing, I have developed good relations with the small postal staff of 2–3. They actually set aside my mail and prop it up on their table for the daily exchange — when I come around to send mail, they hand me over my incoming mail. One could say that I am my own mail-folk!

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

It is difficult to pick the favorite part because I enjoy the whole process of Postcrossing. If really pressed to say the favorite part, maybe it would be seeing a slant at the end of the blue bar of travelling postcards… because it means that I can finally click the red “Send a postcard” button!

And then I can start the whole process of reading the recipient’s profile, adhering to their preferences of card theme and writing prompt, actually putting together a postcard, and mailing it.

But definitely, I look forward to reading and appreciating everyone’s notes written on my received cards, and the recipient’s thank-you note in the email.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

Yes. As I am a fan of tennis player Andre Agassi, I have known for a long time that he has a connection to Georgia (not the one in the USA). So, when I received my one and only card from that country, I was tickled pink by it… although of course that thread of connection between the postcard and Mr. Agassi is barely there. :-)

However, I have been most surprised to receive a card (RE-4563) from a territory I did not know existed – Réunion!

As with most, I looked at the image first and thought it might be an atoll in the Pacific. Then I saw the postage stamp, which was the familiar Marianne of France and was a bit puzzled at the idea of an atoll in France. Afterwards I read the message, written in an “European-looking writing”, found the Postcrossing ID “RE” and thought it must be a mistake. But there are only 4 digits, so maybe it is legit…? RE – where is that?!

The card made me research about Réunion, its location, history, etc. Now, I want to visit Réunion!

What’s one way that postcards have changed your life for the better?

Postcard exchange, or Postcrossing, has made me realize how connected we all are. Even if I don’t travel to see much of the world, and my social media feed is limited to my corner of the world, the postcards show me that there is so much more out there and yet, we all have the same aspirations, and we are so alike more than we are different. It has also made me more prayerful, surprisingly.

The Little Mail Carriers are still island-hopping in the South Pacific! After their adventures in New Caledonia with postcrossers Maret (aka Cerres) and Andry (aka andry1961), our tiny postal duo boarded another plane to visit a place most of us only know from stamps and atlases: Wallis and Futuna. Come along as they report back from this remote corner of the world, where life (and the post!) move at an unhurried island pace.

From New Caledonia, we flew to Wallis and Futuna with the airline Aircalin, which operates two flights per week from Nouméa. Wallis Airport was a charming sight to behold in itself. Beyond its delightful architecture, the airport served as a vibrant gathering place for the locals. When we departed four days later at the early hour of five in the morning, the area around the airport was surprisingly bustling with people.

Wallis and Futuna is an exceptionally unique France overseas territory that has never been colonized but chose to become a part of the French Republic (1961) while preserving its three kingdoms.

The first inhabitants of Wallis came from New Caledonia. Europeans only discovered Wallis in 1767 when Samuel Wallis laid eyes on an uncharted island. After an initially confrontational reception from the locals, he returned to the sea, leaving the island with his namesake. The local population predominantly comprises Polynesians, whose gracious hospitality and traditions whisk you away from daily life.

Many of them adorned themselves with beautifully scented flower necklaces (often more than one) or tucked flowers into their hair. This was not limited to women; men embraced the tradition too. The daily presence of these traditions was evident in the local attire and tattoos. Both floral and oceanic motifs were popular in these expressions.

The Wallis Post Office is located in the capital city, across from the royal palace and near Mata-Utu Cathedral. Here, the post office isn’t just for sending postcards: you can also arrange telephone and internet connections, transfer money, pay bills, and more.

Adjacent to the post office, there’s an impressive philatelic department where we spent at least two hours every day when the post office was open. We received a warm welcome and were even offered a workspace for leisurely stamping.

The islands’ first stamps were overprinted stamps from New Caledonia, issued in May 1920. The stamps depict the history and nature of Wallis and Futuna, all of which are displayed along with explanations behind numerous glass-encased panels. On our last day in the Philatelic Center, they gifted us a flower necklace, though it was a bit too large for us — Maret was wearing it instead of us.

During our time in Wallis, we also visited Talietumu, the best-preserved Tongan Fortresses in Pacific Region and Lake Lalolalo, one of the largest inland crater lakes in this area.

In total, we made several rounds around the island during those days — the circumference is only about 50 kilometers. Although the distances were not vast, pedestrians were quite rare, also in Mata-Utu, but friendly stray dogs were abundant.

However, it’s worth noting that our journey was not without its challenges. A daily storm, which prevented flights to the nearby Futuna Island, added an element of unpredictability to our adventure. 😞 We’ll have to leave that visit for another time… but that’s part of the adventure.

With postcards written, stamps carefully chosen, and new friends made at the post office, it was soon time for Maret, Andry and us to say “mālō” and continue our journey across the Pacific. Stay tuned — we’ll soon have some more exciting travel reports to share!

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

The monthly writing prompts we suggest are often just really fun, like sharing awesome local stuff and imagining what kind of superpowers we’d like… but this month I thought we’d go in a different direction, and share some sage advice!

Advice can be so tricky and situational: I think one of the most life-changing bits of advice I got was from a teacher when it came to picking which university to go to. He told me to visit the campuses, and decide if I felt comfortable there. I refused to even apply to Cambridge on that basis (and admit it, I don’t think I’d have got in anyway), and ended up staking all my hopes on Cardiff University, even deferring entry for a year so I could attend Cardiff specifically. I was very happy and loved my university… and I do tend to use that experience more generally as proof that going with my gut can be a very powerful way to make a tough decision!

For more general advice, my grandma always had some pithy sayings, some of which were more intelligible than others. My favourite to share is this: “You can’t educate pork.” She was never that willing to explain (we’re still not certain about “If you don’t want to fight, wear a really big hat”, though there are theories) but the family have always taken this to be a caution about taking part in arguments that you’ll never win because the other person isn’t listening. I use it to remind myself not to reply to random people on social media…

And finally, I’ll leave you with the advice my dad gave me in a letter, back when I was deciding on which modules to take in my second year of university. He declined to comment on what might be useful to study, and instead told me that if I was ever trapped in a basement or something with only a jar of pickled gherkin, a battery and jump leads, I could put a current through a gherkin to achieve an eerie green light… and hot food.

Make of that what you will, and we’d be excited to learn what great pieces of advice you’ve received, both serious and silly! You can write about it on your postcards this month, and share in the comments as well if you like.

João Machado is an internationally known designer based in Portugal. Although his first love is poster design, he began designing stamps for Portugal’s national postal service in the 1980s. Since then, he has designed dozens of stamps celebrating Portugal’s national culture, ecosystems, industries, and aspirations.

Sometime ago, João very generously shared his time and perspectives with Clarisse (aka CStar9) via email and postal mail.

You are internationally known for your poster designs. How did you begin designing stamps, which are at a very different spatial scale?

I started designing stamps in 1987 at the request of CTT – Correios de Portugal (aka, the Portuguese Post).

I made my first stamp for the centenary of the vinyl record. It was a stamp made manually (drawn and colored) without the help of computers.

What are the primary tools you use in your work?

My first work as a graphic designer was illustrating children’s books. I used pastel and cardboard templates that helped me define the shapes of each drawing. I also drew a lot with India ink.

Later, in the 70s, when posters became my great passion, I drew everything manually, using the airbrush, cutouts, and collages.

In 1987, I bought my first computer, but it was only later, in 1993, that I started using it 100%.

You’ve even designed a stamp on cork! Can you tell us about that?

I designed this stamp on ‘cork paper’ in 2007, at the request of Corticeira Amorim, a company that leads the world in this sector. This is the first stamp made in this material for Correios de Portugal, and the production was backed by Parliament.

Cork is Portugal’s only world-leading industrial sector, and the cork and cork tree are national symbols. The tree – which may live as many as two hundred years – is mainly concentrated in the centre and the south of Portugal.

Your vibrant color palette is incredible! Is it inspired by your environment or does it simply exist in your creative imagination?

There are many subjects, places, sounds, images, and even dreams that have obviously had an impact on my color palette and in my way of being an artist. I have always lived in the North of Portugal, next to the river and the sea. The northern region has always been much richer and more prolific in the colors of its crafts. But in a more general way, I am European and this geographic reality strongly influences my personality.

Influences are inevitable when we live in an open society. I’ve traveled a lot and contact with other international designers has been constant. No doubt I was influenced by the impact of Pop Art: I can highlight the influence of Heinz Edelmann, Milton Glaser, and Seymour Chwast. I remember my early works as an illustrator and poster designer were made during the 1960s, listening to the Beatles.

I ended up creating a very unique chromatic code, with vibrant, clean and sharp colors, articulated without any concern for classical correspondence. For example, green does not always mean hope; black does not always mean mourning. The color of the sun or the sea are those that my imagination and intuition decide to choose.

You’ve said in a previous interview that when you approach a design, you try to land on the bright side of an issue. Can you give us an example?

I am by nature a pessimistic and introspective person, but in my work I am always focused on the positive side of the issue.

In other words, even if it is a delicate and irremediable subject, I always try to approach the content of the message in a positive and hopeful way. Environmental issues are examples of what I have just explained.

When did you first see yourself as an artist/designer?

Since I was very little, I had a tendency to draw. When I was 14 years old and went to high school, I remember that my exercise books were filled with varied comic strips, caricatures of the teachers, and other ideas that occurred to me during lessons. I’m sure that at this age I had already decided my future!

When choosing my university career, I chose Fine Arts, which at the time included painting, sculpture, and architecture. I opted for sculpture due to my passion for the three-dimensional and strong drawing components of the course.

Later on in my work as a designer, the impact of sculpture gave me a better understanding of the three-dimensionality and “sensuality” of forms, not just those of the human figure. But the color was missing!

Graphic design gradually appeared on my path. I made the choice to dedicate myself to it, studying, observing, and creating my own language. Now, I was making my own 'watermark’.

You can learn more about João on his website, or through one of the many documentaries and interviews or profiles he’s been featured on throughout the years.

And now, for a very special giveaway! Clarisse is going to send 3 of João Machado’s cork stamps to 3 randomly selected postcrossers. For a chance to win one of these exceptional specimens, let us know which stamp issue(s) from your country you consider to be the most beautiful — maybe one day, we’ll interview that stamp artist too! 😍 This giveaway will close on Saturday, November 1 November 8.

It’s been a little while, and I’ve been accumulating books I want to talk about here at a high rate, so here are some mini-reviews of interesting books about mail/postal services/etc!

The Postal Paths, by Alan Cleaver

This book is part walking memoir, part history of the daily rounds of posties, with lots of descriptions of the usually idyllic countryside—unsurprisingly, Cleaver chooses rural posties to follow, rather than those in the cities! It isn’t all green fields and hedgerows: he also follows the route through a Welsh mining community, and is shocked by the scars on the landscape.

It’s all a little tilted toward an idealised view of what the work was like, highlighting dedicated posties who loved their work and felt a calling to it, or even felt healed by it. I’m sure there were some who tired of the work, or to whom it was just a job to be got over with, but it’s mild, pleasant reading, and an excellent resource for people interested in tracing the rounds of posties past.

Written in History, by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Here Montefiore has collected a bunch of significant letters, some only significant because of their sender or recipient, rather than subject. The letters are gathered between themes (like love, war, etc), and each one has an introduction contextualising it—sometimes the introduction is longer than the letter itself!

Many of the letters are significant for global political history, while some are more about gaining a personal glimpse of big names. I was a little sad to see the famous complaint letter about Ea-Nasir missed out, and Ankhesanamun’s letter to the Hittite ruler, and… a few other key letters of history that I find significant. Like any such collection, it’s curated according to the interests of the editor.

A Letter from the Lonesome Shore, by Sylvie Cathrall

You might remember my enthusiasm about the first book in this series! The sequel is now out, concluding the duology, and I’d be remiss not to tell you all how much I enjoyed this as well. It wraps up the story and solves most of the mysteries of the first book, and quite honestly, I was not expecting it to take quite the turns it did.

The only thing I’d say is that the mystery maybe built up a little too much. Ultimately, the payoff felt a little bit flat. Still, I gave this a rare 5/5 stars on my blog, so rest assured, the criticism is minimal. Everything I loved about the first book is still here, and be reassured: it’s still epistolary all the way through, despite everything! Cathrall manages that really cleverly.

Please Write, by Lynne M. Kolze

I was actually sent this book to review, and read a proof copy, but it’s taken me forever to get chance to look over the finished version. It’s a lovely warm book, championing handwritten letters and slower, mindful communication. It makes me think a lot about my own experiences writing weekly to my grandmother right up until her death earlier this year, and also the letters I sent to my parents while at university. I’m fairly sure I wrote to my mother more often than I texted her, in my first year or two at university, and Kolze makes a beautiful case for the enduring power of that kind of connection.

This one’ll probably make you glad for all the letters you’ve sent and received, and inspire you to send some more.

A Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World, by González Macías

Just a brief mention for this one, since it’s not really about mail at all, but rather something I read because of our famous first postcard, PT-1. It’s a fun light history that includes weird facts and ghost stories about a collection of far-flung lighthouses all over the world, and I enjoyed it very much.

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And that’s it! I have another book I’d like to review soon—Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent—but that one probably deserves a whole post. It was a surprise hit for me… but I’ll tell you more about that soon.

If you have other books in mind you’d like to see me review on the blog, we have a forum thread for that! If you haven’t used the forum before, you might have to browse a bit to open up that section first. I’d love to see your suggestions there!