Design classics – Stamps by Tom Hedqvist

Timeless pewter, iconic prints and much-loved decorative accessories. For the 2024 anniversary year, Tom Hedqvist turns some of Svenskt Tenn’s classic designs into stamps for PostNord.

Tom Hedqvist is one of our most well-known designers with a long-standing relationship with Svenskt Tenn. He was one of the founders of the 10-gruppen design collective, has been a professor of graphic design at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, was artistic director of the Orrefors glassworks, rector for Beckmans College of Design, and museum director at the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg. In 2004 he designed the two textile patterns “Estrid” and “Josef” for Svenskt Tenn; one with stripes and one with squares, hand drawn in 13 colours taken from Josef Frank’s cretonnes and designed as a complement to them. For the 2024 anniversary year, he celebrates the company with a series of stamps for PostNord.

Being the subject of a series of stamps is in itself an honour, and for me it has been a pleasure in this digital world, to strike a blow for analogue communication between people. Who doesn’t appreciate receiving a handwritten postcard or letter with a beautiful stamp on it

– Tom Hedqvist.

During their many world travels, both for work and in private life, Estrid Ericson and Josef Frank often wrote letters to each other. The content was varied. Sometimes they wrote about everyday things like the weather and what they were doing at the moment, but they also wrote about talks to be held, projects that were underway, things they had seen or places they had visited. When Estrid Ericson was travelling, Josef Frank wrote to tell her about daily life in the shop on Strandvägen 5. Some of these types of letters seem to have been written every day during the time she was away.

The stamp series now being launched by PostNord includes eight motifs featuring classics from Svenskt Tenn’s range: the Gren (Branch) brooch and Elefant (Elephant) textile pattern by Estrid Ericson, Josef Frank’s large-scale Hawai and Teheran designs as well as the Vänskapsknuten (Friendship Knot) candelabra, Anna Petrus’ Lejon (Lion) sculpture and Signe Persson-Melin’s Myrten (Myrtle) teapot, both in pewter, as well as Carina Seth Andersson’s Dagg (Dew) vase.

“With her keen eye, Estrid Ericson handpicked the promising new designers she spotted and then linked them to Svenskt Tenn, a tradition that is still very much alive today. Many of the earliest products are still in the range, which has made them timeless classics and many of the younger products are well on their way to becoming that too,” says Hedqvist.

Design Classics are available for sale from January 11, 2024, wherever stamps are sold. The stamps are also available, of course, at Svenskt Tenn.