DE IDEALE POSTZEGEL
The Ideal Postage Stamp: A Bundle of Ideas Prompted
by the Departure of Paul Hefting of KPN, Art and Design
Joost Swarte [Designer]
Joost Swarte [Designer]: DE IDEALE POSTZEGEL [The Ideal Postage Stamp: A Bundle of Ideas Prompted by the Departure of Paul Hefting of KPN, Art and Design]. The Hague: KPN, 1994. First edition. Quarto. Text in Dutch. Paper-covered flexible boards stamped in red. 104 pp. Color illustrations commissioned for this edition. Elaborate mailer invitation with map in a mailed PTT envelope laid in. A fine copy. Rare.
7 x 9.75 book with 104 pages of color artwork commissioned specifically for this volume. Lavish and loving farewell to Paul Hefting and his tenure at the Dutch Postal Services (PTT - Post Telephone Telegraph) assembled, edited and designed by Joost Swarte. When Hefting announced his retirement, 100 designers, artists, photographers and writers were asked to contribute to Paul Hefting's farewell gift: a collection of ideas about the ideal stamp. The published result serves as an extension of the PTT’s legendary commitment to excellence in design.
Jean van Royen's early adherence to typographic and design excellence set a standard for the PTT for years to come. In the early 1930s, he commissioned Piet Zwart to transform PTT's in-house design style. This beautiful chapter in the history of graphic design came to "a brutal conclusion" when van Royen died in 1941 because of his opposition to fascism. Fortunately, van Royen's design legacy was revived after the war and continues to this day.
With contributions by Irma Boom, Pieter Brattinga, Karel Martens, Wim Crouwel, Gerard Unger, Kees Broos, Lex Reitsma, SWIP Stolk, Anthon Beeke, Jan van Toorn, Jaap van Triest and Koosje Sierman, Jan Bons, Cees de Jong, Otto Treumann and many many others.
Joost Swarte (born 24 December, 1947, Heemstede) is a Dutch comic artist and graphic designer. He studied industrial design in Eindhoven and started drawing comics in the late sixties. In 1971 he started his own comic magazine Modern Papier and made regular contributions to the Dutch comic magazine Tante Leny Presenteert. His style is immediately recognizable on numerous drawings, stamps, posters, cards, LP and CDs, and magazine covers -- most noteworthy the Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland, the Belgian magazine HUMO and the Italian architecture magazine Abitare and more recently, the New Yorker. Apart from comics and graphic design, Swarte has also designed furniture, leaded and stained glass windows, murals and other objects. For his hometown Haarlem he even designed a theatre building (De Toneelschuur) that was built in cooperation with Mecanoo Architects. In 2004, Joost Swarte received a knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.