[press release]
December Stamps 2021

Date of issue: 15 November 2021
Appearance: sheetlet of twenty December stamps in ten different designs, with a special December rate for destinations in the Netherlands
Item number: 411261
Design and illustration: Geertje Aalders, Kampen
Graphic design: Corine Zwier, Kampen
Image processing: Ro de Boer, Haarlem

Each year, PostNL issues new December stamps, which can be used by consumers and companies to send each other Christmas and New Year cards at a reduced rate. The special December rate of € 0,91. per stamp applies from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022. This year, a sheet of twenty December stamps costs € 18,20. When purchasing two sheets of December stamps, each customer receives a free Christmas decoration especially designed for PostNL by Vondels. This ornament is in the shape of the red postal car that appears on one of the December stamps. The illustrations for the December stamps 2021 were made by paper cutting artist Geertje Aalders from Kampen.

The illustrations on the December stamps 2021 are papercuts, specially made for this issue by paper cutting artist Geertje Aalders. For this year’s December stamps, she has invented a fantasy world full of stories in which a lot happens. In the ten different scenes on the December stamps, all the animals are enjoying the festive month of December. Everyone is doing their best to make it enjoyable for each other. The hare has fetched a bunch of Christmas roses, and the squirrel is on his way with treats for someone else. In this way, Aalders shows that this time of year it is extra nice to be together and to let people know that we are thinking of them.

The earliest examples of paper-cutting or cut-out art date from the 3rd century BC. The art of cutting paper is not only part of popular art, but famous modern artists such as Matisse have also worked with it. Famous Dutch cutting artists of the past include Anna Maria van Schurman, Elisabeth Rijberg and Johanna Koerten, who worked in the 17th and 18th centuries. We know that enormous sums were paid for cuttings by Koerten. The Paper Cutting Society was founded in the Netherlands in 1983. In 2013, the society was granted the right to bear the UNESCO logo after paper cutting was placed on the Dutch National Inventory of Intangible Heritage as a craft. The Paper Cutting Museum is located in Westerbork. Other important collections can be found in the Westfries Museum in Hoorn and the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem.

The following winter scenes are depicted on the December stamps 2021 in the form of papercuts:

• A mole with candy cane and rucksack
• 2 love-struck blue tits under a mistletoe
• a fox with a fluttering scarf and envelope
• a mouse in a red postal car
• a badger decorating the Christmas tree with his scarf
• 2 mice decorating a peacock
• a squirrel pushing a sleigh with gifts and treats
• a squirrel, hare, dog and owl by the skating pond
• a hare with a bunch of Christmas roses, and
• a fallow deer decorated as a Christmas tree.

All the animals are depicted in a friendly winter landscape, a cosy animal forest with brightly coloured picture elements. Sometimes a larger scene can be seen, other times all the attention goes to one animal. There are three types of sky: light blue, bright blue and dark blue for the morning, afternoon and night respectively. Each December stamp tells its own story. Together, the ten December stamps form a whole because the animals are all, in one way or another, engaged in the theme of Christmas, winter or December.

Typography
For the title of the issue, the December indication on the stamps and the header on the back, round letters hand-cut by Geertje Aalders were used. For the remaining typography, the Gilroy Regular (by letter designer Radomir Tinkov, 2016) and the Alte Haas Grotesk (letter designer Yann le Corroler, 2007) were used.

Designer
The creation of the December stamps is always a highlight of the PostNL issue programme. The large circulation, the Christmas and end-of-year feeling, the accompanying publicity campaign – everything is different. This applies all the more this year because the illustrations on the December stamps are, for the first time, based on cutting works of art made of paper. These papercuts were made by illustrator Geertje Aalders from Kampen.

Geertje Aalders (right) has been active as a paper cutter since 2006, among other things for magazines and books. Despite her extensive experience, the December stamps were a very special commission for her as well. “It was already great to see how something like that comes about. On the one hand, there is a lot of structure in the planning and organisation, on the other hand, I was given all the freedom to do what I wanted to do. Really wonderful. It was more than fantastic to be able to work on this commission.”

Aalders started writing before she started cutting. “I often do that, making up little stories first, like this one about the animals in the forest, with a shared story. Only then did the sketches come. The special thing about papercuts is that you have a beginning and an end, but you cannot show halfway through what it is going to be. Hence the stories and the sketches. I also made a colour chart and completely worked out and cut one of the December stamps – the one with the mole on it – beforehand.”

After PostNL had approved the stories, the sketches, the sample stamp and the chosen colours, it was time to make the papercuts. Aalders: “I always use the same knife that my grandmother gave me 30 years ago. To put it more precisely, I use the same holder with a different blade every time. I change the blade often – sometimes every fifteen minutes – because it has to stay razor-sharp. Otherwise the knife may slip. For the December stamps, I used a lot of paper in many colours. For example, each eye on the peacock’s tail consists of at least seven pieces of paper in different colours, one on top of the other. First I cut all the animals and the main objects, like the lamppost, the car, and the gingerbread house. Only then did I start with the surroundings, the trees, and the sky. No two papercuts are the same. A scene with many details takes a lot of time, for example. With others, it is sometimes difficult to get the composition right. I have paid a lot of attention to the smallest details in the silhouette, so that you can quickly see what kind of animal it is. In the mole, for example, the curve at the top of its nose is very important, as is the small hollow under its chin. If it is not right, I will cut it again. Just until I am satisfied.”

While cutting, Aalders adds all sorts of details that are not in her sketches. “For example, I cut different kinds of skates for the animals on the frozen pond: Frisian skates, ice speed skates, and figure skates. The blue tit’s post cap is another reference to how you can recognise that bird by its blue cap. I like to include secret jokes in my clippings, like the PostNL crown on the lamppost. And there is a rocket in the New Year’s Eve sky, but in the shape of an ice cream.”

Aalders cuts in mirror image, i.e. on the back of the paper. “Based on the sketches, I draw the desired contours in pencil. Then I start cutting. Not everything is suitable as a silhouette. For example, a rose is beautiful to look at, but its silhouette is uninteresting. A fox, on the other hand, is beautiful in silhouette, instantly recognisable by its tail and the ears sticking up. I made all the papercuts for the December stamps at the same time. Each stamp is a story in itself, but together they should of course form a beautiful whole.”

The Big StoryTogether, the ten stories on the December stamps tell one big story, in which the animals in the forest are busy celebrating December. “They are decorating the place,” says Aalders. “They are on their way with gifts and mail, and they pay attention to each other. Just look at the kissing blue tits under the mistletoe. Everyone is having a good time. While making the papercuts for the December stamps in the spring, I often thought back to last winter. Then the pond in front of my house was frozen over, children were busy skating, adults were having snowball fights, and everyone was having lots of fun. I wanted to convey that feeling.”

All cut elements are brought together in a three-dimensional frame of usually about 40 x 35 centimetres. Aalders: “I use this to put the papercut together. They are fragile works with a whole framework behind them to connect all the layers of paper. I use pieces of balsa wood, a light and strong type of wood. Not all the paper layers are in a flat plane in the 3D frame. Sometimes I tilt them a little to enhance the spatial effect.”

All frames with the cut-out illustrations for the December stamps were photographed by Aalders herself. “With a special lens, straight from the top. On the basis of the photos, I determined the cutout. Some papercuts have been readjusted and photographed again to get the perfect cutout. For example, I very carefully removed the mistletoe and moved it a little closer to the blue tits. Everything I do is analogue, I don’t adjust anything on the computer. The colours are determined by the paper I choose, the shapes by the way I cut the paper. The only image editing was done by photographer Ro de Boer, with whom I often work. He made sure that the different colours of the sky would have the same intensity. I enlisted more help. Designer Corine Zwier has placed the cut-out letters in the stamps in such a way that it seems as if they have been cut out of the stamp paper. That was her idea. Corine also added a frame to the December stamps with a shadow border, as an imitation of the 3D frame. The background of the sheet was given a relief structure as if it were a real paper sheet.”

Order
The final step in making the December stamps was to determine the order on the sheet. “That was a bit of a puzzle,” says Aalders. “Because I wanted as much variety as possible. So preferably no animals with the same colour next to each other, not the same types of sky next to each other, and not the same walking direction of the animals next to each other. Moreover, by giving the bottom block of ten December stamps a different order than the top block, at first sight it looks like a sheet with twenty different designs. I am very happy with the final result, I worked very hard on it. Hopefully, people will also like it and realise that they are cut-out illustrations. The wren on the back of the stamp sheet is the best proof of this. To confirm that everything has been cut, there is a scissor on the back instead of a copyright symbol.”

About The Designer
Geertje Aalders (Doetinchem, 1983) is a Dutch illustrator who is best known as a paper cutting artist and an authority on modern cutting in the Netherlands. Aalders studied graphical design and illustration at Constantijn Huygens School of the Arts in Kampen and ArtEZ University of the Arts in Zwolle from 2001 to 2008. Since 2006 she has worked as a freelancer for magazines such as Flow Magazine, Happinez, and Margriet. Other well-known clients are Albert Heijn, Bekking&Blitz, and Hema. In addition, Aalders illustrates all kinds of books that are also published abroad. Arab fairy tales (Gottmer Publishers Group) from 2017, with adaptations of fairy tales by Rodaan Al Galidi and with cuttings by Aalders, was awarded the Libris Most Beautiful Book Cover and the Jenny Smelik-IBBY Prize. In addition to cuttings, Aalders makes detailed pen drawings and illustrations in oil. She also wrote a handbook on paper cutting, Het Papercutboek (Kosmos Publishers, 2019).

Limited Validity
The 2021 December stamps are available from 15 November 2021 at all PostNL sales outlets in the Netherlands and through www.postnl.nl/collectclub. The stamps can also be ordered by phone from the Collect Club customer service on +31 (0)88 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite, but the December stamps can only be used on their own from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022.

The December stamps with the special rate are intended for use on mail weighing up to 50 g and on envelopes with minimum dimensions of 14 x 9 cm that are destined for delivery in the Netherlands in the period from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022. Two December stamps are enough for mail weighing up to 50 g destined for delivery to addresses outside the Netherlands. December stamps can also be used outside of the period from 15 November 2021 up to and including 6 January 2022, provided that they are accompanied by an extra stamp for the rate applicable at the time of sending.

Stamp size: 26.5 x 29 mm
Sheet size: 144 x 151 mm
Paper: normal with red phosphor print
Glue: self-adhesive
Printing technique: offset
Printing colours: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black
Print run: 3,615,000 sheets
Appearance: sheet of 20 stamps with 10 different designs
Design: Geertje Aalders, Kampen
Graphic design: Corine Zwier, Kampen
Image processing: Ro de Boer, Haarlem
Printing company: Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé B.V., Haarlem
Item number: 411261

[press release]
Dutch Underwater Landscapes
Issue date: 16 November

Three sheets with five personal stamps in three different designs, marked with ‘1’, the denomination for items up to 20g in weight destined for delivery in the Netherlands.

Design and image editing: Bart de Haas, The Hague

Photography: Willem Kolvoort, Arthur de Bruin and Matthijs de Vos, Peter van Rodijnen, Paul van Hoof, Buiten-Beeld (Jelger Herder, Luc Hoogenstein, Nico van Kappel, Wil Meinderts, Ron Offermans, Peter Verhoog)

Item Number / Issue for 16 November 2021:
810064 Life in a flood plain [subscription only]810065 Fish in the North Sea810066 Invertebrates in the North Sea

The Dutch underwater landscapes series consists of 25 sheets, each with five personal stamps in three different designs. After the issues on 16 November 2021, every quarter for the next three years, subscribers to this series will receive two new stamp sheets with the following titles:

Item number / Issue
810067 Fish in the Oosterschelde
810068 Invertebrates in the Oosterschelde
810069 Fish in freshwater lakes
810070 Plants in freshwater lakes
810071 Fish in peat ponds and lakes
810072 Plants in peat ponds and lakes
810073 Fish in sand quarry ponds
810074 Plants in sand quarry ponds
810075 Fish in rivers
810076 Invertebrates in rivers
810077 Fish in freshwater tidal zones
810078 Plants in freshwater tidal zones
810079 Fish in farming ditches and canals
810080 Plants in farming ditches and canals
810081 Fish in the pond
810082 Plants in the pond
810083 Fish in the uplands
810084 Amphibians in the uplands
810085 Amphibians in the fenns
810086 Plants in the fenns
810087 Amphibians in pools
810088 Invertebrates in pools

[According to Wikipedia, The Eastern Scheldt (Dutch: Oosterschelde) is a former estuary in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands, between Schouwen-Duiveland and Tholen on the north and Noord-Beveland and Zuid-Beveland on the south. It has also the largest national park in the Netherlands, founded in 2002.]

From November 2021 to September 2024, PostNL will issue two personal stamp sheets in the Dutch underwater landscapes series every quarter. The first two stamp sheets with issue date 16 November 2021 are entitled Fish in the North Sea and Invertebrates in the North Sea. Subscribers also receive the unique stamp sheet Life in a flood plain free with their first set. This stamp sheet is not for sale separately. In June 2022, all subscribers will receive a handy storage album, also free of charge.

In addition to the usual stamp release schedule, PostNL also has an annual personal stamp release schedule. This programme is flexible. It allows PostNL to respond to topical developments and requests. Each issue is designed based on a fixed layout with a fixed number of personal stamps.

The stamp sheets can also be purchased separately at [direct link] and from the Collect Club’s customer service. This does not apply to the additional Living in a flood plain stamp sheet and the storage album. These gifts are for subscribers only.

Each stamp sheet in the Dutch underwater landscapes series includes five personal stamps in three different designs. The stamps feature plant or animal species from the relevant underwater landscapes. The pictures are framed by wavy graphic lines alternating between the top and the bottom of the picture. The edge of each stamp sheet features a large landscape photo of the underwater landscapes being depicted. The wavy motion of the graphic lines returns on the edge of the sheet, both at the top of the sheet and at the top and bottom of the strip of five stamps.

The Life on the flood plain issue features a burbot, a garlic toad and a yellow floating heart. The background image on the sheet edge depicts a submerged willow forest. The Fish in the North Sea issue features a red mullet, a school of pout whiting and an Atlantic wolffish. The background image on the sheet edge depicts a school of hunting needlefish. And finally, the Invertebrates in the North Sea issue features a maritime lobster, dead man’s fingers coral and a compass jellyfish. The background image on the sheet edge depicts bryozoa on Dogger Bank.

Typography
The font used for the denomination 1 and Nederland was designed in 2018 by font designer Martin Majoor from Arnhem. For the remaining typography, the Puffin Display Soft (2008-2021) by Pieter van Rosmalen, Bold Monday from Eindhoven was used.

Subject
The Netherlands has many different types of surface water: standing and flowing water, fresh, salt and brackish water, waters that may or may not be isolated and vary in size from small ditches, fens, ponds and pools, meandering rivers and streams to straight canals, city canals, lakes, estuaries, an inland sea and a marginal sea. Water makes up 19 percent of our country (13 percent is built-up area and 68 percent is greenspace). People mainly see and use the surface of this 19 percent, but below the water it is teeming with life. There are plenty of aquatic plants and fish, of course, plus all kinds of other species such as arthropods (crabs, lobsters, shrimps and insects such as dragonflies), coelenterates (polyps, anemones and jellyfish), echinoderms (starfish and sea urchins), molluscs (bivalves, snails) and amphibians (frogs, toads and salamanders).

Designer
The 25 stamp sheets from the Dutch underwater landscapes series were designed by graphic designer Bart de Haas. He realised he needed expert help while he was researching the subject. ‘So I contacted photographers and filmmakers who are specialised in this discipline, for instance. They know like no other what goes on beneath the water surface and which species are representative. I learned a lot from the tips of underwater specialists like Willem Kolvoort, the photographers of Blikonderwater – Arthur de Bruin and Matthijs de Vos – and Peter van Rodijnen.’

From large to small
Based on all the information gathered, De Haas selected a number of images from the Kolvoort and Blikonderwater image archives. Where necessary, he supplemented the images with pictures from Buiten-Beeld, the image bank for nature photography. De Haas explains: ‘The most important criterion in the selection was the habitat. The species featured should, of course, naturally occur in the relevant waterway or wetland area. I picked a number of underwater landscapes in our country, with the overarching aim to present as many different plants and animals as possible. In addition to the special issue featuring creatures and plants on flood plains, the stamps feature marine life in the North Sea and the Oosterschelde, followed by freshwater lakes, peat ponds, sand quarry ponds, rivers, freshwater tidal zones, farming ditches and canals, the Limburg uplands, fens and pools.’

Recognisability and variety
Another criterion for the choice of pictures was recognisability. ‘Not all photos taken by nature photographers are suitable for the miniature format of a postage stamp. Fish are tricky anyway because of their long bodies, which do not always fit onto a vertical postage stamp. That is why, for example, for Fish in the North Sea I picked a picture of a red mullet swimming into the picture at an angle. I also alternated more and less familiar species. For example, the burbot featuring on Life in a floodplain is extremely rare, whereas the lobster on Invertebrates in the North Sea is much more common. Of course, I wanted beautiful images – and I found them – but content-related criteria took precedence.’

Photo editing
As the choice of pictures was extremely high-quality, De Haas had to do very little editing, if at all. ‘That only applies to the plants and animals. They had to stay true to life. I did edit the colours and details in the background. The aim was to separate the species from the background, while ensuring the different stamps would go together at the same time. The fact that each type of water has its own colour plays a significant role in this respect. The North Sea tends to be grey, for example, while peat ponds and lakes are reddish. I took advantage of the arrangement of five stamps in three designs by putting the unique design in the centre of the sheet. Then I arranged the double images symmetrically around it. This also reinforces that sense of unity.’

Sheet edge
The atmosphere of the stamp sheet is also determined by the large-format photo of the mysterious underwater world around the edge of the sheet. De Haas was inspired by the school posters depicting nature designed by M.A. Koekkoek (1873-1944). Many generations of Dutch people grew up with these posters, and the species featured on these posters can still be found in our country. De Haas: ‘This approach allows me to show the mysterious atmosphere of the underwater world. A colourful, serene, fairy-tale world that is much more diverse than I thought. The more you pay attention to the details, the more magnificent and beautiful this world becomes. Everything moves, even though many Dutch waterways don’t really move very much. This movement returns in the flowing character of the font. And you can also see it in the graphic lines, which are an abstract representation of the movement and currents below the water. The lines soften the rectangular character of the stamp sheet. Because you will not find rectangles under water.’

About the designer
Bart de Haas (1966, The Hague) graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After working for several design agencies, he established himself as an independent graphic and typographic designer in 1993. He has a strong preference for book design, but has also designed posters, magazines, websites and visual identities in the past. Bart de Haas has designed books for Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, the Army Museum Delft, nai010 publishers, Brill publishers, de Buitenkant, Clio, SUN, THOTH, Vantilt, W-Books and Waanders, among others. For PostNL, he previously created the Primeval Species stamp series (2021-2023) and the stamps for Dutch castles (2017), Apple and pear varieties in the Netherlands (2016), National musical instruments (2014) and Long live the woods! (2010).

Photographers
Willem Kolvoort is one of the photographers who took pictures for the Dutch Underwater Landscape series. Kolvoort has been obsessed with underwater photography since he was young. Back in the 1960s, he went exploring with his home-made diving and camera equipment. ‘While I was on an excursion in the Wadden Sea I saw a huge ray swim past. It was unbelievably exciting.’ Captivated by this dramatic sight, Kolvoort subsequently travelled the world to produce underwater reports. He feels that he is primarily a landscape photographer. ‘I look for atmosphere and alienation, for mystery. I have a picture of Spirogyra, photographed from below. An amazing image, taken in the pond behind our house.

The Dutch Underwater Landscapes series also features photographs by Arthur de Bruin. He still remembers how he used to traipse around the countryside catching frogs and sticklebacks in canals and ditches. ‘That fascination with what the surface of the water is hiding from us never left me,’ De Bruin says. His most spectacular ‘picture catch’ in the Netherlands was a huge catfish. ‘But I also enjoy the little sunbleak, the smallest fish in our waters. Under the surface of the water you can find a unique, hidden parallel world. We are showing how beautiful and fascinating that world is. I hope that people will be looking at the stamps and think “is this really in the Netherlands? I want to see more!” I only have one answer to that: do it. Go snorkelling in the local open air swimming pond, and be amazed by the treasures you’ll find underwater.’

Availability and Validity
The stamps are available while stocks last at www.postnl.nl/bijzondere-postzegels and can be ordered by telephone from the Collect Club customer service on telephone number +31 (0)88 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite.

Technical Details:
Postage stamp dimensions: 30 x 40mm
Appearance: five personal stamps in three different designs, marked: with ‘1’, the denomination for items up to 20g in weight: destined for delivery in the Netherlands
Print run: 3000 per issue
Item numbers:
810064: Life in a flood plain
810065: Fish in the North Sea
810066: Invertebrates in the North Sea: :
Issue date: 16 November 2021
Design and image editing: Bart de Haas, The Hague
Photography: Willem Kolvoort, Arthur de Bruin and Matthijs de Vos, Peter van Rodijnen, Paul van Hoof, Buiten-Beeld (Jelger Herder, Luc Hoogenstein, Nico van Kappel, Wil Meinderts, Ron Offermans, Peter Verhoog)