[from PostNL press materials] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
New Dutch Design – Recurring Memories
Issue date: 16 February 2026
Format: Sheet of 6 special stamps in 2 different designs, with denomination 1 for mail up to 20 grams within the Netherlands
Item number: 460261
Design: Nicole Uniquole in collaboration with second-year Graphic Design students at ArtEZ, University of the Arts (Zwolle)
On 16 February 2026, PostNL will issue the stamps New Dutch Design – Recurring Memories, the first stamp sheet this year in the New Dutch Design series, which showcases work by the next generation of Dutch graphic designers. The design was created during the 2024–2025 academic year by second-year Graphic Design students at ArtEZ in Zwolle, in collaboration with Nicole Uniquole. The stamps bear denomination 1 for mail up to 20 grams within the Netherlands.
The New Dutch Design series is once again dedicated to the theme of ‘celebration’, expressed through colour and form. Each year, second-year students are free to interpret 
this theme in their own way. For the 2025 stamps, students explored the theme through various ‘rituals’. For 2026, the new group of students chose the call to ‘make it bold’. With 4 different stamp designs, they invite us to pause, let go, remember, and above all celebrate life.
The first issue is titled Recurring Memories. Later this year, the series will include Taste the Atmosphere (11 May), Glow of the Moment (10 August), and Echo of the Party (28 September). Each stamp bears denomination 1 for mail up to 20 grams within the Netherlands. The price for a sheet of 6 stamps is €8.40 (US$10.00).
Design
Recurring Memories is dominated by a large, full-bleed graphic illustration. The image combines a scanned and highly enlarged strip of photographic film with a pattern of concentric circles. This pattern appears in various places and intersects the film strip in different ways. The sheet contains 6 stamps in 2 designs, each featuring the transport perforation of the film strip in a central role. The perforation appears in different positions, 
colours, and details in the 2 designs. The scanned edge of the film strip on the right side of the stamps also varies. The 3 stamps on the left are mainly green and orange, while the 3 on the right feature green, blue, and yellow. These colours are repeated on the sheet border. On the left border, the circle pattern appears in purple and orange; on the right, the scanned film edge is shown in light and dark yellow. The colours and patterns of the stamps continue across the top border and the tabs below.
All 21 students at second-year Graphic Design students at ArtEZ contributed intensively to the concepts and designs. Curator Nicole Uniquole guided the students on behalf of PostNL, organising inspiration sessions and a visit to the National Archives, where the design process of nearly all Dutch stamps is documented.
Uniquole says what she values most is guiding the next generation of graphic designers on a real project: “Not just an exercise on paper, but a PostNL stamp that will soon be in the shops. I love immersing students in real-world design practice: with real deadlines, real choices, real impact,” she said. ” For students, this is both portfolio and practical experience: an official stamp on their CV that the Netherlands will use for postage. Education and practice merge here. You see the new generation grow as their concepts move towards production. Being able to offer that with PostNL is fantastic.”
One of the ideas that contributed to the design was childhood memories. “During brainstorming, we landed on the analogue film roll,” said student Eline van de Streek. “While photography is almost always digital today, it wasn’t in the past — even when our generation was growing up. Our parents mainly took analogue photos of us as children. So these are literally memories of our youth.”
The design focuses on the film roll itself, not the images recorded on it.
Student Aliesje de Blok sees a revival: “I often see people with analogue cameras, especially young people. I do it too—it’s great fun.” And Soof van de Weg explains why: “Analogue photos have a glow, a magic that modern cameras can’t capture.”
Technical Data:
Stamp size: 40 x 30 mm
Sheet size: 122 x 170 mm
Paper: standard with phosphor coating
Gumming: gummed
Printing technique: offset
Colours: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black
Print run: 75,000 sheets
Format: sheet of 6 stamps in 2 different designs
Denomination: 1 for mail up to 20 grams within the Netherlands
Design: Nicole Uniquole in collaboration with second-year Graphic Design students at ArtEZ, University of the Arts (Zwolle)
Printer: Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé B.V., Haarlem
Item number: 460261
Note: PostNL does not sell directly to collectors in North America. Its website refers to a company called Nordfirm, which says it sells Dutch new issues at face value. The Virtual Stamp Club has no connection to this company.
Collectors may also wish to contact the U.S. firm Bombay Stamps, which can also obtain first day covers upon request, with lower shipping fees. The email is sales@bombaystamps.com Again, The Virtual Stamp Club has no connection to this company.
The APS, along with Cherrystone Auctions, Scott Stamp LLC, and the Royal Philatelic Society London, is co-sponsoring the experiential From Empire to Commonwealth: Commemorating the Centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s Birth exhibit. This flagship “context philately” installation, exclusively developed for the Boston 2026 World Expo, will feature artifacts from the Queen’s reign as part of a museum-style exhibit. The centerpiece of the exhibit, a Rolls-Royce Phantom IV owned and used by Queen Elizabeth II during the first years of her reign, will not only draw the eye, but will also bring history buffs and fans of the British Royal family beyond the philatelic world to the show.
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