‘book-stamp’ by richard hutten for TNT post

in 2008, TNT post asked dutch designer richard hutten to come up with an new concept for a stamp. then half a year ago TNT got the request to bring out a stamp on the occasion of the 75th book-week, in the netherlands. this was the occasion in which TNT combined forces with hutten.

the result is a stamp in the form of a book, with the concept, design and photography of the stamp having been executed by hutten. the 3 x 4 cm book has 8 pages.

‘on the stamp, you can see the suggestion of the third dimension,’ hutten explains. ‘you can see a 3D installation made with books on the floor of our studio.‘ the stamp was made in the scale of 100:1. the perspective image made of this installation was then transformed in the computer back to a perfect triangle.

dutch author joost zwagerman wrote the book-week gift, and hutten decided to put him on the stamp. hutten also asked zwagerman to write a ‘bonus track’ for the stamp, to accompany the gift, which after some hesitation, zwagerman agreed upon. now included in the book-stamp is a 500 word story by zwagerman.

250, 000 stamps have been printed, and the value of each is 2.20 euro, enough to mail 500 grams. the printing was done by joh. enschede & zn. the stamp is now on sale.

richard hutten book stampthe stamp

richard hutten book stampimages inside the book-stamp

richard hutten book stampdetail of the book-stamp