New stamps dedicated to Swiss Abroad
The Pro Patria Foundation and Swiss Post are dedicating a new series of stamps to the more than 800 000 Swiss Abroad.
The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) welcomes this initiative which underlines its fundamental concern with strengthening links between the Swiss Abroad and those living in Switzerland. The initiative is a way for the “Fifth Switzerland” to put its stamp on the everyday lives of people here and elsewhere.
The motifs were designed in collaboration with 124 young people from 33 different countries at Organisation of the Swiss Abroad summer camps. The ideas generated were forwarded to three Swiss graphic designers living abroad who were selected by Swiss Post and invited to take part in the competition to design the stamps.
The winning entry was submitted by Sandra Liscio from Lugano. The artist has been living in London for eight years, where she works as a design director in the film and entertainment industry. "A part of my heart is always in Switzerland. I think many Swiss Abroad can relate to this bittersweet sense of homesickness. That's why it was important to me to illustrate this feeling, which unites us all, in the stamps," says the designer.
The stamps will be available from Swiss Post from 25 April to 31 December 2024 and will be valid indefinitely from 2 May 2024. The heart and fondue pot that feature on the designs even boast a special effect. They have been overprinted with black thermal ink. If you run your finger over them, Switzerland appears underneath.
