9 June sees the issue of a stamp booklet featuring the three winning summer cottages from the Åland Post’s photo competition in the summer 2022. Swedish artist Lasse Sjööblom has provided the illustrations paying tribute to Åland cottage life. “I was very honoured to be asked to do the entire issue. It was fun to create a coherent theme from postmark to postage stamps that would work both together and individually,” Lasse says.

Summer cottages and cottage life are clearly a much-loved tradition among Ålanders, as demonstrated by the many entries for Åland Post’s summer 2022 photo competition, with summer idylls from across Åland. A common factor proved to be seclusion and the proximity to nature and the water. Cottage life is lived outdoors! Also, summer cottages provide a gathering place for friends and family and somewhere to relax. The stamps show three variants of the Åland summer cottage:

• Torpet, a tailor’s croft from 1854 in Eckerö.
• Finngrundet, an islet in the Föglö archipelago. Two bath cabins and a sauna were shipped to the islet in the 1950s.
• Strandskatan, a modern summer residence in Eckerö. Consists of a sauna, a sauna chamber, and an outdoor kitchen under cover on the jetty.

Stamp artist Lars Sjööblom was commissioned to illustrate the stamp issue: “Once the competition had concluded, I had a short space of time to present the initial sketches. As soon as they were approved, I started working on incorporating various summer activities such as bathing, fishing, and gardening around the cottages into each stamp image, based on pictures I had received from the owners. My style has a feel of engraving technique. In other words, I first create a layer of fine lines using a felt-tip pen and then add colour to the motif using coloured pencils. This makes the lines in the drawing sharper, and they appear more distinct in the final print on the stamps,” Lasse says.

• Facts about the issue
• Name of issue Summer cottages
• Date of issue 9 June 2023
• Artist Lars Sjööblom
• Design Johanna Finne
• Edition 25 000 booklets
• Denomination 6 × Inrikes (€2.50)
• Price FDC €8.50
• Stamp size 53.5 × 24 mm
• Folded booklet, size 53.5 × 107 mm
• Paper 110 g/m2
• Perforation 13 per 2 cm
• Process 4-colour offset
• Printing house Cartor Security Printers

Order the stamp booklet and first day cover in Åland Post Stamps webshop at www.alandstamps.com/en, by post to Åland Post Stamps, P.O. box 1100, AX-22111 Mariehamn, Åland, Finland, e-mail stamps@alandpost.com or telephone: +358 18 636 639.