Stamp Day 2002 in Lyss

Stamp designer

Michèle Berri has been chosen as the designer of the 2002 special 70 cent stamp issued by Swiss Post on this year's theme of the "Jura Water Engineering System – River Meadow Landscapes".

Michèle Berri

Michèle Berri, who grew up in Switzerland's Lakes Region and lives in Lamboing, Canton Berne, received the majority of votes cast by a world-wide public and carried the day against seven other artists to win the Stamp Day 2002 competition.
There was a tremendous response to this year's contest, breaking all previous participation records at least ten times over, with more than 80,000 people from all over the world, but mainly from Switzerland and Europe, having their say.
Rolf Thalinger, head of Swiss Post's Stamps and Philately Business Unit, sees the reason for this considerable public intrest in the broad dissemination of information about the competition in Swiss households, as well as its prominent placing on Swiss Post's internet site.

Jura Water Engineering System

Michèle Berri became conscious of the theme of the "Jura Water Engineering System – River Meadow Landscapes" at an early age: "Our primary school teachers told us all about the problems behind the Jura water system and its implications for locals." Michèle Berri grew up in Biel/Bienne and is very familiar with Switzerland's Lakes Region, especially with the scenery around the old river Aare, which was one of her favourite watercolour painting locations while she was training as a graphic artist.

Winning stamp design

For the winning stamp design, Michèle Berri photographed two landscapes and then translated them into graphic terms: the unspoiled old river Aare near Meinisberg and, by way of contrast, the corrected and straightened Hagneck Canal. The winning stamp depicts the contrasts in harmony, "because though they are very different, the landscapes benefit from and ideally compliment each other in everyday life". The colourful kingfisher provides a dynamic eye-catching design focal point. Michèle Berri chose the fish-eating "alcedo atthis" on the grounds that for her, it symbolises protection of the world of birds.

Stamp designer Michèle Berri

This is not the first time that Michèle Berri has been commissioned to design stamps for Swiss Post. In recent years, Michèle Berri has been responsible for various miniature works of art, such as the stamp commemorating the international Year of Peace (1986), a stamp on the theme of "2000 Years of Baden's Thermal Springs" (1987), a stamp set commemorating "150 Years of Swiss Railways" (1997) and a 1,10 fr stamp marking the bicentenary of the birth of C.F. Schönbein, man of science (1999).
Issue: Switzerland, 19 November 2002

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