A ‘little bit of artwork’ on every envelope

The €0.66 stamp, available for postal use and for collectors, was created by noted illustrator Nicolas Vial, one of 16 artists who have designed stamps in recent years for La Poste.

Mr Vial says he designs stamps the same way he thinks of posters.

“You have to think of the message you want to get across and how to do that with the maximum impact,” he told Connexion.

He uses a large piece of paper to design his stamps but, as he works, imagines how it will look as a stamp on an envelope and of the graphic processes it will go through.

“You have to be clean and precise for most stamps to work,” he said.

His personal favourite is an €0.85 one which went on sale in May to mark the 50th anniversary of the Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer. “It is very vertical and I think it works very well,” he said.

Claude Désarménien, president of the Fédération Française des Associations Philatéliques (FFAP), said: “For most stamp collectors, the special issue artist stamps are not for their albums, but they can attract a lot of interest from the public. When the artists are at exhibitions, people line up to have the stamps signed by them. It is a way of having your own little bit of artwork.”

Mr Désarménien said: “The passion is the same for collectors all over the world and when I go to international events, the French collector is just like the British or Czech one.

“Most French enthusiasts collect French stamps but one member has an award-winning collection of New Zealand stamps.” The number of stamp collectors in France is falling.

“In the 1970s we had 55,000 members, now we are down to 22,000 and most of us are elderly,” he said.

“When you send most of your communications by email or telephone messages, and do not have the simple pleasure of receiving a letter with a stamp from a foreign country, it is difficult to get bitten by the bug.”

One of the traditions of La Poste is the continuing use of Marianne as a symbol of liberty, instead of a portrait of a politician or head of state.

Over the last couple of decades, the features of Marianne have changed each time there is a new president.

Emmanuel Macron unveiled the new Marianne at a ceremony at La Poste’s stamp printing works in Périgueux.

Nicknamed the “Marianne de Macron”, the stamp was drawn by Franco-British street artist Yseult Digan and engraved by Elsa Catelin.

This new Marianne has been described by experts as austere, despite her tangled hair.

At the same time La Poste unveiled its latest limited edition of “artistic” stamps.

One of the most striking is a €1.30 stamp celebrating the craft of ceramics.

Renovation of the French postal museum in Paris is almost complete. The building has been shut since 2015 after work to make it more accessible turned into a major structural renovation.

The building at 34 Boulevard de Vaugirard, opened in 1973, was one of the off-tourist trail gems of Paris.