Dear Sonia, My personal opinion is that the overall design sensibility in India is
somewhat outdated. Design is something that one lives and not merely apes. In this regard the Dutch stamps are very well designed. However, if ones goes to the the philately section at the GPO in Mumbai, one gets to see some interesting stamps. Its just that very few people go to get these special stamps. Many countries have their stamps and for that matter currencies designed elsewhere. Bhutan is one such country. Thailand has fantastic stamps, but one only has to see their general sensibility regards lived design. Give them some flowers and they wil float them in water and create something breathtaking amidst all the decay. Although India paper is generally of poorer good, the glue is considered to be of good quality. But collectors appreciate India stamps for their quaint characteristics that range from quality of paper, fluctuations in print quality, they do consider Indian design uniqiue - for example an image of a gaur or sambal, lots of images of Gandhi. We also have an unusually large number of portrait stamps, but they are all traeted in a very formal portrait style -- and not stylized to showcase characteristics of the individual being portrayed. This is one reason why I like Dom Martins art. Our bashfulness will change when the Design manager is given free rein of uplifting the overall aesthetic of these little ambassadors. But for design to thrive one has to feed the design soul too, other than just regurgitating cliches. These links will give a sense of how people view stamps from India, Pakistan (written by a Japanese) and the U.s.A. http://www.indiastudycircle.org/ http://homepage3.nifty.com/~mariamma/tak-p2e.htm http://www.uspcs.org/uspcs1851-61_12c.html Venantius ______________ >Venantius J Pinto wrote : > >The line portrait on the site - www.abbefaria.com would make an >intriguing image on a stamp- perhaps, a narrow vertical. It would work > >well either in gravure or in mixed technique printing (the IP&T avoids > >this) - engraving with gravure. I have a feeling the drawing is by Dom > >Martin. Is t his correct? It has a far off feeling yet is very >pentrative >in its >focus; and as such portrays an idea of the hypnotist spendidly. > >venantius j pinto > > >why is the quality of postal stamps from india so poor? can anything be done about this? a stamp is the ambassador of the country. hope the quality of the ABBE FARIA stamp will be better! > >sonia > > > >--------------------------------- > Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. >Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com > >
