stamp on it

The time when stamp collecting was every child's hobby is past. I recall tearing off the edges of envelopes and soaking them in the bathroom sink, dislodging the colourful perforated squares from Italy (there's something dramatic in "my dad did business with the Italians in the 80s"), the UK, Eire (which I found out later was Ireland), China, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore... I can still picture some of their designs in my mind.

But enough of nostalgia.

Still, J and I always enjoy the occasions when we have to make a trip to the post office for stamps. Not so much for those booklets of adhesive stamps that are convenient, but somewhat perfunctorily designed. But when we have letters or parcels that require the post office attendant to take out his or her good ol' ledger book with tabs indicating the different denominations, and from the relevant pages, retrieve whole sheets of stamps.

Illustrator Drewscape has snagged our dream assignment to design stamps.

He has also given us a good reason to drop by the post office. His set of 4 stamps with scenes from various (also disappearing) wet markets are available from 18 April onwards. They are beautifully detailed and capture perfectly the quality of light in our wet markets - the warm daylight seeping into the large, deep halls that are darkened in some parts by tall stacks of produce, and aglow in others, especially from the fruit or fish sellers' hanging lamps.

Friends, if it's been some time since you've bought a stamp, get on down to your nearest post office to grab these while stocks last! [Postscript: We found out from the post office that the first day covers are now only available at the Singapore Philatelic Museum.]



Drewscape is also the writer and artist behind these comic books, available at Kinokuniya and Woods in the Books.