Illustrations for a series of stamps called “Sweden Over 500 Years”, featuring five historic buildings from throughout the county’s history: Kalmar Castle, The East India Building in Gothenburg, The Nordic Museum in Stockholm, Strykjärnet (The Iron) in Norrköping and Själevad Church in Härnösand. Also in the series was Stadshuset (City Hall) in Stockholm.

The items featured on the stamps also represented aspects of Sweden’s history; for Kalmar castle Gustav Vasa’s bible, the first translation of the Bible into Swedish, and considered to be the first book in modern Swedish; for the East India Building an ornate coffee pot representing international trade in the 18th century; for the Nordic Museum a spoon representing Sweden’s Sami population; for Strykjärnet a clock representing “Svensk normaltid”, when time was standardised with the coming of the railway; and for Själevad a bridal crown which would traditionally be loaned to a bride on her wedding day.

The images were drawn in pencil, then combined with a greyscale tone painting and finally a painting for the colours. I worked at 4x actual size.

Graphic design and typographic details by Eva Wilsson.