Åland Post must be one of the most organised postal services in the world. Not only do they issue their yearly stamp program well in advance, they also include scans. 11 stamps will be released in 2022 with the first arriving in February and the last October 20.  A number of familiar themes return, starting with the tractors and ending with the Lunar New Year and Christmas issues. 

One of the highlights, for me, is the appearance of gnomes. YES, WE HAVE GNOMES IN LITTLE RED HATS! This makes me unnaturally happy for some reason. Finnish artist Sami Saramäki’s Christmas Gnomes are … oh … I can’t help it.. so fricken adorable, I can’t stand it. 

We also get a peak at next year’s Lunar New Year Cycle. It’ll be the Year of the Rabbit and Martin Mörck returns to design the 2022 set. The stamps feature mountain hares, native to the region, frolicking around the Havsvidden resort in Geta, northern Åland. 

As well as the yearly themes, Åland Post also participates in the EUROPA and SEPAC competitions. This year’s EUROPA theme is Fairy Tales & stories. The Sjörå, the Mistress of the Lake  is the topic. SEPAC’s 2022  theme explores Local Drinks and  Åland features bottles of fresh squeezed sea-buckthorn juice. Sea-buckthorn is a deciduous shrub native to the islands. Not sure what it tastes like. If you’ve ever had any, drop a comment below and let us know. 

I’ve already started filling in details about some of the stamps. More will come as the year progresses. The images here are preliminary. As each issue is released, better versions, FDCs, maxis and cancels will be released so I’ll plunk them in and update the entries.  

As always, feel free to leave a comment and enjoy the fun. Don’t forget to stop in and see last year’s stamps.   

February

Postage tickets, 100 years of stubbornness

self adhesive franking labels, FDC, cancel

Designer: Annika Rehn Zetterqvist

Release date: February 1, 2022

Veteran tractors 

2 stamps, 2 sheets of 24, FDC, cancel, 2 maxi cards, cancel
4 colour offset

Ford from the 1940s, with a few innovations & a 1956 Finnish Vlamet 20

 … a home-built car-tractor built by Runar Karlsson of Ringsböle in Jomala in the beginning of the 1940s. The framework came off a Ford model A, and the tractor was later renovated by his grandson Kristoffer Karlsson. The second stamp shows a Finnish Old-Reliable, a red Valmet 20 from 1956, residing on the archipelago island of Sottunga. The owner Raul Petrell received it as a gift from his mother when he was 10 years old. Welcome to the premiere of Åland 2022 postage stamp program! Watch the presentation here | www.alandstamps.com

Designer/Photographer: David Lundberg
Lundberg designed last year’s Tractor stamps. 

Release date: February 1, 2022

March

Segelpaviljongen – Åland Yacht Club ÅSS

1 stamp, FDC, cancel, sheets of 24

The house in gingerbread style was drawn by Lars Sonck (1870–1956), one of Finland’s most high-profile architects in the early 1900s. The house was built 1895–1899 as summer villa and moved to its current location in 1922, where it serves as a popular restaurant today. Welcome to the premiere of Åland 2022 postage stamp program! Watch the presentation here | www.alandstamps.com

Designer/artist: Carolina Sundelin

Release date: March 25, 2022

SAY IT WITH A CARD – Postal Stationery 

4 postcards (prepaid postage)
4 colour offset

Designer/artist:  Amanda Valkonen

Release date: March 25, 2022

Frisbee golf

1 stamp, FDC, cancel, sheets of 32
4 colour offset

Åland is home to the largest density of disk golf (or frisbee golf) courses in the world, with one course celebrating it’s 40th anniversary. 

Designer: Sanna Mander

Release date: March 25, 2022

May

Europa 2022 – fairy tales & stories

1 stamp, sheets of 30, FDC, cancel, maxicard

SJÖRÅET – Sjörå, the Mistress of the Lake

The sjörå is a female water nymph who rules the sea and the lakes. Her beauty only extends to the front; from behind, she is a hollow stump. The sjörå, also known as mistress of the sea, is closely related to the mermaid. The water nymph has her own pots and pans of glittering copper that she scrubs by the lake shore, and she keeps her own livestock. The sjörå keeps a pike as a pet, so, be careful if you catch a particularly large pike! Åland-Post 2022

Artist: Lasse Harkkala
Designer: Johanna Finne

Release date: May 9, 2022

June 

Contemporary art of the Åland Islands (booklet)

7 stamps in booklet format, second image is the cover for the booklet & third image is a photo of the artists, FDC, cancel
offset

The following contemporary Åland artists are featured on these stamps:  Barbro Eriksson, Erica Signell, Gunnar Sjöblom, Johan Karlsson, Kurt Simons, Minna Öberg and Tiina Tahvanainen.

Tiina Tahvanainen’s work is featured on Åland’s September 2022 SEPAC stamp. 

Designer: Johanna Finne with artwork courtesy Åland Art Museum and Gallery Skarpans

Release date: June 9, 2022

Autonomy of the Åland Islands 100 years (miniature sheet)

1 stamp on a souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel, jubilee pack
Pack is a hand numbered limited edition set. The sheet uses foil and embossing. Notes are in  English, German, Swedish, and Finnish. 

Designer: Jonas Wilén

Wilén designed the 2021 Åland at 100 years stamp

Release date: June 9, 2022

September

SEPAC – local drinks

1 stamp, sheet of 24, FDC, cancel
offset

This local drink is made of buckthorn berries.  

Åland is one of the few areas in Finland where sea buckthorn grows in the wild. Sea buckthorn grows best on rocky and gravelly shores, where it grows in dense thickets. The branches are prickly, which makes it inconvenient to pick berries. Small orange-yellow berries, fleshy and sour, ripen in the fall.  The Sepac stamp offers a vitamin bomb – sea buckthorn juice from Åland | www.alandstamps.com

Photographer Tiina Tahvanainen described how she took on this challenge:  

I am always as proud when I get a stamp assignment and I love the still life filming. The challenge is to make everything match. Every little berry placement is important because the size of the stamp is so small. I sketched first on paper and I tried different accessories and variations. I decided to use many juice bottles that are over 100 years old. It was a bit of a sweat to get them to stay compact. I started in the middle of winter, so at first I could work with frozen berries, and at the very end I photographed berries in nature. 
PRESS RELEASE 28.6. 2022 Sviby, Åland

Åland Post produced a fascinating video featuring Tahvanainen creating this set. It has English subtitles, and the visuals are stunning. It’s a short, beautiful video. 

Designer: Johanna Finne
Photographer: Tiina Tahvanainen
“My strength is delivering a depth and specific mood to a picture. I am also fascinated by the worn and love to study odd places. You can also often see a poetic tone in my pictures, and I love to see the small things in life.” Tiina Tahvanainen 
If you have an Instagram account, you can see more of her photography here Tiina Tahvanainen (@photographertiina) • Instagram photos and videos

Release date: September 6, 2021

Tick research

1 stamp, FDC, cancel, sheets of 24

Borrelia burgdorferi is a bacterium that can be carried by ticks and is transmitted through a tick bite. The common wood tick, Ixodes ricinus, thrives in moist and shady places with dense undergrowth. The best way to protect yourself from ticks is to wear light-colored clothes when moving in damp terrain and to keep the lawn short. Less than 10 percent of ticks carry bacteria, and infection does not always occur either. The risk is almost non-existent if you manage to remove the tick within 24-48 hours of the bite.

Åland has a high risk of contracting diseases spread by ticks, which are widespread in the world and have also become a public health problem in both the United States and Europe. Lyme disease is the most common disease caused by ticks. The main focus of the research in Åland has been to find a reliable method to verify active borreliosis.

Illustrator Peter Bergström thought for a long time whether to accept the challenge of illustrating this bloodthirsty bug: “I hesitated for a long time. The topic is difficult and not particularly descriptive. However, Åland Post finally convinced me that the topic is important.” 
PRESS RELEASE, 29.6. 2022
Sviby, Åland

Proceeds from last year’s Christmas stamp are annually given as a grant to worthwhile projects. The 2021 €2,500 grant went to Åland borrelia tick researchers.

Artist: Peter Bergström 
Designer: Johanna Finne

Release date: September 6, 2022

October

Year of the Rabbit (miniature sheet)

1 stamp on a souvenir sheet, FDC, 2 cancels, pre-stamped postcard
4 colour offset

Artist: Martin Mörck
Prolific engraver and stamp designer, Mörck designed 2021’s Year of the Cat stamps. He also designed and engraved the C. Z. Slania anniversary stamps for the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
Designer: Johanna Finne
Calligraphy: Ruizhen Liu

Release date: October 20, 2022

Christmas 2022

2 stamps, FDC, 2 cancels, prepaid postcard
4 colour offset

Artist: Sami Saramäki
Designer: Johanna Finne

Release date: October 20, 2022

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