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French stamp designer Charles Bridoux |
 Charles Bridoux was born in Paris on January 21, 1942 amidst the worst years of World War II. Despite the carnage and hardship of the time Bridoux recalls being attracted to stamps from very early age. He particularly liked the African countries with exotic animals, which made him dream and travel in his mind.
His paternal grandfather was a severe and austere person but he demonstrated his pride in the good results achieved by Charles at school by taking out of his wallet some stamps of Morocco, Mauritania, Equatorial and West French Africa. ‘Grandad’ regularly corresponded with these countries in his work capacity and consequently was never short of African stamps. From that moment onwards Bridoux says: ‘I immediately realised that philately would occupy a great deal of time and interest in my life. Also early in my life I knew what I wanted to do – to design’.
After some short studies, at the required levels of qualification, at the age of 15 Bridoux entered the famous Art School of Paris. Here he was taught by the most eminent ‘masters of art’, such as the great sculptor Etienne Martin. From the school Bridoux achieved a diploma which allowed him to enter directly into the third year class at the National Superior School of Decorative Arts, where he specialised in Graphic Commercial Arts (advertising and graphic arts).
But French national military service intervened in his studies for a while. A clearly upset Bridoux describes it thus: ‘After a too long obligatory service in the French Air Force, as a cartographer, I started my professional life in the design studios, which specialised in creating beautiful packaging’. After several years he became the Art Director of a vast packaging design studio with a group of 15 designers under his direction. The studio was for a chain of large, deluxe stores – ‘Les Nouvelles Galleries’.
Dreams fulfilled
Bridoux’s was soon responsible for creating the design look for all of the catalogues of this important store chain. He held this key role for 28 years, but he still secretly dreamt that one day he would be designing stamps. Opportunity knocked in 1975 when the French Post Office organised a competition to create four stamps for the International FIP World exhibition ‘ARPHILA’ to be held in Paris. Two stamps were to be designed by foreign artists; one by an already established French stamp designer; and ONE by any French artist. This was clearly Bridoux’s big chance and his entry duly won the first prize in the section he entered. This success opened all of the design doors to the otherwise very closed circle of designing philatelic issues. His stamp was issued as a miniature sheet and as a part of the winning block of four.
Very soon Charles Bridoux was working for the Postal Service of Overseas French Countries. He was rapidly commissioned to design stamp for French Polynesia for the same 1975 Paris-based exhibition. The eyecatching graphic design won the Prize of the Autumn Exhibition and even the Medal of the City of Paris.
Such instant success led to Bridoux being used on many occasions by French Polynesia for stamp designs. He recalls: ‘Afterwards I designed many stamps for French Polynesia including three stamps which formed a block for the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal’. Other territories which benefitted from the masterful Bridoux design touch included St. Pierre and Miquelon, Mali, and Cameroon.
The Cameroon issue that Bridoux designed featured a beautiful portrait of Sir Rowland Hill, for a stamp to celebrate stamps, the Penny Black and the life of Hill. His creative touch was rapidly used on issues for the Niger and for a Wallis & Fortuna stamp which featured two portraits of the legendary French author Victor Hugo.
In 1978 Bridoux designed a stamp celebrating the 50th anniversary of The French Philatelic Academy – the equivalent French organisation to the Royal Philatelic Society in London. Bridoux was elected to become a member in 1979 and took seat No. 39.
Bridoux continued on a number of philatelic design projects. He recalls: ‘I particularly enjoyed designing a stamp for the Technical Museums of Mulhouse in which one should show the museums of cars, railways and printed textiles’. Another interesting project was a postal entire for airmail usage featuring the Airbus flying over Paris. 1985 proved to be prolific with Bridoux creating a stamp on Francophony, one on French Documentation, one stamp for the European Council, and the cerebral design for Niger – ‘The communication reduces the distance, for you to judge’.
Columbus issues
Bridoux’s distinctive talents continued to feature on philatelic items and he remembers: ‘One design which was very much used – and few people knew that I created – is a stamp without facial value on the envelope Distingo’. Bridoux did one engraved project but it remained unissued.
Amongst his most recent work are beautiful small pre-cancelled stamps featuring musical instruments. Bridoux also says: ‘I greatly enjoyed creating the two Europa 1992 stamps showing the discoveries of Christopher Columbus’. In 1994 and 1997 Bridoux was the chosen designer for the stamps for the Stamp Day but one of his biggest tasks was to design the issues for the Winter Olympics in Albertville. The French Post Office asked him to design 10 stamps covering the 10 Olympic winter sport disciplines. These stamps were issued in sheets and regrouped in one block, which stated that Bridoux was the artist.
Charles Bridoux was a star designer for PHILEXFRANCE ‘99 for which he designed a booklet celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first French stamp – the 10 centimes black of 1849. Bridoux states: ‘This is actually my favourite stamp of which I am a passionate and highly knowledgeable collector’. Indeed Bridoux’s collection won him a Large Gold Medal at PHILEXFRANCE in 1999 – but that’s another story. |
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Tales by Mail - Book 1, by Karen Cartier
 Tales by Mail is for children of all ages, perhaps up through 60 or so. It brings together stories literally from around the world ... from Botswana to Denmark, from New Zealand to the Faroes, from Saar to Israel.
The stories are short, each with a message, and each illustrated by a stamp issued by the country of the story's origin. Each who reads this book no doubt will develop a different favorite story, which is to be expected. Formatted simply, each story is preceded by a full-color illustration of the commemorative stamp that no only is impressive in its own right but also serves through its design to set the stage for the story that follows.
For those who wonder of the relationship between a stamp design and what is "behind" the design, this book serves as an excellent example.
Teddy Bears Celebrate 100th Anniversary
 Teddy bears, enormously popular symbols of human caring and loving, are being honored by the U.S. Postal Service with the issuance of the Teddy Bears commemorative stamps. The 2002 issuance of the stamps coincides with the 100th anniversary of teddy bears.
The Teddy Bears pane of 20 self-adhesive stamps depicts four lovable, cuddly teddy bears. Photos of the bears appear in the header; details of the photos appear on the stamps. The four stamp designs are repeated five times each on the pane. All four teddy bears were manufactured in the United States and are now owned by private collectors. The Ideal bear dates to circa 1905, the Bruin bear from circa 1907 and the Gund bear from circa 1948. The unlabeled "stick" bear dates from the 1920s. Mass- produced stick bears were characterized by their short arms, thin legs and upright posture. The Ideal bear, the Bruin bear and the stick bear belong to Paul and Rosemary Volpp of Carson City, Nev. The Gund bear belongs to Helen Sieverling of Pasadena, Calif.
The idea of the teddy bear was born in 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a captive bear during a hunting trip. Washington Post cartoonist Clifford Berryman depicted the incident on the front page of the newspaper, and soon toymakers began to manufacture the "teddy" bears associated with the president's name. People in all walks of life love teddy bears, and enthusiasts—known in the teddy bear world as arctophiles—pay top dollar for the collectibles.
Today there are teddy bear magazines, clubs, collector shows and programs, both educational and medical, that feature these little stuffed companions. Teddy bears have had endless books, songs and poem written about them. Widely viewed as symbols of security and comfort, teddy bears are often used by police officers and hospital staff to calm the young and old alike in traumatic situations
Second Set Of Penguin Stamps
 British Antarctic Territory has issued its second set of penguin stamps on a miniature sheet and in a booklet from the Port Lockroy Post Office.
The 12 airmail postcard values feature photographs of Chinstrap, Emperor, Adelie, Gentoo and Macaroni penguins, including juveniles.
All the photographs were taken by members of the British Antarctic Survey.
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