During a walk in the mountains almost ten years ago, Lars Sjööblom saw the mountain angelica plant which became the original for a stamp with the same name.

The stamp, with its austere, heraldic design, is one of the better stamps that he has produced, says Lars Sjööblom. The original was drawn very accurately in ink and the lines were put in, just like on the actual engraving. It was a similar motif and method of working that introduced Lars Sjööblom to the graphical arts at the end of the 1970’s. He was attending Bergh’s School of Advertising in Stockholm and one day he became especially interested in a dried sunflower standing in the classroom. He decided to reproduce the flower, but for some unknown reason he skipped the pencil sketch and started directly on an ink original. And this method of working corresponded exactly with the technique of engraving.

A couple of years after the sunflower drawing, Lars Sjööblom was one of twelve students specially selected to enter the College of Art and start a special course for engraving stamps and bank notes. During his career as a stamp engraver, Lars Sjööblom has often designed the original as well as the engraving. Animals and nature motifs have become something of a speciality for him.