Luzia Hein, a graduate of Mainz University of Applied Sciences, is the winner of the competition to design a commemorative stamp being issued to mark the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Karlsruhe.
The stamp, which has been available at all Deutsche Post branches since early August, features the symbol of ecumenism: a boat with a cross as its mast, lined up side by side and floating on waves. The boats’ vibrant colors symbolize diversity and highlight the General Assembly as an international event with participants from every continent. In addition to the stamp’s design, two first-day covers were created for Berlin and Bonn, as well as the border of the sheet of ten, which echoes the stamp’s colorful design.
Luzia Hein has been fascinated by stamps since childhood, when she discovered her grandfather’s stamp albums and subsequently started her own collection at the age of six. And so, one of the first steps she took when starting her own business was to apply to the Federal Ministry of Finance to be included in the pool of selected designers who create stamps in Germany.
“Designing a stamp is a challenge because of its small format, but that’s precisely what makes it so appealing: conveying a message visually and concisely in a limited space. Furthermore, a stamp isn’t just aimed at a specific target audience but reaches a wide variety of people—it’s design for everyone,” explains Luzia Hein, adding: “While the competition invitation includes many specific requirements—such as the stamp format—it does not include any design guidelines, so you have complete freedom in the visual execution. You can choose your own design media, whether it’s drawing, photography, or typography.”
Luzia Hein is a graphic designer and art director based in Hamburg. She grew up in Aschaffenburg, studied graphic design in Mainz and Hamburg, and worked for design studios such as very and Double Standards, as well as for the handbag label Chi Chi Fan Hamburg, before going independent in 2020. Her work is characterized by a holistic, multidisciplinary design approach—she finds just as much joy in corporate design and type design as she does in translating ideas into a spatial context or onto textiles. Her work is defined by a minimalist design language and vibrant colors. In 2019, she was honored by the German Design Council as a Newcomer at the German Design Award.
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