All posts tagged: Stamps

Human Stamps | Walker Mimms

Human Stamps | Walker Mimms

Two Rorschach blobs as tall as men—one dark, the other a bright copper and blue—cast lassos at each other. They send out waves of black paint ripples, like motion made visible between them. Because those ripples are mechanically produced, it doesn’t seem quite right to call this work, by the young American artist Emily Kraus, a painting. A production, maybe, or a result? Each in the other what each has to give (2026) is one of six busy and rhythmic abstractions on view in Kraus’s solo debut at Luhring Augustine. She has perfected her mechanical process: she begins by sewing two ends of a large canvas together, creating a cylinder that is then fitted tightly around the four steel struts of a cage-like apparatus, which she enters through a gangway. She paints the inner walls of the cylinder, and then pulls the edges of the canvas so that fresh fabric scrolls through the struts, and then she paints some more. As she pulls, the struts pick up the wet paint and, like rollers in printmaking, …

Royal Mail makes stamps change after Martin Lewis issues warning

Royal Mail makes stamps change after Martin Lewis issues warning

The Royal Mail has hiked the cost of a first-class stamp has risen by 10p to £1.80. The increase came into effect on Tuesday (April 7), the Royal Mail said. Royal Mail blamed the price rise on falling numbers of letters being sent, combined with an increased number of addresses. Royal Mail’s managing director of letters, Richard Travers, said: “We always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the rising cost of delivering mail. “On average, UK adults now spend just £6.50 each year on stamps and there are 70% fewer letters sent than 20 years ago. In the meantime, the number of addresses we deliver to has increased by four million to 32 million addresses across the UK.” READ MORE 45 popular cars that will cost nearly £6,000 to tax this year – full list A second-class stamp has risen in price by 4p to 91p. Stamps bought before the price increase remain valid and can still be used for postage. Financial expert Martin Lewis had urged Brits to stock up on stamps …

Gen Z Has Gone Postal: The Most Online Generation Are Ditching DMs For Stamps

Gen Z Has Gone Postal: The Most Online Generation Are Ditching DMs For Stamps

It is 2026. Artificial intelligence can write your dissertation, generate your face, and compose a symphony in the style of Beethoven if Beethoven had grown up on SoundCloud. The metaverse exists. (Nobody’s in it, but it exists.) And Gen Z – digital natives, chronically online, the generation that essentially grew up inside a WiFi router – has decided that its preferred form of communication is to write something on paper, lick an envelope, and hand it to a stranger in a red van. The stamp. The address. The three-week wait. The prayer. Welcome to the most unexpected cultural trend of the decade: Gen Z has gone postal. The data is, frankly, deranged. Pinterest – which correctly predicted 88% of its 2026 trends and has half a billion monthly users, so we can’t just dismiss this as vibes – has reported searches for “penpal letters” up 35%, “handwritten letters” up 45%, and most importantly, “cute stamps” up a deeply unhinged 105%. A quarter of Gen Z and millennial users say they are actively rediscovering letter-writing. One …

You Can Buy Canned Coffee With Food Stamps (But Only If It Has Milk)

You Can Buy Canned Coffee With Food Stamps (But Only If It Has Milk)

The Save gas station on the west side of Gary, Indiana, wants customers to know that they can pay for their groceries with food stamps. When I pulled into the parking lot last week, the first thing I saw was a blinking neon sign that read EBT for electronic benefits transfer, the prepaid cards used by food-stamp recipients. Inside, I spotted coolers packed with drinks, and shelves and shelves of snacks. But a black-and-white sign on the cashier window had a warning: As of January 1, soda and candy can no longer be purchased with food stamps. Indiana is one of five states—along with Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia—that has begun banning the purchase of certain unhealthy treats with food stamps, which is formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They have all been spurred into action by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made these bans a priority of his tenure as health secretary. “There’s no nutrition in these products,” Kennedy said in June, celebrating the policy at an event with Indiana’s …

Royal Mail commemorates Stranger Things finale with special set of stamps

Royal Mail commemorates Stranger Things finale with special set of stamps

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Royal Mail is commemorating the conclusion of Netflix’s hit sci-fi series, Stranger Things, with a new collection of stamps, celebrating the show’s enduring global appeal following its final episode release on New Year’s Day in the UK. The series, which follows a group of children from the fictional town of Hawkins as they battle an evil force threatening their world, has captivated audiences since its debut. The 14-stamp collection features illustrations by British artist Kyle Lambert, known for designing the show’s iconic posters, and includes fan-favourite characters such as Millie Bobby Brown’s psychokinetic Eleven, who appears on two of the stamps. Comprising two sheets of five stamps each and a miniature sheet of four, the collection visually narrates the series’ journey. The miniature sheet specifically captures the four main friends – Lucas, Will, Mike, and Dustin – riding their iconic 1980s-style …