2023Contemporary Artistic Stonemasonry - Set

Stonemasonry has a rich tradition in Slovenia. This geographically and culturally highly diverse country has numerous deposits of stone, some hard and some softer: witnesses to human development and progress over the course of thousands of years, which the skilled hands of masons have transformed into wonderful artefacts, giving them entirely new meanings and content. Stonemasonry is among the traditional crafts closely associated with Slovenia’s Karst region. Indeed, the stone casket featured on this stamp is the work of a stonemason who hails from this region: Jernej Bortolato (born in Pliskovica in 1974), who sculpted this useful and decorative product in the form of a stylised sea urchin shell on the basis of an idea by designer Andraž Debeljak. The work is notable for the purity of its form and the symmetrical pattern of dots representing the bases of the sea urchin’s spines.