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It doesn't get much more quintessentially French than the baguette. The crispy crust and pillowy interior of the bread has made it synonymous with its country of origin. In fact, it's often one of the first things that pops into people's minds when they think about the European nation. Recently, France's national postal service, La Poste, decided to capitalize on the international renown of the baguette and has unveiled a new line of scratch-and-sniff stamps designed to look and smell like the signature bread.
La Poste has been cooking up the idea for some time now, enlisting the help of Paris-based designer Stéphane Humbert-Basset to create the stamps. His design features a baguette against a white background, tied off with a ribbon in the colors of the French tricolore. Text fills in the rest of the stamp, reading “La baguette, de pain française,” which translates to: “The baguette, the French bread.” The stamp's bakery smell was achieved by tiny fragrance microcapsules embedded in the ink, which are broken when someone drags their fingernail across the surface.
Fittingly, the custom stamps were released on Feast Day of St. Honoré, who is revered as the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs. In total, 594,000 copies were printed, and were sold for €1.96 (US$2.13) each. The unique stamps were part of a larger effort to reinvigorate public interest in the post, especially as communication becomes increasingly paperless in our digital age. Each piece in the collection features a classic element of French cuisine, including chocolate, lavender, and strawberries, with mouth-watering aromas to match.
This isn't the first time an initiative like this has been attempted, which is good news for other people looking to get in on the fun. In 2018, the United States Postal Service debuted their own line of scratch-and-sniff stamps that smelled like fruity popsicles to commemorate the summer season.
France's national postal service, La Poste, has unveiled a brand new scratch-and-sniff stamp featuring a baguette.
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No ordinary illustration, this postage stamp is designed to even smell like a baguette.
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Even before its official release, the stamp was anticipated to be a successful collector's item.
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The illustrator of the baguette stamp, Stéphane Humbert-Basset, even had his own signing session for it.
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Stéphane Humbert-Basset: Website | Instagram
h/t: [Fast Company]
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