Philatelist’s art stamped with passion

Grant Ogilvie, of Kiwi Stamp Art in Palmerston North.

A Covid-19 lockdown boredom buster has turned into an art form with its very own gallery.

Spare time during the pandemic provided Palmerston North philatelist Grant Ogilvie with an opportunity to indulge in his extensive stamp collection.

He was pondering what to do with his mountain of postage stamps and was hit by a bolt of artistic expressionism.

“I had time on my hands ... it started as an adjunct, a good way to use old stamps,” he said.

Now he had a gallery of work. He opens the doors to Kiwi Stamp Art Limited on The Square on request to view his growing collection of unique work. Every work was a handmade original.

An example of Grant Ogilvie's work.

“I’ve always been a stamp collector,” he said, inheriting a passion for the hobby from his parents as a young boy. It turned into a “full-blown madness”. He now had an impressive collection of more than 40,000 New Zealand stamps.

“But this is my first foray into the art world ... I have a day job. This is a hobby business on the side.”

Palmerston North philatalist-cum-artist Grant Ogilvie with some of his stamps.

Among his collection is an example of New Zealand’s very first stamp, an 1855 Penny Black.

“I use only the common stamps for the artwork. It is a really good way to repurpose surplus stamps,” he said.

“I like the art on the stamps themselves. It would have taken real skill to create them in the old days.”

His Kiwiana-inspired works include one of Sir Edmund Hillary, a silver fern and many of native birds, including kereru and piwakawaka.