Jeffery Matthews is a British artist, specialising in

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

design. He conceived the Machin

definitive series A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in ...

' colour palette in the mid-1980s.

Biography

During his interior design study, Matthews was taught

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

and letter

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...

. He then became an illustrator and created logotypes, graphic and typographic designs for public administration, firms and book covers. He diminished these activities during the 1990s.Interview during Stamp Show 2000
, ''The Chronicle'', October 2000, page 2. At the end of the 1950s, Matthews registered to the

Council of Industrial Design The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom charity incorporated by Royal Charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instrumental in the prom ...

, which proposed graphic artists to client entities. In 1959, he was amongst the designers the Council proposed to the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

; the British postal administration was looking for the design of two stamp series to mark its 300th anniversary. He was then regularly invited to propose stamp projects. His two first postage stamps were issued in 1965 for the 20th anniversary of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

The Machin series

In the 1970s, he became involved in the designs of new Machin definitive stamps, picturing

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

's profile since 1967. When ordered, he designed new symbols for the Regional Machins in 1971, with new digits and letters.Interview during Stamp Show 2000
, ''The Chronicle'', October 2000, page 1. Philatelic recognition came from his work on the Machin series colours. In 1976, he prepared the three colours needed for the photograved high value stamps. In the middle of the 1980s, he provided the Post Office with a large palette of colours, sufficient for the new next values. This work was honoured by a mini-sheet of eight stamps and two labels that Matthews designed, which were sold during the Stamp Show 2000.

Awards

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

MBE 2004 *

Rowland Hill Award The Rowland Hill Awards were established in 1997 as a joint venture between Britain's Royal Mail, the British Philatelic Trust and the Association of British Philatelic Societies. The awards are named after the noted Victorian postal reformer Si ...

for Outstanding Contribution 2005http://www.ukphilately.org.uk/bpt/rowlast/2004.htm Retrieved 9 October 2009 *Phillips Gold Medal for Stamp Design 2005

References and sources

External links

Interview with Matthews
published in ''The Chronicle, the journal of the Great Britain Collectors Club'', October 2000. The first page is about the Machin series and the second about the Matthews' professional life.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Jeffery Living people

Matthews Matthews may refer to: People * Matthews (surname) Places * Matthews Island, Antarctica * Matthews Range, Kenya * Mount Matthews, New Zealand United States * Matthews, Georgia * Matthews, Indiana * Matthews, Maryland * Matthews, Missouri * Mat ...

British illustrators Year of birth missing (living people)