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Austria:  Stamps Released on Vintage Car and Designer of Fitted Kitchen

Graf and Stift SP 8 Pullman

The SP 8 is a luxurious 7930s car made by the Austrian car makers Graf &Stint. Only 30 of the top-of-the-range SP 8 model were built between 1930 and 1936. It was based on the SP 5 to SP 7 series with their 6-cylinder engine. However, the six-litre straight-eight engine of the SP 8 increased the output to 120 HP and could reach speeds of up to 120 km/h. The vehicle shown on the stamp, dating from 1930, cost 52,000 Austrian Schillings in its day and was used by the director general, Dipl.-Ing. Josef Gräf. It survived the war in pieces at the works, with only the interior needing to be replaced in 1948. In 2005 the “Verein zur Förderung der historischen Fahrzeuge der Österreichischen Automobilfabriken” acquired the vehicle.

Date of Release:20th January 2021

Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky The Designer of Fitted Kitchen

Margarete Sch’utte-Lihotzky designed the revolutionary “Frankfurt kitchen”. Austrian Post is celebrating the great Austrian architect with a special stamp in the series “Austrian inventions“.

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897—2000) was born into a middle-class Viennese family. She studied architecture at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, now the University of Applied Arts, and later collaborated with masters like Adolf Loos. From 1926 on she worked in Frankfurt, developing the prototype for modern fitted kitchens with her compact “Frankfurt kitchen”. The focus was on rational design and minimising distances when working in the kitchen — the aim was to streamline housework for the women of the time, who often also worked, while keeping the kitchen affordable.In many respects Schütte-Lihotzky led an eventful life. Among other things, she designed houses for the Viennese Settlement Movement, and she planned “socialist towns” in the Soviet Union and schools in Turkey. As a member of the Communist Party and the Resistance, she was imprisoned by the Gestapo in 1941. After the war she continued to work as an architect, designing several community buildings and kindergartens in Vienna, among other things. She travelled a great deal, published her work and organised exhibitions. She died in Vienna just before her 103rd birthday. Nowadays Schütte-Lihotzky is regarded as an icon and pioneer for women in architecture.

Date of Release:20th January 2021

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