In 1970 Mark Cleverley’s groundbreaking scenic definitive stamp designs were released by the ‘New Zealand Post Office’. The designs were selected as part of a nationwide competition that saw a dramatic shift in design aesthetic for New Zealand stamps.

The 1970 Pictorials. Mark Cleverley designed the 10c, 15c, 25c, 30c, $1 and $2 stamps.

Previous stamp designs were very ornate and full of detail, but Cleverley’s designs had a new minimal, modernist look that simply and clearly conveyed the stamp’s theme with flat planes of bold colour and negative white space. Cleverley’s 1970s design work introduced a number of firsts for New Zealand stamps. He incorporated a sans serif font, blocks of colour, simple shapes, and asymmetric compositions. He was the first to use silver ink, and some of his stamp designs included graphics that extended over the selvedge.

Three designs chosen for the 1970 definitive stamp issue highlighted Māori culture and design, a thread of interest that continued throughout Cleverley’s career. Towards the end of his working life in the 1990s, he was granted a Winston Churchill Fellowship Award to explore bilingual treatments in graphic design. The award saw Cleverley travel to design studios in India, Wales, Canada and Ireland where he engaged with designers who regularly dealt with the inclusion of multiple languages and different alphabets.

After the release of the 1970 scenic definitive stamp issue, Cleverley was invited to design subsequent New Zealand and Ross Dependency definitive and commemorative stamps issues. Some of the themes included the 25^th anniversary of New Zealand’s domestic airline National Airways Corporation (NAC), Expo 1970, the opening of the Satellite Earth Station, the 200^th anniversary of the landing by Marion du Fresne at the Bay of Islands, and he also designed a set of Christmas stamp.

Cleverley’s stamp designs represented a new design aesthetic that he continued to explore and develop across a range of industries. He worked in 2D and 3D mediums in advertising, packaging and typology, architecture, and ceramics. He studied at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury under Maurice Askew - a newly appointed graphic design specialist. After completing his degree, Cleverley and Askew went into business together under the name Design Associates and their graphic designs were applied to books, letterheads, and projects with sports clubs and a range of private and public groups. Cleverley famously designed the Ballentynes department store lettering on the facade in Christchurch which is still there today.

One of Cleverley’s most significant achievements was as Development Designer for Crown Lynn – the largest ceramic factory in the Southern Hemisphere. While employed there he incorporated international design influences and introduced new shapes and patterns.

Some of Cleverley’s ceramic designs became the most popular and commonly purchased dinnerware sets in New Zealand. While Mark Cleverely’s name remained relatively unknown, his dinnerware sets were and still are some of the most treasured in New Zealand homes. Three standout examples were Autumn Splendor, Sapphire and Green Bamboo. His coffee pot design starred in an exhibition at New Zealand House in London during the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design 1969.

'Autumn Splendour' dinner set, 1963, Auckland, by Crown Lynn Potteries Ltd. Gift of Denis Phelps, 1999. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Te Papa (GH009081/1-48)

Cleverley ended his career in 1996 after teaching at Wellington Polytechnic for fifteen years. He continued to design, one of his final significant projects being the design of his own home in Seatoun, Wellington. Mark Cleverley committed his entire life to championing good design. He is regarded as Master of Craft – someone who has done something extremely well for a long period of time. He developed a deep knowledge and understanding of design and was an important and highly acclaimed design expert who influenced the shape of the design industry in Aotearoa New Zealand.

To see the NZ Post gift range that incorporates Mark Cleverley's 1970s stamp designs check out Modern Minimalism gifts.