Carnaby Street A new set of stamps featuring famous British designs was unveiled yesterday by Royal Mail.

The 1st-class stamps include ten different images by 20th-century designers. Among them is Mary Quant’s mini-skirt, the London Underground map by Harry Beck and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s bright red telephone kiosk.

Penguin’s book jacket, designed by Edward Young, and Sir Alec Issigonis’s creation, the Mini, also feature in the Design Classics series, which will be on sale for a year.

Speaking at the launch of the stamps in Carnaby Street, in the West End of London, Quant said: “I am hugely flattered and simply bowled over with delight. I think the mini-skirt is something that makes one feel happy and enjoy life.”

Julietta Edgar, of the Royal Mail, said: “The starting point was the 50th anniversary of the Mini, and we decided to broaden it beyond the Mini to other design classics.”

She said that the company had consulted experts in the field. “We also looked at the BBC culture programme on design classics to see what was making their top ten and top 20. We wanted to make sure that we got a mixture of different types of design so that we had different representations of where the British had made an impact.”

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