Ukrainian designer creates a custom calendar using a date stamp

8 january, 2024

Artslooker

Ukrainian designer and artist Sasha Bychenko has created a custom calendar using a hand-held date stamp. Utilizing a typical office device, Bychenko stamps each date on the calendar individually, repeating the action 366 times to correspond to each day of the leap year of 2024.

Sasha Bychenko's calendar. Photos courtesy of the artist.

“The monotonous mechanical work is soothing, and the repetitive click of the stamp evokes memories of carefree railroad trips to the sea,” the author notes. Bychenko, a co-founder of the Kultura studio and a member of the jury of the Best Book Design Award by Mystetskyi Arsenal, often experiments with atypical tools. “It's interesting to create something beautiful with a non-designer's tool that is not intended for this purpose.”

Minimalist in design, the calendar is at the same time varies from copy to copy: none of the patterns are repeated, as each date is applied by hand. “In the process of experimenting [with the stamp], I realized that what appears on the sheet is the calendar, which accurately conveys the subjective sense of time,” the author comments. The calendar blocks “float,” and some dates “fall off” the grid, metaphorically hinting at the irregularity of our perception of time.

The A3 calendar is produced as an open variable edition. The author will donate 20% of the profit from each sale to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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