Buried somewhere in a drawer in my house there’s a t-shirt with the image of an Ampelmann. For some reason I picked it up at a flea market in Berlin’s Mauerpark for €3. I’m not sure why I was so taken with the image from the old East Berlin pedestrian traffic lights, it’s possible that I just had too many espressos that AM.
Anyway, my nostalgia for the Ampelmännchen was piqued by artist Maya Barkai’s assembled collection of pedestrian traffic signals from around the world: Walking Men Worldwide.
Some of the examples from unexpected cities have more personality, but I think the Tokyo and Andorra ones are my favorites aesthetically. Oddly, the iconic German Ampelmännchen isn’t among the crowd here.
A screenprint of the collected pedestrian people is available on the Walking Men.
I love Ampelmann and am so glad it took over the Western part of the city as well! I also buy souvenirs with him/her for all my friends.
Cool!
Aha, the city of Maryborough in Queensland, Australia has delightfully whimsical Mary Poppins traffic signals complete with umbrella. Maryborough was the birthplace of Pam Travers the author of Mary Poppins. What better way to bring a smile to any face.