I will try to focus on two questions:

(1) When we design a banknote, what is it that we are dealing with? – I will argue that we are dealing with an original, or that we are trying to create an original. But what is an original? In terms of philosophy? In terms of physics? And does the term 'origination', with which we are all familiar, perhaps have something to do with it?

(2) The theme of this conference is 'Holistic Design'. But what exactly does this little word 'holistic' mean? What is our sense of wholeness? – Isn't it a contradiction to be whole? Because to be whole, the whole must contain everything, and that means it must also contain its opposite: the not-whole. Will that still be whole? And how can we ever begin with the whole? In a beginning, what begins is not yet what it will become. So in the beginning, by definition, the whole is not yet the whole. But if we do not begin with the whole, we cannot begin with it at all. Neither in our thinking nor in our designs. Or perhaps we are missing a point. Perhaps we need to change our thinking. And maybe we need to change our design to a completely new design of the whole. A design where leaving means returning…

I will then try to show how these two questions relate to the design and production of a banknote. I will focus particularly on the concept, as I work mainly as a concept designer and will speak as such.

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