Interview: Designer bridges currency gap

PARIS, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Re-release of Sept. 7, 2001 interview, and third in a series of year-end euro stories.

Europeans from Finland to the tip of Italy may not have heard of graphic artist Robert Kalina, but they will soon become very familiar with his work.

Kalina, 46, designed the first euro banknotes that within days will go into circulation throughout the European Union. A veteran currency engraver at the Austrian National Bank, he was chosen for the job in 1996 after winning a Europewide euro-design competition. Creating images for the seven denominations of euro paper money that had universal appeal was a daunting task.

"The most difficult part was to find pictures that would be shared by so many different countries," he said in a telephone interview from Vienna. "I had to find an image that was common all over Europe."

His resulting vision of European integration is a solid one. The euro notes depict the ancient bridges and aqueducts, doors and windows against a green rural background.

"I came to this idea of bridges to symbolize communication among European countries, and between Europe and the rest of the world," Kalina said. "And open gateways and doors to symbolize the future-the idea of going through them to find a new currency."

More than two years ago, Kalina started work with two assistants on the notes that will become legal tender in 12 EU countries on Jan. 1, 2002. The seven notes -- ranging in denominations of 5 euros to 500 euros -- offer a play of color and patterns. Delicate etchings of what appear to be stained glass windows are traced on the 20 euro notes; a highly ornate arch dominates the 100 euro bill. Computerized designs of bridges and aqueducts appear on other bills.

The images have not pleased everybody. Some complain they are bland. Others are distraught that the European tradition of showing leading European kings, statesmen, and cultural icons has been dropped in favor of anonymous architectural depictions.

And underlying the complaints is the widespread public opposition to losing the cherished national currencies.

"Keep the Franc!" was this spring's rallying cry by the Movement for France, a group backing a referendum on adopting the euro bills.

Kalina takes the censure with a shrug.

"You hear criticism about anything you design," he said. "I did the best I could under the given circumstances."

Some of the designer's images have sparked other controversy. Many people in France, for example, are adamant that the Roman aqueduct on the 5 euro note is a familiar landmark in southern France. EU officials have denied this. They point out that Kalina's instructions were that he could not show recognizable national monuments.

"Score a success for the sly French in sneaking in a design through an Austrian graphic artist that was supposed to represent a 'neutered bridge,'" wrote Peter Kenton, a resident of southern France, and a supporter of the Roman aqueduct theory, in the International Herald Tribune in September.

"Roman aqueducts look like ... aqueducts," Kalina countered. "You cannot change too much. I changed a few details, but it still looks like an aqueduct-if you know what I mean. The goal was that all Europeans could say this is my bridge. Not just (the people of) a certain country."

Selected when still a Vienna art student to succeed Austria's official money designer, Kalina was for years the only engraver at the Austrian National Bank.

Coping with European sensibilities in what was his first international assignment should be good training for his next one -- designing the new currency for the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Currently Bosnia's Serbs, Muslims and Croats are circulating their own separate banknotes. Creating a currency that satisfies all three ethnic groups promises to be no easy task.

"It will be the first banknote for all groups," Kalina said of the bills which he estimates will be launched next year. "I hope they will accept it."

Kalina's euro assignment has brought him media attention -- and a minor place in 21st century history. Reporters call him frequently. But he is focused on the long term.

"Graphic design is usually for things people throw away, for short-life products," he said. "Banknote design is for something people keep."