Textile Banknotes

Textile Banknotes

Early Chinese banknotes were printed on paper made of mulberry bark. Mitsumata and other fibers are used in Japanese banknotes. Most banknotes are made using the mould made process in which a watermark and thread is incorporated during the paper forming process. 

The thread is a simple looking security component found in most banknotes. It is however often rather complex in construction comprising fluorescent, magnetic, metallic and micro print elements. 

Over the years, a number of materials other than paper have been used to print banknotes. This includes various textiles, including silk, and materials such as leather. Silk and other fibers have been commonly used in the manufacture of various banknote papers, intended to provide both additional durability and security.

Crane and Company patented banknote paper with embedded silk threads in 1844. Most notoriously, Bielefeld produced a number of silk, leather, velvet, linen and wood issues. These issues were produced primarily for collectors, rather than for circulation.

From this research, I had the idea to produce a banknote on a material such as silk instead of using paper stock.

I aim to give the banknote its own sense of value and status and explore how the unique feel of a banknote could save its place in society.

Location, Purpose and Target Audience

The use of textiles has informed my decision to design a banknote for a country that has previously used textiles as banknotes and that are also well known for such materials.

Chinese Silk

China is the birthplace of silk and has a history of over 6,000 years. Legend has it that Lady Hsi-Lin-Shih (wife of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi) was having tea under a mulberry tree when a cocoon fell into her cup. As she watched, the cocoon spun a strong white thread. She unwound the strand onto her finger, realizing that it could be used as weaving thread. Thus an industry was born.

Japanese Textiles

Recycling of cotton textiles has a long history in Japan, going back at least to the early 1600s. In the Northern Japanese islands industrious Japanese women worked with used cotton indigo dyed fabrics to perfect several sewing techniques in order to give renewed life to the secondhand cloth. From very ancient times until the 1600s, Japanese peasants wore clothing made from common hemp, a locally grown and processed bast fiber.