Designer Angela Mathis Destroys Bank Notes to Create Furniture Upholstery
Don’t try this at home.
Not many people can boast of having sat upon millions of dollars worth of bank notes, but you might be able to do this soon. London-based designer Angela Mathis was commissioned by the National Bank to take different currencies from around the world and convert them into a textile. The project, called “Value,” uses a variety of international bank notes as a palette — including everything from the green American dollar, red Chinese yuan, purple British pound, and brown Indonesian rupee — blending them in different quantities to create different effects, textures and hues. The result is then used to upholster four stools for a thoroughly unique product. But before you instigate a riot over this seemingly profligate waste of money, the textile is made from decommissioned, pre-shedded bank notes that have outlived their usually 18-month-long lifetimes. Both environmentally-friendly and creative, here’s to hoping that more design projects will stoke the mind and dinner conversation in the same way.
