Ignis House Note – Out of Darkness Comes Fire

The winner of the IACA Best New House Note at this year’s Banknote Conference was Bundesdruckerei (BDR), which launched its new note – Ignis – from the ExNihilo series during the conference.

This concept was first unveiled at last year’s Currency Conference, as the name of the initial banknote series from the SIRA innovation hub (SIRA stands for Sustainability, Innovation, Recycling, Action), a platform for partnership-based development of innovations for banknotes of the future (see CN May 2023).

The philosophical starting point for the concept has roots that reach back to Parmenides, Melissus of Samos and Aristotle in Ancient Greece, with the Latin ‘ex nihilo nihil fit’ often translated as ‘from nothing comes nothing’. With the rise of digital payments worldwide, says BDR, the concept of money becomes more and more independent of its material construct, and approaches ever nearer to nothingness. Yet, from this ‘nothing’ the banknote industry must innovate and discover new paths.