Erik Bruun (born 1926 in Viipuri) is a Finnish graphic designer. 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Not to be confused with the Danish town and county of Viborg in Jutland Viapori, a Finnish transcription of Sveaborg, better known as Suomenlinna castle Vyborg from the tower of the castle Vyborg (transcription of Russian Выборг) is a town with 70,000 inhabitants at Russias border to Finland...

Bruun spent his childhood in village of Säiniö on the Carelian isthmus. In the war years his family was forced to move to Helsinki, where he later enrolled in the Central School of Industrial Design. He graduated as a graphics designer in 1950. Winter war Conflict World War II Date November 30, 1939 - March 12, 1940 Place Finland Result pyrrhic Soviet victory The Winter War (also known as the Soviet-Finnish War or the Russo-Finnish War) broke out when the Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939, three months after the... Helsinki (pronounced with the stress on the first syllable in Finnish: ), or Helsingfors in Swedish  listen, is the capital of Finland. ... 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

After graduation, Bruun worked for three years as an exhibition designer and advertisement artist. In 1953 he founded his own design studio, where he produced the most of his work. 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Bruun's works are diverse and numerous. They include posters, postcards, stamps, and most notably the last ever series of the Finnish Markka banknote series. The markka or mark was the currency used in Finland from 1861 until January 1, 1999, when it was replaced by the euro (€). The currency code used for the markka was FIM, and the usual familiar notation was a postfix mk. ... A £20 Ulster Bank banknote. ...

In his work, Bruun mostly features the Finnish nature in all its richness and beauty. Particularly prominent motives include the marine eagle, the Saimaa seal and the bear. The Saimaa seal is the symbol of the Finnish nature preservation association, whose logo Bruun designed.

Bruun also submitted a proposal for the design of the Euro banknotes, featuring various kinds of animals. This proposal was rejected in favour of Robert Kalina's proposal featuring European architecture. The euro symbol The euro (EUR or €) is the single currency for many countries within the European Union. ...

Miscellaneous notes

In the early years of the banknote series, Bruun and his wife were on a holiday in Stockholm, Sweden. They visited a shop that accepted both Swedish and Finnish money, and so they tried to pay with one of the new markka notes. The shopkeeper, never having seen the note before, asked if it was genuine. "Of course it is", replied Bruun's wife, "my husband drew it himself!" The Stockholm City Hall Stockholm  listen is the capital and the largest city of Sweden. ...

References

Lusto exhibition in 2001, featuring Bruun's work (page in Finnish) (http://www.lusto.fi/nayttelyt/tiedot36.htm)