Artisanal
Currency, a Refreshing and Totally Legal Way to Pay
Have you ever seen currency notes so
beautiful that you’d actually hesitate to spend them? Well, they’re
called ‘artisanal currency’, and they’re all the rage in
several parts of the world, including London, Amsterdam, and New
York. The concept is quite similar to artisanal coffee, cheese, or
chocolate that is handmade, not mass produced.
According to The New York Times, “these
are small-batch currencies designed by locals and lovingly handled by
millennials, who came of age during the rise of the Internet.”
Interestingly, this local currency is not meant to be a collectible,
but is legally accepted at cash-only community businesses so that the
money stays within the town or district.
London’s Brixton district, for
example, has its own artisanal currency designed by award-winning
artist Jeremy Deller. His £5 notes feature a “fuzzy, psychedelic
image of an androgynous face surrounded by rainbow clouds and
swirling etchings.” Deller said that he wanted to create “something
old-fashioned looking, something almost pre-currency.” And the
people of Brixton are quite pleased with their own special pound
notes. “I’d be more inclined to save money if it all looked like
that,” said Ewan Graham, a 31-year-old architect.......
Click for the rest of the article -- please! It's long, historical, current, exciting and profusely illustrated. (Have you noticed? Links are clickable here now.)
The "weird" or "odd" news category is often where you find the least weird, most promisingly normal and healthy news items, many of which are considered trash by the so-called mainstream media. I strongly urge keeping up with them notable oddee.com, newsoftheweird.com and nuttynewstoday.com . Mind you, it's also where you see the worst of human nature writ large -- which is also something I think we all need to do in our quest for the totality of timely truth.
To all who can answer why the last word in our title is in sarcasm quote marks, a special treat is in store.
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