Erik Bruun (born 7 April 1926) is a Finnish graphic designer.

Biography

Bruun was born in Viipuri on 7 April 1926. He spent his childhood in village of Säiniö on the

Karelian isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...

. In the war years his family was forced to move to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, where he later enrolled in the Central School of Industrial Design. He graduated as a graphics designer in 1950. 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. Bruun's works are diverse and numerous. They include posters, postcards, stamps, and most notably all of the reverse sides of the last ever series of the Finnish

Markka The markka ( fi, markka; sv, mark; sign: Mk; ISO code: FIM, typically known outside Finland as the Finnish mark) was the currency of Finland from 1860 until 28 February 2002, when it ceased to be legal tender. The mark was divided into 100 pe ...

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

series from year 1986. In the early days of the new banknote series, Bruun and his wife were visiting

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. They needed to exchange Finnish Markka notes to

Swedish krona The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it ...

, and had some of the new Markka notes with them. The cashier, never having seen the new notes before, asked if they were genuine. "Of course they are", replied Bruun's wife, "my husband drew them himself!" 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 1974 logo Bruun designed. His posters and designs for the soft drink brand

Hartwall Jaffa Jaffa is a popular carbonated soft drink produced in Finland by Hartwall. Jaffa is usually orange flavoured, however different flavours are sold. The brand is also notable for the numerous popular posters and designs created for it by graphic d ...

are also famous. Bruun also submitted a proposal for the design of the

Euro banknotes Banknotes of the euro, the common currency of the Eurozone (euro area members), have been in circulation since the first series (also called ''ES1'') was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the Eur ...

, featuring various kinds of animals. This proposal was rejected in favour of

Robert Kalina The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

's proposal featuring European architecture.

References

External links

Lusto exhibition in 2001, featuring Bruun's work (page in Finnish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruun, Erik 1926 births Living people Artists from Vyborg Finnish designers Currency designers Finnish graphic designers