As the first and only Singaporean to date to design an entire series of the Republic's currency notes, artist Eng Siak Loy, 76, beamed with pride as he spoke about the work spanning fiveyears and some 530 sketches.

While it was very hard work, it was well worth it, Mr Eng said in an interview last week with TODAY. "As an artist, what is most important is that we can do something for the country," he said,noting that the notes which he designed would be seen the world over and recognised for generations to come.

His creation, the potrait series bearing the image of Singapore's first president Yusof Ishak, was introduced in 1999. Having been in circulation for the past 18 years and counting, it is thelongest-running currency series here. "From around 1994, I had already begun the work. There were a total of seven denominations for the series from S$2 to S$10,000. I had to learn it all from thestart," he said. "There was a lot of editing and changes... as we had to think of details such as the security needs, the needs for the visually handicapped, the layout of the design. I had to thinkthrough carefully in every element of the design to ensure the political, racial and many other aspects were carefully thought out."

There are a total of four series in Singapore's currency history - the portrait series was preceded by the ship, bird and orchid series. This year marks the 50th year of circulation for theSingapore currency, with the first notes introduced on June 12, 1967.

Prior to the portrait series, the printers for the previous note series were based in England. Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co printed the S$1, S$5 and S$100 notes for the orchid and bird series, whileThomas De La Rue & Co was commissioned for the S$10, S$25, S$50, S$500, S$1,000 and S$10,000 notes, as well as the entire ship series.

Elaborating on his design, Mr Eng said the back of each note denomination features a unique theme - education, garden city, sports, arts, youth, government or economics - related to Mr Yusof'sbiography, which was launched in conjunction with the potrait series.

While Mr Eng had to adhere to the themes set by the design committee, he had free rein on the details and elements to include. For example, the S$5 green banknote featured the garden city theme,and Mr Eng incorporated in the design an image of a Tembusu tree from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. In the background, he included a waterfront and a skyline of buildings.

On the back of the S$2 violet banknote which had the education theme, he drew the old buildings of Victoria Bridge School (now known as Victoria School) and Raffles Institution which Mr Yusof hadattended in his youth.

Mr Eng's art career began with his training at the Singapore Academy of Art in the 1960s. The award-winning artist, who has staged many art exhibitions at home and abroad, is also a prolificdesigner of Singapore stamps and coins.

For more information on The Banknote Book, see:
http://www.banknotenews.com/banknote_book/

To read the complete article, see:
Meet the man who designed S'pore's longest-running currency series(http://m.todayonline.com/singapore/meet-man-who-designed-spores-longest-running-currency-series)