KURZ Banknote Security’s production site in Sulzbach-Rosenberg in Germany celebrates its 30th anniversary this year (see HOT News August 2025), in honour of which the company has produced a series of celebration ‘Tree of Life’ notes themed around the beauty and strength of nature and the passage of time.
The house note reflects the cycle of continuous innovation, from strong foundations to new branches of technology. Each note reinterprets this symbol, showing how Kurz has constantly reinvented itself over the years.
As the company states, just as it has grown from its roots in hot stamping into a wide range of products and industries, so too has the oak at the heart of these new notes. It is an ecosystem that supports countless lives, from the soil it anchors underground to every branch and leaf reaching toward the sky.
First is Celebration Note ‘Day’, providing the backdrop for a wide KINEGRAM ZERO.ZERO® stripe with impressive effects, golden metallisation, and seamless design integration. The daytime scene shows the old oak drawing water up from the earth to nourish each bough and leaf. On the reverse, a bird swoops in to perch amidst the foliage where, when spring comes again, it will nest, and the tree will cradle a new generation of life.
Day – perfectly registered metallisation with golden optical appearance (© KURZ 2025).
Then there is the Celebration Note ‘Dusk’, which features a wide KINEGRAM® HDM stripe (with effects including Golden Mirror, Achromatic Effect, or Deep Spot) and, again, seamless design integration. The tree at dusk is lit by the waning daylight, with shadows lengthening as evening approaches. Among the leaf litter, deer move carefully – alert, yet reassured by the steady, towering presence of the oak, a place they will return to time and again throughout their lives.
Dusk – High definition metallisation enabling a greyscale and halftone-based screened image (© KURZ 2025).
Finally, Celebration Note ‘Night’ showcases a wide KINEGRAM® COSMIC stripe with impressive effects including Colourful Movement, Flux Effect, and Surface Relief. By night, the tree is bathed in moonlight that silvers its knurls and contours, shaped across the aeons of its long life. A fox races past its trunk, seeking opportunity in unsuspecting small mammals or insects asleep in the darkness.
Night – Structure-based effects combined with colour shifting layer stacks (© KURZ 2025).
On the reverse side of all three celebration notes is a KINEGRAM® VIVID patch. VIVID combines kinematic movements in all directions with a powerful depth effect, and the version on the Tree of Life notes features matching colours and the numeral 30.
‘Through countless day-and-night cycles, the tree endures, standing as a testament to stability and longevity, holding the memories of the many lives that have passed through its roots and branches.
The concept reflects our goal of creating banknotes that are beautiful, enduring, and secure’, commented KURZ.
More information about the ‘Tree of Life’ celebration notes can be found at www.kurz-banknotes.com/tree-of-life/en/.
