Perhaps he preceded me in a room with particularly garish wallpaper that might have accelerated his demise. Such tastelessness helped send off an earlier playwright. More of that later.
Our new HK$10 bank notes boast patterns and colours similar to those which the Elysee's room burned into my retina. Their coupon-like vulgarity has already been widely disparaged; they stand apart from the existing currency like a bruised thumb.
Aesthetics are helpful in paper currency, but there are more serious issues: security and symbolism.
Among the few features to prevent counterfeiting accessible to the ordinary user is the hexagonal see-through which shows a horse when held to the light. Its registration allows for considerable printing tolerance (aka forger friendliness) due to the spokes that overlap the various bits of the animal.
While the watermark of a Bauhinia blossom is a classic security device, the intaglio or raised printing will not be of universal value; many Hong Kong people handling bank notes wear gloves, especially in the wet markets.
Generally, the gaudy colouring and manic patterns will allow criminals to take advantage of the fact that subtlety is harder to reproduce than its opposite.
Other than a largish Chinese character for 10 on both sides, which - rather than reflecting the highest standards of calligraphy - appears to have been drawn by a Dutchman, what is of greater concern to me as a branding specialist are the absent or ambiguous references to our city.
Why a see-through horse? At first glance it reminds one of Lloyds Bank's prancing black stallion, adding to the ambiguity. One is hardly reassured that the current zodiac animal in the lunar calendar is its reference, not the Jockey Club. Does this mean we shall have a see-through goat come next year?
Beyond these we can discern no images relating to Hong Kong, no scenes, no symbols - not even a junk. Icons reassure both residents and visitors.
Currency, along with a flag and an airline or two, is a declaration of identity and a statement of aspiration. How much easier to wallpaper these new notes rather than take a visual stand reflective of Hong Kong. The lesson to bureaucrats: please, don't design.
On the new note there is a white shape around the watermark which looks suspiciously like a light bulb. Perhaps it symbolises the bright ideas of civil servants, smoothly delivered on time and within budget.
Back to the deathbed of Oscar Wilde in a shabby Left Bank hotel named L'Alsace - sobriquet unknown. Looking around the room, he said, effectively, "Either that wallpaper goes or I do."
