The fiftieth edition of OBJEKTŠ International: a celebration and a milestone in the further international expansion of one of the world's most exceptional publications. Scorning slick marketing strategies, OBJEKTŠ International has, as a global brand, created its own audience. An audience of people who want to feel the amazement of the boundless diversity of beauty, whether from bygone centuries or the future.
Last year was a highlight for festive occasions, when we received the Best International Interior Magazine Award in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and the Journalism Award in Italy.
OBJEKTŠ International's diversity, creativity and quality were specifically praised on those occasions.
This 50th edition again meets those criteria. We encountered Giulio Cappellini and Antonio Citterio: celebrated top designers who shed light on the design landscape and, in particular, the future of design. Productions from the Italian city, Milan - the Mecca of design - speak volumes and indicate the course design will take in the near future. Ecology is a hot item or, to quote Cappellini: "Ecology should definitely not be seen as a trend. It is an attitude to life, or rather, a new manufacturing norm. Recycling is no longer a statement, but a necessity."
Over the centuries a particularly creative aspect of the interior has always been furnishing fabrics. In Paris OBJEKTŠ International met the cream of the profession, and captured in distinctive photos the latest developments.
This edition spotights American beach houses, particularly on the west coast of the United States, where the building of such houses has become a veritable art form. Openness and simplicity of design are often combined with considerable attention to sustainability and efficient energy use.
The 'old' world is brought back to life in the article on the Dutch city of Haarlem, where the sumptuous country mansion of an Amsterdam banker reflects a period in Dutch history, and in the photos of an interior in Florence, where old frescoes and murals were discovered under thick layers of plasterwork. Special attention has always been given in OBJEKTŠ International to the interiors of luxury yachts. There, the craftsmanship of execution and finish is still unique. And so high-quality yacht building is again featured in this 50th edition.
As I leaf through past publications, I am repeatedly amazed at all the exceptional houses and locations I have photographed all over the world, and at all the people who are at the forefront of their metier whom Pauline Prinsen and I have had the privilege to meet and work with.
Moreover, I consider it of importance that my daughters, Alaīa and Izabel, have been able to enjoy so much of all that beauty since they were very small. Travelling with them was, and always is, a celebration in itself.



Hans Fonk