“When was the last time your breath was taken away by some amazing sight or sound? When you felt gooseflesh creeping all the way up your arms and tears filling your eyes just because something was so unbelievably beautiful? And after that, what happened? Could you admit the feeling to yourself and -heaven forbid- to others as well? Without cracking jokes about getting old and sentimental? Good. Because honest appreciation of all things beautiful is the way forward.” These were the first lines of an an essay that I wrote back in June 2001 that led to creative platform for social change Beauty without Irony (BWI), after I sent it out to my network of creatives and most of them reacted extremely excited and favourably. Meanwhile we took part in exhibitions (on- and offline), launched NGO Designers against AIDS and published our first book (Designers against AIDS: The First Decade!”) with over half of the book filled with BWI images showing what artists think is beautiful in life. When you realise that life is beautiful, you’re less likely to mess it up and artists who affect social change by showing work that comes straight from the heart are among the most delightful people ever. Let’s connect and make the world a more beautiful, happy and healthy place to live and love in!