Rebels spark change. Find yours in Berlin.

Join a creative drawing lab in Berlin for changemakers and visual storytellers.
20th - 22nd August 2027
All-inclusive • ~~€1,550~~ €1,350

Join us

Business storytellers! Your creative SHIFT is finally here

It’s time to let your inner rebel run free, and do some drawing with a twist! At this 3-day retreat, you will:

Define the change you want to bring (in you, your organisation, your world)
Translate your vision into short, punchy, captivating visual stories
Discover fast cheeky ways of visual communication that inspire others and spark change
Make your style more impactful with stronger lettering, bolder colors and more confident images

Secure your spot

Mural by local Berlin artist Magdalena Wiegner

Creative confidence

Break through creative blocks and self-doubt to show up with more confidence in your visual work.

Unique inspiration

Fill your creative tanks with a mix of walking, urban sketching, museums, dining and street art, to fuel your work long after you return home.

Skills & techniques

Boost your visual storytelling skills, and find renewed creative energy and fresh approaches to your visual communication.

Tribe vibe

Find a supportive community of like-minded professionals who’ll inspire and encourage your creative growth.

A drawing retreat with a difference

Berlin is a city with a rebellious spirit, and bursting with creativity. It’s a reminder that barriers (physical, cultural, psychological) can become bridges to something better.

The theme for this retreat is Corporate Rebel. Get ready for an unforgettable experience, from ‘reading’ the street art of Berlin, to trying out the edgy graphics of paste-ups and stickers, to drawing mini-stories and bold lettering for strategy and change... all to help you tackle barriers to progress, in yourself and in business.

Let’s go

A photo of part of the remaining Berlin wall with some cool street art on it

Axelle Vanquaillie

Axelle is a highly-renowned graphic recorder at Visual Harvesting, who has transformed hundreds of speakers’ words into attractive thoughtful visual summaries at conferences and gatherings all over the world, for over 10 years. She is also an in-demand trainer, leadership coach and speaker.

Her mission is to enable anyone in the world to convey a message with a drawing, and to help those drawings gain power in every organization, to do business and innovate more successfully. This passion fuels incredible amounts of creativity. Axelle is the author of Start to Draw.

Ben Crothers

Ben is well-known for his strategic facilitation, business illustration, training, and graphic recording. As a designer for over 25 years, he learned the importance of always sketching his ideas, as well as helping others to bring their ideas to life visually, to create products and services that are more usable, useful and enjoyable.

As an independent consultant at Bright Pilots, he enjoys helping teams of all kinds find and solve problems better, think and communicate together better, and ship faster. He is also the author of Presto Sketching, as well as Draw in 4 and 50 Remote-Friendly Icebreakers.

Magdalena Wiegner

Mag is a freelance artist and author based near Berlin. With a background in stone sculpting, street art, murals, painting and digital illustration, they have cultivated an incredibly versatile artistic skillset and an eye-catching style. Their focus lies in uniquely portraying their dreams and emotions.

Their amazing works awaken us to the beautiful details of the world around us, and to our own inner worlds. You’ll experience this yourself as they take us all through a special workshop, inspired by Berlin’s street art and their own creative journey. See samples of their work at magdalenawiegner.com.

Bulky Savage

“One of the things I always say about graffiti is that it’s this way of standing up and being counted.” We’re super privileged to have Bulky running a walking tour of Berlin’s street art and countcultural elements for us. Bulky is a Berlin-based street artist, well-known for his vibrant murals and paste-ups dotted around the districts of Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, and Mitte, as well as his walking tours.

Take a look at the wide variety of murals and illustrations on his Instagram, as well as vagabundler.com here and here.

“When I tell people here in Copenhagen that I just spent 3 days in Berlin learning about being a rebel and about belonging to a community, they say my eyes light up. Yup, that’s it. You and Ben created an experience that ignites people ✨ Thank you so much 🙏❤️.”

Ia Brix Ohmann, Graphic Facilitator

“For me, this was a beautiful intersection of visual thinking and Deep Democracy. My paste-up became an eye 👁️ (in blue). To me, it represents seeing all perspectives, and the invitation to bring to the surface the perspective that is still beneath the surface - the fish 🐟. Because what you see isn’t always the whole story. What an inspiring weekend!”

Else van Heijningen, Consultant, Public Health

“This retreat is one of the best investments I have made into my creative career! The way Ben and Axelle guided us through an inspirational learning journey was admirable. And meeting other creative people from all around the world who not depending on experience level all struggle with the same things was no less than AMAZING! I developed a whole new character style in just 3 days! Just WOW. I am ready for the next retreat, wherever it might be.”

Susanne Krogh-Hansen, Lead Digital Designer

“For me, this was a safe learning environment where I was challenged to push beyond my comfort zone for growth. All of this against a mesmerizing backdrop with superb food in a magical setting.”

Rudy Begas, Communication Trainer

What you get

Here’s what’s included in the price of the retreat:

Expert training and individual coaching in using drawing and advanced visual storytelling techniques and frameworks to make complex ideas more accessible
All materials, including an A5 sketchbook and Neuland water-based no-bleed ink markers, plus a surprise or two
Hands-on creative activities to help you get past your inner critic and unleash your most courageous creative communication yet
Visit to a museum or gallery
All dinners and lunches, plus snacks, tea and coffee throughout the workshop sessions

Pricing and dates

Price: ~~€1,550~~ €1,350 (€200 Earlybird discount, until 28 Feb 2027)

Next retreat date: 20-22 August 2027

Limited spots available

This intimate retreat is designed for a small group to ensure personalised guidance and deep creative growth, so we cap the number of people to 15.

Our unforgettable venue

Our home base for the Berlin creative retreat is the Michelberger Hotel. It has an expansive sumptuous lobby and areas for coworking and relaxation, a hip coffee shop, plus an open-air atrium area. It’s in the heart of the Friedrichshain area, next to the Kreuzberg area, close to the largest concentration of street art in Berlin.

It’s well-connected to public transport (there’s a tram stop right outside), and a short walk to the iconic East Side Gallery at the Berlin Wall.

Of course you can stay anywhere you like for the retreat, but we recommend booking your accommodation at The Michelberger Hotel, so that you’re at the same place as our workshop room, where we start and end on Days 2 and 3 of the retreat. Plus, you get a 10% discount!

Register your place

Next retreat: 20th-22nd August 2027

This is for event registration only. Your email is not added to any mailing lists, and we’ll never share your email with anyone else.

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€1,350

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A photo of Axelle training during the Florence retreat

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Got questions? We have answers

Is this a training or a retreat’?

Think of this as a 3-day creative lab for business storytellers. It’s not a holiday (although Berlin is super fun and interesting), and it’s definitely not typical training. It’s an immersive experience designed to help you boost your creative confidence, and then use that in your communications at work (e.g. meetings, flipcharts, presentations, whiteboards) for greater impact and greater competitive edge.

Is this tax-deductible?

Yes it is, since this qualifies as professional development.

Do I need to be able to draw?

No, you don’t need to be able to draw. You just need to be curious and open to trying. Our participants have been anywhere from complete beginners (e.g. a business manager who wanted to use whiteboards better in her meetings), to seasoned veterans (e.g. a long-time graphic recorder), and without doubt all have been equally satisfied.

We’ve even had complete beginners develop new visual styles in 2 days. It’s about developing confidence, not attaining perfection.

I’m already pretty creative in my work. Is this still for me?

Absolutely. Even experienced illustrators and visual practitioners tell us that our retreats have transformed their approach to visual storytelling, and renewed their passion for the craft.

What exactly do you teach/train in this Berlin retreat?

Our interactive workshop-style training uses a mix of creative visual storytelling methods — transforming complex information into compelling and memorable visual narratives — to help you strengthen your own purpose and story, so that you’re more creatively confident to communicate others’ stories. We cover the following themes:

Tackling your inner critic and self-editing habits by helping you to identify and dismantle limiting beliefs
Improving observation and listening skills to help with synthesis and summarising
Composition and layout to tell stories with a twist, organise information, and guide the audience’s eye. We also talk about when to know the rules, and when to break them.
Expressive figure drawing to show emotion, humour, tension and resolution in narratives
Generating more creative options to draw for just about anything, using several creative methods like SNAILS and FLARE
Exploring and strengthening your own style using many modes of inspiration, analysis, peer feedback, and a variety of media to try.

We always tailor this to the city we’re in. It’s important to us that we let the city tell us its own story — through its history, museums, street art and local knowledge — and learn from that.

Is this just another graphic recording training?

No, not at all. There are lots of other training sessions around for that. We started these retreats because as good as they all are, they never addressed what we were missing in our own professional creative journeys:

Actual visual storytelling methods, i.e. not just drawing icons and connectors, but how to transform complex information into an actual narrative
Drawing beyond the obvious ideas and icons
Knowing how to enhance your own style
And more!

What language is the retreat in?

We stick to English. Our participants typically come from a wide range of countries, so we find it best to keep everything ‘official’ in English, and then you can feel free to have any informal conversations with others in your own language. Axelle speaks Flemish, English, French, Italian and Spanish. Ben... let’s just say that he’ll stick to English!

I want to come but the timing doesn’t suit me. When do you announce more dates?

The best thing to do is sign up to our newsletter. That way, you’ll be the first to know when we announce new dates for our retreats.

What other locations do you do these retreats?

We do creative retreats in Florence, Berlin, and in Figueres and Cataqués in the Catalonia region. We also have some other locations in mind... If you’d like to be the first to know, sign up to our newsletter.