The Concept

Stone Soup is a co-created experience design camp. For a growing community of passionate makers, doers and dreamers.

In today’s world it’s easy to feel burnt-out, disconnected, and distracted. In these 5-day overnight camps you’ll explore how to create experiences that energize, connect, and engage. Each camp is uniquely created by participants united by the intention to co-create nourishing experiences.

Stone Soup provides a space to experiment and invites participants to share wisdom through workshops, extraordinary experiences, evolve one’s craft, and explore curiosities

Stone Soup Principles

Creating Stone Soup takes vulnerability, trust, and leaps of faith.  All are expected to practice these principles to ensure we're playing by the same rules.

Radical Interdependence
Humans thrive because of collaboration. Feel safe to be dependent on others. Do things together and create space for the doing of others. Invite others and share your experiences. 

Honesty & Transparency
Be respectful, compassionate, and honest with yourself and others.  Speak your mind, contribute authentically, and have pure motives.  

Do-Acracy
Do, or it won't happen. If the doing is too much, arrange a team around it. Don’t ask, but propose. Transformation derives from doing.  This entire retreat is yours for the taking. 

Inclusion
Watch out that nobody feels excluded and that your activities and interactions are open for other people to join.

Reflective Learning
Ideate. Experiment. Fail. Reflect. Improve. Repeat. Learn by doing and embrace failure as your friend. Don’t dismiss the importance of taking time and space for personal or collective reflection.

Flexible Hierarchy
The camp is yours. There are no strict hierarchies, everyone is invited to take action and responsibility, we take an active stance in leveling the playing field and try to empower everyone to step up.

Safety
Make sure the interactions in the experience are invitations and look for enthusiastic consent. Provide opportunities to end or leave the experience. Group pressure can build up quickly in a setting with many people. So it is important to remind everyone that the levels of participation are individual decisions as we usually can’t be sure of other people’s boundaries.

Role

Stone Soup is co-created by a community of over 150+ people. Together with Anthony Rocco, Seth Minard and Victor van Doorn I Initiated the concept and first camp. 

Media

• Netherlands ‘19 summary by Alexander Gierholz
• Poland ‘18 summary by Piotr Migdal