Unleash Your Creativity at the Visual Storytelling Retreat in Florence

Name: Unleash Your Creativity at the Visual Storytelling Retreat in Florence
Start: 2025-08-23T00:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-08-25T23:59:59+02:00
Location: Florence

3 days workshop

23/08/2025 - 25/08/2025

Florence

Take your visual storytelling skills to the next level in the birthplace of the Renaissance - Florence, Italy. Whether you're just starting out or have been honing your craft for a while, this immersive retreat will help you become bolder, more creative, and more confident in your visual expression.

This summer, treat yourself to three transformative days of hands-on learning, guided by two leading pioneers in visual storytelling:

🖌 Axelle Vanquaillie (Antwerp, Belgium)
🖌 Ben Crothers (Sydney, Australia)

What to expect?

💡 Innovative techniques to elevate your work

Visualize concepts beyond clichés – make your drawings more powerful and engaging.
Explore unique materials to add depth and originality to your visual creations.
Advance your lettering to develop a distinct, personal style.
Create your own unique characters that make your work stand out.
Capture stories with greater clarity and impact through visual storytelling strategies.

🎨 A stunning creative setting

Immerse yourself in an inspiring environment where history, beauty, and creativity collide. Through indoor and outdoor activities, you’ll push your imagination further than ever before.

Retreat Schedule

📍 Saturday, August 23

Afternoon inspiration session in the city
Evening welcome drinks & networking at the hotel

📍 Sunday & Monday, August 24-25 (ends Monday at 5 PM)

A balanced mix of group sessions, individual assignments, feedback moments, and hands-on exercises tailored to your creative needs.

Whether you’re introverted or extroverted, you can adapt the program to bring out your best and most creative self.

Pricing & details

💰 Price:

€1.450 (excl. 21% VAT)

✔ Included:

Expert training and all course materials
Hands-on creative activities
Museum access for selected activities
Networking reception & lunches on August 23, 24 & 25

❌ Not included:

Accommodation
Travel expenses
Evening dinner

Location & hotel

The retreat will take place at Social Hub Lavagnini.

We suggest booking your hotel accommodation at The Social Hub Lavignini too: we can book you a room with breakfast for 100€/night.

Of course, you are always free to book another hotel yourself.

Limited spots available – First come, first served!

🪑 Only 15 seats available!

This intimate retreat is designed for a small group to ensure personalized guidance and deep creative growth. Secure your spot before it’s gone!

This retreat is more than just a workshop – it’s a chance to reignite your passion, refine your craft, and connect with like-minded creatives in one of the world’s most inspiring cities.

🔹 Sign up today before it’s too late! 🔹

Meet your instructors

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 from Sydney, Australia, and is renowned 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.

This background has made him an in-demand facilitator for over 15 years. 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. Ben has been invested in better ways of working since 2010, and was one of the original creators of the much-loved Atlassian Team Playbook. He is also the author of Presto Sketching, as well as Draw in 4 and 50 Remote-Friendly Icebreakers.

What people like you are saying

“Thank you once again for a dynamic and inspiring workshop. It was lovely to meet you both and I got enormous value out of the time with you.” – Kay Price-Lindsay, Graphic Facilitator

“Thank you once again for a really great workshop. I felt both inspired and challenged.” – James Durno, Strategic Visual Communicator

Spread the word!

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