JOURNAL

Camp Jacober: We Survived and We’re Better For It

By JACOBER CREATIVE

Our Studio, Inspire

Our team building retreat to Palm Springs was a treat for all. We laughed, we drank, we channeled our desert spirit animals… [...]

We survived Camp Jacober! A few weeks ago we packed up and headed west to Palm Springs for the first session of Camp Jacober – a five day festival of team building that also included a bit of design inspiration. From an architecture tour to a museum visit and movies by the pool our itinerary was packed with opportunities for each of us to relax, connect and bond. And while we put our new skills to use, we thought we’d give you a peek at what we were up to.

The trip started with a drive from L.A. to Palm Springs, where we settled into a mid-century modern house on a cliff overlooking Palm Springs – and then had a night on the town at the posh Jonathan Adler decorated Parker Hotel. The hotel’s restaurant made the night – modern French food meets moody retro, all set to a Prince soundtrack.

Thursday was filled with adventures around town - including a private museum tour at The Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture & Design, an architecture tour – we saw The Kaufman House, Lautner House, and Frank Sinatra’s home – and some pool time.

For Adriana the architecture tour helped her get some perspective on Palm Springs, “It helped me understand Palm Springs with an artistic lens. I loved Michael our tour guide. He was such a character, so knowledgeable and cool.”

Though she says her favorite part was making and having dinner together on Thursday night. Dinner was designed to foster team building and inspired by the TV show, Chopped. We worked in pairs to make different components of the meal: Luisa and Victor grilled delicious chicken, Danny and Paul made a salad and a side of roasted carrots, and Adriana and JP made the dessert – a vegan speciality that begged for seconds.

After we were all stuffed with our delicious dinner, we played charades. According to Paul it is one of his fondest memories from the trip, “Everyone was super relaxed, confident and playful. It was a great example of how we should be all the time (in an ideal world).”

On Friday and Saturday we focused on more team building, including watching the James Bond classic, Diamonds are Forever, and creating an art piece that will be in our upcoming exhibition at The Miami Beach Cinematheque (shoutout)! We learned a lot about each other, our temperaments, how we can work better together and became really clear on our goals for the future: to grow within our community, to be good communicators within our group and help each other become better designers and colleagues.

For our newest addition, JP, it was an exciting introduction to the team, “The whole weekend was an experience I’ll never forget, I learned how united the team is and it motivated me to deliver my best at this new beginning.” Camp Jacober started on his third day on the job!

As for the best part of the whole experience? “The opportunity to take the entire team cross country to one of the coolest cities in California was the best part of the trip. To share a piece of California – which is a little piece of me – with the team and to see them experience it first-hand was exciting, heart warming and a big achievement in my professional life,” says Paul. “I also loved that we used the trip as an opportunity to work on some fresh new branding and Camp Jacober swag. It was a fun secret and surprise for the team. They loved the outcome.” He couldn’t have said it any better.

Palm Springs | Insider Info

Fly Into and Out of the Palm Springs Airport:

Widely considered the most ‘stress free airport’ in America, flying into and out of the Palm Springs airport will most likely cause you a layover in Dallas or Chicago but it’s worth the experience. Did you know that it also has a concourse named in honor of Sonny Bono? He also once served as the mayor of Palm Springs.

The Bond Connection:

One scene from Diamonds are Forever was filmed in a Lautner house in Palm Springs. Sean Connery is in the pool with two models – Bambi and Thumper – it’s a must watch.

Origin Story:

Palm Springs became a tourist destination when health tourists started arriving in the 1900s with conditions that required dry heat. The first hotel and sanitarium was called the Agua Caliente Bathhouse and was opened in the 1880s.