An analogue, landscape-led creative reset residency in Aotearoa New Zealand
The Re:Form is a 10–14 day immersive residency hosted on location at the Naked & Curious studio in Matakana — a beautiful region of beaches, coastal tracks, native bush, rolling farmland, and a close-knit community of makers and artists.
The programme is designed for people at a turning point: senior employees navigating redundancy; professional athletes approaching the end of their sporting careers; creatives seeking renewal; or those needing space to rethink who they’ve become, how they work, and what comes next.
The Re:Form offers the time and environment to pause, reflect, make, and regenerate, guided by analogue craft, movement, language, and the unique beauty of Aotearoa’s landscapes.
Who it’s for
The Re:Form supports people experiencing:
- redundancy or role transition
- burnout, stagnation, or loss of creative rhythm
- identity shifts (including retiring athletes)
- mid-career reorientation
- the pressure to “move quickly” without internal clarity
- organisational change requiring space and recalibration
Language
Participants are fully immersed in English, spending each day speaking and collaborating in the language, building everyday confidence through lived experience rather than classroom structure. Fluent German-language support is available as needed, ensuring participants never feel lost, while still receiving the full benefit of immersion.
Facilitator
The Re:Form is facilitated by John Bache, co-founder of Naked & Curious.
John’s background includes:
- Ex-Managing Partner at VIM Group in Munich
- Former Head of English at Inlingua Munich
- 20+ years in DACH working with leaders in comms, design, media, sport, and transformation
- Personal experience navigating redundancy within the German employment system
- A practice grounded in analogue craft, long-view thinking, and landscape-led creativity
Guide
Programme participants will primarily be guided by Mark Lever, founder of SYML and Daedalic Lightworks, with additional tuition from a wider network of artists, designers, craftspeople, and experts from the wider Naked & Curious ecosystem.
Core Components
1. Analogue Craft & Material Exploration
Hands-on sessions that reconnect head, heart, and hands through slow, tactile processes:
- timber craft
- joinery principles
- traditional boat restoration
- prototyping & materiality
- brass work
- object-making
- heritage craft techniques
These sessions shift participants out of intellectual mode and into embodied creativity — often where the real reset happens.
2. Craft Immersion (2h / 4h / 6h)
Short, intense, highly-focused explorations with expert practitioners across the region:
- ceramics
- textiles
- photography
- knifemaking
- biophilic design
- Māori design (values-based practice, not aesthetics)
- glasswork
- bone carving
- graphic design
- interior design
- painting & drawing
- narrative development
- creative identity exploration
During the pre-programme consultation, each participant designs their own combination of tasters, deep dives, and intensives.
4. Movement & Embodied Practice
Daily grounding through movement — chosen according to energy and need:
- yoga
- bush walks
- coastal hikes
- eMTBing
- surfing or SUPing
- swimming
- additional activities on request (with or without tuition)
We view movement as another form of thinking: a way to regulate the nervous system, create space, and allow insights to surface and ideas to land.
5. Landscape-Led Reflection
Time in nature and the elements, exploring the region’s beaches, forests, and hills, is an important and powerful part of the work.
6. Integration & direction-setting
Towards the end of the residency, participants work through reflective frameworks to help them articulate:
- what has shifted
- what is ending
- what is emerging
- how they want to move forward
Optional follow-up sessions support continuity once they return home.
7. Final Project: Bringing the Work Together
As the residency draws to a close, each participant undertakes a Final Project together with the course guide: a single, focused making activity that brings together the insights, skills, and creative instincts developed over the course of the programme.
The purpose of the Final Project is not perfection.
It is integration.
After exploring a range of analogue craft disciplines, creative processes, and landscape-led reflections and insights, participants are guided to create an object that embodies:
- the shift they’ve undergone
- the questions they’ve sat with
- the materials and techniques that resonated
- the new rhythm or direction emerging in their practice
This project is intentionally simple in form yet deep in meaning.
It invites participants to bring head, heart, and hands into alignment — translating internal movement into something tangible.
The guide supports the participant in choosing the right scale, material, ambition and approach for their project, ensuring it feels personal, achievable, and connected to the residency journey.
The Final Project becomes a touchstone — a physical reminder of the moment where clarity began to form, created slowly and deliberately in Aotearoa, carried forward into whatever comes next.
Duration
Standard: 10–14 days
Corporate versions: 5–7 days
Parallel side programmes for partners or family members available on request
Both Private and Collective pathways offered
Pricing
Programme fees depend on duration and selected modules.
Flights to New Zealand are arranged independently by each participant or their employer so they can travel according to personal or corporate travel policies.
A detailed pricing outline is available on enquiry.
Enquiries
If you’d like to explore whether The Re:Form is right for you or your organisation:
