The Lunar Society

In 1765, five men met by moonlight to talk about the future. They knew the best ideas don't happen in isolation, they emerge when minds collide, when disciplines cross, when strangers become collaborators.They called themselves The Lunar Society. And they changed the world.We're reviving that spirit for our time.Today, ideas move faster than ever. Films stream, books ship, technologies scale overnight. But speed has come at a cost. Too often, ideas are consumed passively, alone, and forgotten just as quickly.We believe a film doesn't end when the credits roll. A book doesn't close on the last page. An idea isn't meant to live in isolation.The real work begins in the space between people, in the questions that linger, the connections that form, the conversations that shift how we see ourselves and the world.So we design experiences that create those spaces. We gather by moonlight (sometimes literally) to watch films that ask good questions, to sit with uncertainty, to prototype ideas together, and to explore what becomes possible when curious minds meet...At the Lunar Society we design intimate, sensory, question-driven spaces where people come back into relation with each other, with ideas, and with themselves, in a world that keeps pulling us apart...

About the Lunar Society

We live in a world shaped by powerful tools, especially AI. We’re not anti-technology. We’re deeply curious about it. But we believe technology is most meaningful when it’s developed with human values at the center, not around them.
AI can accelerate ideas but humans give them direction, care, and meaning.At The Lunar Society we design experiences that create possibility, and create the conditions for you to see differently, connect unexpectedly, and ask better questions.We design experiences that slow people down just enough to notice, reflect, and connect. Experiences that help humans stay human, even (and especially) in an age of intelligent machines.By moonlight, or otherwise, we keep asking the same question they did:What if?

Experience Design

Experience design is the craft of shaping how people encounter ideas: emotionally, socially, and sensorially.When experiences are designed with care, they don’t just inform, they transform. They make change possible because they invite people to live an idea, not just understand it.

What this looks like?

We partner with filmmakers, authors, and cultural organizations to transform their work into participatory experiences, catalysts for connection and exploration.
Some examples:

A documentary about aging becomes a cheeseboard ritual where strangers share their life stories

A book launches not with a reading, but with a multi-sensory journey that invites participants into the questions at its heart

A film sparks an ongoing conversation through carefully designed objects, prompts, and gatherings

Who is it for?

  • Documentary filmmakers frustrated by passive viewership

  • Authors craving deeper engagement than book tours allow

  • Creators who believe their work should spark dialogue, not just downloads

  • Organizations who care about meaning, not metrics alone

  • HR teams seeking human ways to explore culture, purpose, and change

Lunar Salons

Lunar Salons are for creative technologists, researchers, educators, artists, makers, scientists, optimists, rebels, and anyone who lives in the in-between.Once a month, we gather online or in person (Austin, Boston, Antigua, Maine…) to jam, prototype, and remix each other’s ideas.

How it works?

Each salon is question-driven. A member (or small group) brings a genuine question they're wrestling with, not a polished project or presentation, but a real inquiry that invites collective exploration.The question becomes the catalyst for:

  • Socratic dialogue and generous feedback

  • Hands-on making and experimentation

  • Unexpected connections across disciplines

  • Collaborative sense-making

What's in it for you?

Shared Value: Access to collective intelligence and diverse perspectives

Community: Long-standing relationships with kindred spirits who get your weird

Interesting People: Meet makers, thinkers, and doers across disciplines

Curious Minds: Engage with others who ask "what if?" and "why not?"

Tangible Takeaways: Leave every salon with something: insights, artifacts, connections, or clarity

Hosting a Lunar Salon

Formats

Each salon takes a different form based on the question at hand:

  • Book clubs: Deep reading and discussion around a shared text

  • Artistic workshopping: Feedback on creative projects-in-progress

  • Teaching experiments: Workshopping how to teach or explain something complex

  • Experience facilitation: One member facilitates an actual designed experience for the group

  • Field trips: Exploring a site, museum, or space together through a curious lens

  • Walking tours: Moving through a city or landscape while in conversation

  • Scavenger hunts: Playful quests that combine discovery with collaboration

  • ... and other formats we invent together

Our Shared Values

  • Trust: We create a container where it's safe to not know, to be wrong, to start over

  • Vulnerability: We bring our real questions, not our polished presentations

  • Empathy: We listen deeply and meet each other's curiosity with care

  • Generosity: We give our time, attention, knowledge, and resources freely

Workshops

Robyn Metcalfe

I am drawn to the allure of an unanswered question, even if it means entering uncharted territory, promising the possibility of learning something new, that can change the meaning of something big or little, or nothing at all.A deep desire to learn, read, meet new people, travel somewhere,
anywhere, with other people who carry their own questions, draws me to explore the world, through writing books, making movies, and creating experiences.Years as an ultrarunner prepared me for the long-haul, being right with discomfort, knowing the slow way brings greater satisfaction, opportunities to get close to our world and other humans. Academia gave me a way to discuss my obsession with history, logistics, and storytelling.

Stefy Bolaños

My roots grow in volcanic soil. My branches reach through fiber optic
cables. I speak in local textures and global metaphors, always
translating one world for the other. I am both connected and homesick, grounded and drifting, trying to make sense of what it means to belong in more than one place at once.I build learning worlds that invite people to think differently about
how they can explore their curiosities, create, and connect. I believe that true learning is a rite of passage.I follow hunches, trace patterns, and collect clues from classrooms,
online playgrounds, and cobblestone streets. My work lives between pixels and paper, the digital and the analogue.

People who inspire our work

List of references and people who inspire our work.

We'd love to hear from you!