A look inside BMP Director Chip Conley’s ultra-luxury “top of the pyramid” camp, Maslowtopia. It’s based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and being the highest version of yourself you can be.
Looks like regular food safety violations going on amongst the multiple workers in their gourmet kitchen. All that money, and no-one could afford gloves?
Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week, gave some insight into who Chip’s guests were:
My camp, called Maslowtopia and organized by famed hotelier Chip Conley (author of Peak), gathered a motley crew of around 100 all-stars from around the world, including incredible artists, organic chefs, and wise Fortune-100 co-founders…
One of those all-stars was an A-list entrepreneur and former top-tier investment banker. Trained at Harvard as a lawyer and forged into the consummate dealmaker, she had literally built economies from scratch
Hexayurt creator (and legendary Burner) Vinay Gupta tweeted a photo of the camp from the air:
Pic from the air of the Maslowtopia @hexayurt camp at Burning Man. Compare with the pic from the ground. http://twitpic.com/2x8bds nice!
— Vinay Gupta/Hexayurt (@hexayurt) October 13, 2010
image: Vinay Gupta/Twitpic
Chip says he put the camp on for his 50th birthday in 2010, so presumably it was a gift and he doesn’t think he “lost money” on it like Jim Tananbaum says he did on Caravancicle.
Received "Maslowtopia Thrive Guide," our 40-pg wacky review of what our Burning Man camp is doing for my 50th b'day: celebrating pyraMIDlife
— Chip Conley (@ChipConley) June 17, 2010
The extensive credits at the end of the video certainly suggest a large contingent of paid help. Is it Radical Self Reliance if you hire an event production company, catering firm, a team of sherpas to build your camp for you, and a videographer to professionally record the experience? Is it Decommodification if the companies involved promote their Participation in their subsequent online marketing?