Our History & Name
Our History
DENEB was born out of the passion, and expertise of the managing partners of an established player in heritage conservation, and experiential travel: Atelier LaPaz, a boutique organization that:
Pioneered sustainable, and conservation tourism in Costa Rica in the early 1990s.
Has 25 years of experience in helping destinations, and entrepreneurs develop specialized tourism products including adventure tourism, culture tourism, culinary tourism, and wellness tourism.
Has an extensive network beyond the travel industry including in science, architecture, and design, culture, arts, fashion, business, and media.
Since 2006, our leadership had been taking nature, and culture aficionados to unique places: From the coldest inhabited place on Earth to some of the world’s most prestigious Maisons opened exclusively for them. In 2019 they launched DENEB in response to an increasing word-of-mouth-generated demand for programs built upon grounded knowledge, insiders’ access, and engagement with luminaries, sages, and creators that DENEB has special access to.
Our Name/dɛnɛb
Our name was inspired by one of the brightest stars in the northern sky, Deneb, also one of the most distant stars we can see on a clear night without optical aid. Located in the constellation Cygnus — the Latin word for “swan” — this blue-white supergiant 200 times the size of the Sun represents for us the following:
Exploration:
Our organization carries in its DNA the spirit that fired the great adventurers, and legendary explorers. DENEB, like its namesake star, symbolizes for us the spirit of exploration, navigation, discovery, contemplation, and evolution.
Heritage Preservation:
Our night sky is a sacred thread to our ancestors. Unfortunately, like many wonders of the world, our night skies are becoming increasingly unknown to our children, as urbanization with its light, and air pollution obscures their beauty. DENEB is therefore also a symbol of our desire to preserve, and transmit our world heritage to future generations.
Connections:
If to the ancient Greeks, the constellation Cygnus featured in the telling of multiple tales involving swans, in folklore from China, and Japan and as far away as Ireland, Deneb plays a special role as the guardian of the bridge across a “river” — the Milky Way itself. Under that perspective, DENEB symbolizes for us the essence of travel as we create bridges, both, between like-minded wanderers, and the communities they visit.,
