For those of you that are unaware of the Glug events, they are regular creative networking events hosted by agencies Crush and Agency Rush. It’s an eclectic mix of people from all Design disciplines and a great way to network with creative individuals and also have fun at the same time. I was particularly looking forward to this year’s Glug as it was being hosted at Coalition on Brighton’s beach front, and the great music and beautiful weather looked set to make it one of the best to date.

There was a great turnout for Glug 4, with over 400 people attending, including some London Glugger’s who decided to complete a ‘Tour De Glug’ and embark on the 53-mile ride to Brighton! They all did amazingly well considering the scorching hot weather we had that day.

 

On arrival we were presented with a playing card, such as a yellow king and the idea was that you then had to then find your match by networking, which worked really well as an icebreaker. The first things that caught my eye were some impressive live illustration work by Al Murphy, Hello Marine, and Yuko Michishita; it was brilliant to be able to see some real live drawing talent in action. I’m always envious of people who just seem to effortlessly pick up a pencil and produce amazing drawings! There was also some live graffiti by Wet Paint Productions happening on the beachfront that never ceases to impress me.

 

The pop up shop by Castor and Pollux also looked great. They had some really nice modern artwork, books and other interesting things on sale and their shop in Brighton and website is well worth checking out.

 

First up speaking was Malcolm Goldie, he had some really interesting work and was a really interesting guy. His work combined music, graphics and sound experimentation and it was really refreshing to see and hear something so weirdly unique. 

 

Here is a clip of some of Malcolm Goldie's work:

The next two speakers up were Adam Jenns and Merlin Nation from Mainframe, a motion graphics agency, and Emma Booty from Studio Conran, a multi-disciplinary design consultancy. Both speakers had really interesting and well thought out presentations that I really enjoyed. I did feel perhaps the talks would benefit in the future from being in a quieter seated setting aside from the networking so they could be given people’s undivided attention.

 

The last presentation and highlight for me, was by Jamie Wieck and Malika Favre from Airside, who I recalled from when I studied design at Brighton University. I remember looking at their shop and seeing all these amazing toys, designs and prints and thinking what an amazing job it would be to design products like that! They presented their work in a really dynamic and exciting way and it was highly inspirational to see their method of design, the processes they undertook and reasons why. I came away from their talk sharing my thoughts with other Gluggers thinking about how I could adapt or change my own approach to a particular brief. The talks at Glug always seem to leave you feeling blown away with stunning creativity and you can’t help but feel inspired and motivated afterwards.

 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my Friday night at Glug. We’re all a bit guilty of getting engrossed in our work and Glug is a fantastic opportunity to have fun with like-minded creative people and motivate our own passions. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what Glug 5 has to offer!

 

(Top image courtesy of Studio Output)