How I Got Here: Glug co-founder, Ian Hambleton

Over ten years on from starting the event, Glug has gone global with outposts in 35 countries. We speak to Ian Hambleton about turning it from a side project into a fully-fledged company, and putting on an event that doesn’t break the bank for Gluggers

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Glug began life over ten years ago when two friends working in the creative industries, Ian Hambleton and Nick Clement, arranged a meet-up with 20 other creatives in the backroom of a pub in Shoreditch. Today, the company has seen 15,000 attendees (better known as Gluggers) at its London events and has expanded to 34 other cities, with 45,000 Gluggers and counting worldwide.

Outside of Glug, Hambleton also runs Studio Output, its sister studio Found which specialises in motion design, and newly founded VR and gaming studio Maze Theory. Here, he discusses balancing Glug alongside his day job, and how the company’s ‘notworking’ mantra sets it apart from other creative conferences.

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