✨ The Origin Story
Bristol, 1999. Lakota. Trinity. The underground venues where PLUR wasn't a slogan - it was survival.
Christian moved to Bristol, fell in love, started a family. Started GlowGadgets.com Ltd - selling glow sticks, light toys, poi at Bristol raves.
Peak turnover: £120,000 annually.
But here's what the numbers don't show: This is where Christian learned community building. This is where "I got you" energy was born. This is where he learned that revenue should circulate, not extract.
GlowGadgets isn't nostalgia. It's the catalyst for everything that followed.
🎪 The Venues
Lakota: Bristol's legendary venue. Basement. Concrete. Sweat. Sound system that shook your bones. Where the massive gathered.
Trinity: Church converted to rave space. Sacred spaces for secular worship. Jungle, drum & bass, breaks.
Bionic nights: Free parties. Bunker raves. Secret locations. Call this number for directions (that's where Christian's CB radio skills came in).
Stonehenge solstice: Summer solstice. Thousands. Fire poi. Glowsticks at dawn. Community at scale.
St Paul's Carnival: Bristol's Caribbean carnival. Sound systems. Street parties. Glow products everywhere.
📸 The Photo Archive
Christian documented EVERYTHING.
Photos from 2001-2003. The GlowGadgets stall with price lists (2 Glowsticks £3, Mouth Lights £1, Glow Whistles £1.50). "Get Yer Water" - Christian in hi-vis distributing water bottles. The dalmatian taxi. Stonehenge kiss at dawn. Fire poi performers. Packed dancefloors with glowstick trails.
Original FeelFamous.com banners from 1999. Proof the concept existed 25+ years ago. PartyPeople.FeelFamous.com - the Kudos system started in the rave scene.
Full archive: Google Photos Album
Gallery section coming soon - watermarked images with GlowGadgets.co.uk branding.
💡 The Innovation Nobody Recognized
Christian invented influencer marketing before social media existed.
Take photos of ravers. Give them a business card with the website. "See yourself online!" Drive traffic to FeelFamous.com. Build community. Make people feel seen.
This was 1999-2003. Before Facebook. Before Instagram. Before "influencer" was a word.
He just didn't know that's what it was called. He was just making sure the massive was taken care of.
🌟 PLUR: Peace, Love, Unity, Respect
This wasn't a slogan. This was survival economics.
Peace: No beef. No drama. We're here to build.
Love: Genuine care for community wellbeing.
Unity: We rise together, not over each other.
Respect: Everyone's journey is valid.
That ethos? That's FeelFamous in 2026. That's SpicyLister. That's Magic-Oid. That's MeshCB. That's every app Christian builds.
GlowGadgets energy scaled to the internet.
📉 The 2008 Collapse
Credit crunch hit. Competitors with more buying power undercut prices.
The Glow Company (glow.co.uk) - they copied GlowGadgets, even used the name. They had capital. They could buy in bulk. They could sell cheaper.
GlowGadgets stopped trading in 2010.
But here's the poetic justice: Christian now earns 6% affiliate commission from The Glow Company's Amazon store through HIS GlowGadgets site.
They thought they won. They just delayed the inevitable. World domination through kindness includes getting paid by the people who copied you.
💬 The Reunion Project
Full GlowGadgets site launching soon.
Features:
Story Wall - community memory submissions. "Remember when..." Venue + year tagging (Lakota, Trinity, etc.)
"Looking for Someone?" - reconnection feature. Yahoo Groups diaspora finding each other after 25+ years.
Photo gallery - watermarked archive from 2001-2003.
Glow Shop - affiliate links with honest recommendations (including The Glow Company products - irony intended).
The manifesto: "She Didn't Scroll By"
Remember when strangers helped each other? When community mattered? When you looked after the massive because that's what you did?
That's what we've lost. That's what GlowGadgets is bringing back.
📚 Read The Culture
Energy Flash by Simon Reynolds - Documents the rave scene we lived through. UK, 1988-1998. The culture, the music, the politics.
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - Why it mattered. Why music was more than entertainment. Why community was survival.
But you had to be there to really know.
The Truth
This is where it all started.
FeelFamous isn't new. It's 25+ years old.
Christian's been building for community care since 1999.
GlowGadgets was the seed. Everything else grew from there.
Bristol, 1999-2003.
The origin story.
World domination through kindness.