Wayne Hemingway facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wayne Hemingway
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Hemingway in 2013
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| Born | 19 January 1961 Morecambe, England, U.K.
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Label(s)
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Red or Dead |
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Wayne Andrew Hemingway MBE (born 19 January 1961) is an English designer and co-founder of Red or Dead. He is also on the Design Council Trustee Board and having been with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) for a decade since its inception (as Chair of Building For Life) is now on the Design Council CABE Committee. Hemingway is a Professor in The Built Environment Department of Northumbria University, a Doctor of Design at Wolverhampton, Lancaster and Stafford, a Fellow of Blackburn College and a Senior Fellow of Regent's University London.
Early life and education
Hemingway was born in Morecambe, Lancashire, the son of Mohawk chief and former wrestler Billy Two Rivers. His father left the family and returned to Canada when Wayne was three years old, but the two later resumed contact.
Hemingway's earliest memories are of his mother and grandmother dressing him up as Elvis, a Beatle or Tarzan and being paraded up and down Morecambe pier. His grandfather worked at Grimethorpe colliery as a civil engineer. He lived on Thirlmere Drive and attended Lancaster Road school. He later earned a scholarship at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn.
In 1982 he completed a Degree in Geography and Town Planning at University College London, and subsequently completed an MA in Fashion at the University of Surrey.
On 25 June 2014, Wayne Hemingway and his wife, Gerardine Hemingway MBE, were made Honorary Senior Fellows of Regent's University London.
Work
Hemingway started his fashion career by selling items from his wardrobe, and that of his childhood sweetheart (now wife) Gerardine, in Camden Market. It was such a success that Gerardine opened a stall in the Kensington market, selling clothes she produced from a sewing machine on-site.
It was £6 rent for the stall and we took £80 the first day. It just took off from there.
They proved successful, and by the end of the year they had 16 stalls at the market, with shipments of second-hand clothing and footwear brought in from all over the world.
By 1983, they had opened a shop in Kensington, London, selling Gerardine's self-made clothes. That same year, the first Red or Dead collection was also created, inspired by Russian peasant clothing. It was well received and they obtained a large order from US department store Macy's. Red or Dead stores began to sell Dr. Martens work-wear shoes as a fashion item, thus began a range of fashion shoes within the stores.
Their Red or Dead brand went on to win the British Fashion Council's Street style Award in 1995, 1996, and 1997.
In 1998 Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway sold the Red or Dead company to Pentland Group a privately held, global brand management company. The sale financed Gerardine's design of their house in Chichester, West Sussex. The house cost around £330,000 to build and furnish (in 2005).
In 1999 they set up 'HemingwayDesign', which specialises in affordable and social design. The highest profile project Homes. the Staiths South Bank, an 800 property mass market housing project on Tyneside for Taylor Wimpey Homes Award has won a series of high-profile awards, including the 2005 Housing Design Award for best large project and Building Magazine's "Best Housing-Led Regeneration Project" and the highest rating of any large-scale scheme in a recent CABE audit. Other major projects include The Bridge Dartford, a development of 1,000 homes in Kent.
Hemingway has designed beachpods in Boscombe for rent and sale, which raised over £1 million for the local authority.
In 2010, he wrote the foreword to the book Cycling in the North of England.
Hemingway's team organised a new cultural event in August 2010, the 'Vintage Festival'. In 2011, the festival took place at Southbank Centre in London, as part of the 60th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain (held originally in 1951), and again in 2012. In 2013, the Vintage Festival took place in Glasgow and Morecambe. Hemingway said
We loved visiting Glasgow when we had our Red or Dead shop on Buchanan Street and have always enjoyed visiting Glasgow's Merchant City.
A Vintage New Year was held at Southbank Centre in 2013. October 2013 saw the launch of Vintage presents A Classic Car Boot Sale.
In 2012, Wayne, Gerardine, and the 'HemingwayDesign' team were appointed as designers of the historic and disused Dreamland site in Margate. This included the transformation and branding of the £10m heritage theme park.
In 2012, Hemingway received an honorary degree ('Doctor of Arts') from Leeds Metropolitan University.
In 2014, Hemingway's company introduced a new London Underground staff uniform, initially trialled at several stations and train depots before being introduced company-wide in 2015. In the same year, it was announced he was to become patron of The Unite Foundation, a charity providing free university accommodation to young people in the UK from challenging backgrounds.
Family
Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway were both appointed MBE in 2006, for services to the design industry, in the Queen's Birthday Honours. They live in Chichester, West Sussex and have four children - Jack, Tilly, Corey and Beck. They also have a springer spaniel called Minnie.
Wayne is a supporter of Blackburn Rovers and became an Honorary Patron of leading Blackburn Rovers supporters group, The BRFC Action Group, in May 2012.
Hemingway has made several appearances on the Sky Sports 2 TV show Soccer AM.
